Rakeback is the worst thing that ever happened to my poker game!

[O Doyle Rules]

There! I said it!

(Kind of like an alcoholic admitting their problem at an AA meeting)

[captZEEbo1]

explain

[mattw]

the R word should not change how you play. its a "gift" for your normal playing style. changing your play to increase the R is -EV.

[krimson]

An alcoholic at a pocket aces meeting?

"Hi, my name is Derek, and I just had my aces cracked on the bubble of a $200 tournament"

[mattw]

[ QUOTE ]
An alcoholic at a pocket aces meeting?

"Hi, my name is Derek, and I just had my aces cracked on the bubble of a $200 tournament"

[/ QUOTE ]

on monday, wednesdays, and fridays, we play poker at my AA meeting. on tuesdays, thursdays, and saturdays, we drink t alcohol at gamblers annyonomous(sp?)

[timprov]

What do you do on Sundays?

[uaw420rook]

We play poker after my Gamblers anonomous meeting. There are 6 of us that go play at one of the guys house. Once a month we have 2 strippers come over for an hour. I started going to the meetings to get in this game. Nothing like sitting with a bunch of gamblers playin poker. EV+ [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[grinin]

[ QUOTE ]
changing your play to increase the R is -EV.


[/ QUOTE ]

Not exactly true.

Lower rakes increase the number of starting hands that you can play profitably. Higher rakes decrease the number of starting hands you can play profitably.

So, it's not that you change your play to increase the Rakeback. It's because of rakeback that you would change your play. This change in play will actually increase the Rake that you would have payed before rakeback.

[O Doyle Rules]

[ QUOTE ]
explain

[/ QUOTE ]

A more accurate statement would have been to say the more I tried to maximize the amount of my rakeback as opposed to playing fewer tables and attempting to make the best possible decision on each hand by considering all the information at my disposal has hurt my game.

I have little doubt that for me to play my very best poker, I should only play one table. Now does this mean I will earn more money if I took that path? Probably not, but maybe. If I had not taken the path of multi-tabling $5/$10 & $3/$6 to max out rake, I might now be playing one table of $30/$60 or $50/$100 and beat it for 1.5 BB/100 because I would be making much better poker decisions on average.

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
explain

[/ QUOTE ]

A more accurate statement would have been to say the more I tried to maximize the amount of my rakeback as opposed to playing fewer tables and attempting to make the best possible decision on each hand by considering all the information at my disposal has hurt my game.

I have little doubt that for me to play my very best poker, I should only play one table. Now does this mean I will earn more money if I took that path? Probably not, but maybe. If I had not taken the path of multi-tabling $5/$10 & $3/$6 to max out rake, I might now be playing one table of $30/$60 or $50/$100 and beat it for 1.5 BB/100 because I would be playing much better poker decisions on average.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is what happened to me. I came pre-rakeback and moved up much quicker.