Beating the (online) rake

Grafter

I'm a half decent player. Not great, pretty ABC, but not totally stoopid.

In 2006 I was comfortably winning at the tables and bonuses/rakeback were just that = extra.

In 2007 I'd have been OK ahead if poker was rake free, but it ain't, so I was just ahead/about even on the tables and so needed kickbacks to make it worthwhile.

This year, only the extras kept me in the game first half of the year, but I'm recently winning at a decent rate again.

If we can possibly skip the

[ ] you suck
[ ] it's variance, get used to it
[ ] get better at poker
[ ] ancient games console

is it just me or has the game that was getting harder over time just found some credit crunch gamblers?

ocallagh

I know you say don't mention variance, but unless you are playing like +20k hands per month you have to take it into account. I think in general the games are just getting tougher and tougher. Maybe the last few weeks we've had some people blowing off steam but I haven't noticed much

RoundTower

based on just the info in the OP

70% chance it's just variance
15% chance you're playing better or tilting less or similar
15% chance the games you're playing got softer

doke

Online cash has definitely got a fair bit tougher in the last year. Evolution/natural selection, I think.

STTs have also gotten tougher to beat. Still value, but not as much.

MTTs are the only area I haven't noticed much improvement but then I don't play that many of those so I'm going on a smaller sample.

zuroph

lack of americans

ocallagh

yeah, the standard in MTTs is ridiculous, the rake/variance doesn't suit many pro's and they appeal to donks because you can win the wsop. I'm not surprised the standard is still quite low. They can be profitable, but I still think cash is better