Dear Expert Guide,

How much does the "rake" really take from everyone's stack in a low limit situation over an evening's worth of playing?

You ask a very good question. Low-limit hold'em players are playing for the recreation or other non-monetary reasons, because the rake eats the game alive. I'm going to assume 50 hands an hour with an average rake of $2; that's about right if the game is kind of tight. If the game is looser, the number of hands per hour will drop, but the amount raked will go up, so you still figure the casino is going to get about $100 an hour. If you call "an evening" five hours, that's about $500 the casino is taking from nine players, or about $60 each. If you're playing $3-6 poker, it's entirely possible that no one at the table could be winning. Usually some of the players are bad enough or unlucky enough that there are a couple of winners, but many more losers.

The precise numbers vary depending on how the casino rakes the game (button charge, % of pot charge, time charge), but no matter what numbers you plug in, until you get to the 6-12 level it is almost impossible to beat the rake long term in most cardrooms (not impossible, but almost), and realistically for most players the rake stops being a huge function of how tough the game is to beat only once you reach 15-30 or 20-40 levels (and even there it is important). If the casino uses the percentage-of-the-pot rake method, relatively tight play will mean you pay much less of the rake than the average player.

On any given night, anything can happen. Over the long term, most of the low-limit money winds up in the casino's hands.

Andy Glazer