[AaronBrown]

Thanks for the kind words.

Casinos definitely manipulate the edge in house games. Players determine how much they are willing to lose, the casino's choice is whether to take that slowly (with low edge) or quickly (with high edge). Slowly gives more value for money and wins more repeat business, but it costs money in that you need more tables and overhead.

Of course, there is a range for different types of players with different preferences. Some players like the low edge per bet but high edge per hour of craps; others like the higher edge per bet but lower edge per hour of roulette. Also, the economics are different fora monopoly casino (like Foxwoods with nothing comparable in easy driving range) versus one in a competitive strip (like Vegas or Atlantic City). Midweek is different from Saturday night.

With Poker it's simpler since the house takes no risk. Too high a rake chases away good players by making it hard to make money. That's not necessarily a problem for the casino. Good players do attract business, but they also walk away with money. But too high a rake also makes the losers broke too quickly. That's also not necessrily a problem, because it means the casino gets more of the losers losses relative to what the good players take.

One way to manipulate things is bad beat jackpots which subsidize the bad players at the expense of the good. High blinds relative to limits also increases the luck factor. Other promotions and rewards can direct money to bad players, away from good.

There is a fundamental difference in economics between casinos and Poker cardrooms without casino games. Casinos love losers, they comp them, lend them money, forgive debts and treat them like kings. Cardrooms love good players. They usually don't comp, but they lend money, forgive debts and treat them well.