[Thythe]

Why does everyone think having "zero rake" is a step in the right direction? If Best Buy started giving away all of their store would that also be a step in the right direction? Why shouldn't card rooms charge the equilibrium price for rake?

The market is quite advanced and moves quickly to adjust to various conditions in the world such as technological changes, droughts, etc. Prices we see in stores are not just arbitrary guesses by business managers. They are an indication of the supply and demand of various services.

Most people here would know that in plotting demand we will have price on the y-axis and quantity on the x-axis. Given an increase in demand then, holding supply constant, we will see an increase in price and an increase in quantity. This is exactly what has happened with Party Poker in the last years. As people flocked to the site given a pretty stable amount of quality cardrooms, rake went up. It is inevitable. It isn't Party Poker screwing us over. The rake reflects the true conditions of the market.

If they were to decrease their rake, they would find an excess in demand which they may not be able to handle with their current software (we've even seen tournys crash due to an excess of people! Imagine if they decreased the rake of these tournys). Likewise if they increase it more, there would be an excess of supply. It's Econ101 people!

Edit to include that I am now an old hand! Yeeeaaah