Poker Room

[BigLouie]

I know about every game in the house except poker...so here's the question. How does the house get their vig? do they take a cut of the pot? Is there a charge to sit down and play? or what???? They've got to get a cut somewhere!

[doctor_al]

The places I've played in Vegas (plaza, MC), they rake a few bucks from each pot. The local card room here instead has an hourly "seat" charge, don't know how much tho.

BTW, loved your craps post, Louie. graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[PatekPhil]

The house does very nicely dealing Texas Hold'Em thank you very much.

In low / mid limit games in Nevada, up to about 20-40 or sometimes 30-60, the house takes a 'rake' out of each pot. You'll generally see a sign that says '10% rake up to a maximum of $3' or words to this effect. This means that for every $10 in chips in the pot, the dealer will slide one out (discreetly) and place it on a drop box paddle. Once the pot hits $30 or more and the $3 is on the paddle, the house will stop raking. If you figure that 30 hands an hour are dealt on average, the house is making a guaranteed $90 an hour spreading the game, without risking any of their own money. (Not including that dealers generally get a buck out each pot as a tip, which takes an extra $25-$30 off the table every hour)

Things to consider:

In a really low limit game like 1-3 or 2-4 where people rarely buy-in for more than $100, the house is basically breaking one player an hour.

Watch to see how the dealer does the rake - I've been in some houses where they take $3 out of every pot no matter the size(in California) which REALLY sucks. (Stealing the blinds is completely pointless.)

Check to see what the rake really is - at the Luxor they seat 11 people at Hold'Em, but rake to a max $4.

Check to see what you are getting for the privilege of playing in a raked game - free drinks, comp dollars for meals, casino rates for the hotel etc... For example - 5 hrs of play at the Luxor gets you a preferential rate at the hotel, oodles of free drinks, and at least a $5 meal credit. This makes up for some of your money that gets poured down the drop box, so long as you get all the comps you can.

Check to see if they're raking anything extra for jackpots like bad beats or high hands. (Sometimes cardrooms rake a dollar out of large pots for the bad beat jackpot in addition to the regular rake.)

In larger games in Nevada, (20-40 or 30-60 and above) they usually stop raking and go to half-hourly time charges.

Aces to you!

-PatekPhil

[Dougie]

Nice points, Phil. But poker tables are the money making dogs of the casino. Compare that rake to a BJ table. $10 a hand X 6 players X 60 hand an hour. Even with people winning, that swamps a poker table.

I bet it is difficult to break even in a poker room. Maybe thats why they have Schills and proposition players?

[abner2xday]

Baz is right about the amount of $$ generated by poker rooms. It's really not that much considering the amount of money put into play. That is why a lot of casinos closed their poker rooms many years ago. But with the explosion of interest in poker, casinos are now adding poker rooms as a drawing point. As an example, with a few exceptions, buffets are notorious loss leaders for casinos, but they would draw less business without them. The same is starting to be true for poker rooms and I don't see it abating anytime soon.

[PatekPhil]

I agree that sqare foot for square foot, a poker room pales in comparison for net 'drop' as opposed to pit games or even better, slots.

However - also consider that there are very few poker players who do nothing else besides play poker. Many are inveterate sports bettors, craps players, blackjack players, or even (yikes) KENO players. (I LOVE playing against people who are checking their Keno numbers... Anyone playing hold'em and also playing a game trying to buck a 25% house edge just really isn't thinking straight.)

Poker players often travel in pairs or small groups - and if only one half of a couple plays poker, well, there isn't much else left to do for the non-player but... gamble at another game in the casino.

Furthermore, there are no 'swings' associated with spreading poker. Its a guaranteed slow & steady drop. No risk of a team of MIT card counters coming in and hitting you for several million...

So - when you combine this with the mushrooming of interest in poker, I'm 'bullish' on any property beefing up / reopening their card rooms.

PS... I'm currently in Kabul Aghanistan, but I'm taking an R&R trip back home in August... 5 days in Vegas Aug 11-16th already booked...

-PatekPhil