[rharless]

I really have no idea. I've heard everything from it's easy to beat, to it's not possible over the long run. I've never run a sim myself, and I don't have any kind of feel for when the blinds plus the rake/etc would really overtake the profitability of a game.

I talked about this yesterday with a friend, and his theory is that since the blinds are so big, and the pots are so big, that even the worst players are not making significant mistakes by playing. The fewer and less severe mistakes that the bozos make, then the less advantage a good player has. But even then, he thinks 5-5 is still marginally beatable.

The only thing I know for sure is that I am still waiting to meet someone credible who has beat 5-5 over the course of several hundred hours. Of course as a 2-5 player, I don't meet many of the 5-5 crowd. I do know one guy who "claims" he won $8000 at 5-5 in one year, but in the three years since he has given it all back and then some and so he moved down to 2-5, where he is now winning agian.

That said, I did recommend 5-5 to a friend who plays far too loose and has ample bankroll. The reasoning was that at least he'd have pots to fund the odds for the trash he likes to play. So far he has been losing less, but it's only been six sessions so far, and in fact he had a couple nice wins. Whereas, at 2-5, it was a good night if he lost only $200.

If you told me you have won at 5-5 over several hundred hours, I would believe it, since you've made several posts on here that when I read them, rang true as a bell to me.