The percentage of rake charged by operators has been the subject of fierce debate in the poker community. While professional players have long sought to lower the fee in order to improve their win rate, poker rooms have grappled with setting a rake that appeases grinders and recreational players, while allowing for the operator to make a profit.

Now, Pot Limit Omahaplayers have called on
PokerStarsambassador Daniel Negreanu to press company executives to lower what they believe is a disproportionate amount of rake taken from the game. This was also covered in last week’s PokerScout Scouting Report.

Negreanu, who is in full agreement of a rake reduction in PLO games, first responded to player concerns in a podcast hosted by Joe “ChicagoJoey” Ingram. In it, he assured that he would do what he could to present the issue to higher-ups.

The six-time bracelet winner also appeared in a Two Plus Two thread where the issue was discussed in detail. “The reason for concern, first of all, is that PLO players pay significantly higher rake in bb/100 compared to the NLHE players,” said poster napsus. “Data shows that the bb/100 rake [in PLO] is more than double at micro-stakes PLO compared to the respective NLHE game.”

By nature, PLO hands have similar equities pre-flop and therefore do not enjoy a strong advantage over one another. That means that more flops are seen and more rake is taken compared to No Limit Hold’em games.

napsus illustrated the difference in a breakdown of rake rates in his post. In regular $1/$2 games, he found that 71% more rake was taken in PLO than at NLHE tables of the same stake. At $0.50/$1, the situation was worse, with PLO players paying 76% more than NLHE players.

At $0.25/$0.50, players are charged more than double their NLHE counterparts at 102%. Players at $0.10/$0.25 get the worst deal of all, paying an average of 112% more than they would in NLHE games. The graph pictured is courtesy of PokerScout.

He added that the excessive rake, coupled with the fact that fish are becoming increasingly rare, could have a devastating effect on the health of the games. “There are also fewer recreational players per regular in the Zoom games and thus win rates are getting smaller or even negativein those games,” he complained. “The introduction of fast-fold poker had a significant negative effect on win rates.”

In response, Negreanu indicated that he would soon broach the issue with the company, but warned that he did not have the authority to make such changes. “Obviously, I can’t make any promises since I don’t have the power to make these decisions, but I can promise you that I will do my best to make a case for an adjustment here.”

Some operators, like Unibet, seem to be listening to players’ concerns and announced that it would reduce the rake in PLO25 games from 5% to 3%. We have yet to hear back from Negreanu on the issue, but when we do, we’ll update you on the situation.

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