unbeatable low limit games

I went to the Foxwoods in CT my first, last, and only time the other week, and watched the 2-4 and 4-8 games for some time. It seems the 2-4 game is unbeatable 100% of the time, even with zero dealer tips, because the rake is HUGE ($4 on a $20 pot? I forget already...) and, even though there is no drop, the blind comes around pretty fast, the players are unreadable but tight in the big rounds, simply playing tighter before the flop won't cut it....


It also seemed the 4-8 game is probably beatable less than 20 hours the entire week, also with a $4 rake, on a $30 pot I think. At most, hourly rate on that 4-8 is, like $11 - assuming you make one fractional error yourself per hour! I learned to play in California where the entry-level games are beatable with a $2 or $3 drop - or else I never would have lasted to move up! How unsettling!! So, anyway, my questions are these:


1) Is my math right, are all the entry-level games in CT actually unbeatable, do you have to pay for your education like some kind of Poker Community College??


2) If these games are unbeatable, how can it be that people who are so bored and dumb as to beat their heads against an unbeatable game nevertheless appear to play well enough to make it unbeatable?


Okay, scratch that second question, it's a simple economics/equilibrium thing. But still, WHAT IS GOING ON THERE?? ANYONE FROM CT CAN FILL ME IN?

YES, the Foxwoods $2-4 game is a mathematical catastrophie. $1 at the flop, another at $10, another at $20, and the fourth at $30. The only way to beat it is to NOT PLAY in my opinion.


The $4-8 is much better there. I would disagree with your statement that it is only beatable less than 20 hours a week. Even with a max $4 rake, it is more than made up for by the action.


In general, Hold'em in Connecticut just sucks. With the big exception of the FW 10-20 game, and even bigger exception of the Mohegan Sun 20-40 game. The Mohegan 20-40 game is one of the best games in CT.


Later,

CJ

The low limit HE games in CT are tougher than anywhere else I've ever played. It's not that the players are great, but they sure are tight, especially preflop.


I think what has happened is the tourists who arrive here and are new to poker generally don't know HE, but they know stud, and pick it instead. Even these very low limit games are mostly regulars who have survived over the years as the game has died out here (that's rumor, it's been about the same since I moved here, but I've heard there was a lot more HE action when the room first opened).


Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)