Bart vs the Texas Rake: Who Will Win? 

I'm on tilt now because the caller drove me nuts.

I love how Bart is trying to put people on ranges based on the fact that they limped in a certain position. 7 people limped in a small stakes game. Their range is that they probably have 2 cards.

Playing for a week in Dallas next week and couldn't be more excited after this call

The caller is entirely missing the point about clubs taking rake. The clubs in Houston are no longer being raided precisely because the authorities are satisfied that the “social club” model is permissible as long as members are playing for time and the club isn’t taking rake. Any poker rooms that decide to take rake are expressly stepping outside of the social club model and are at a decent risk of getting shut down.

As Bart has said, players that flop small flushes and get it counterfeited, still tend to overvalue their flush.

21:27 “if he has THIS ONE SPECIFIC HAND COMBO…. THEN IM WAY BEHIND” Lol

Villain calls in next week “so anyway, I limp from +1 with a suited two gapper, and everybody calls.”

$10/hand is really close to $7/hour in the caller's world. This guy must win a ton of hands.

Watauga got raided on day 2 of a 100k tourney and the cops stole all the money

I thought this was a good call. Listening to these calls with betting strategy from Bart is appreciated. I understand the caller had a sincere opinion but for me $7 an hour is way better than a rake even with zero risk of a raid.

Caller seemed super confused why a set with 22% equity against him would call a a small turn bet getting the direct odds to call

21:30 I love that caller is such an OMC that he’s convinced villain is loose enough to limp with 53dd from UTG+1 but also would never call a bet with a set/two pair/Jdx

Caller is completely delusional - no winning player would prefer $10/hand vs $7/hour just to get some free beer and watch somebody else win some gimmicky promotion. Clubs taking rake are breaking the law, just because current city/county leadership isn't pursuing them doesn't mean that won't change in the future.

Houston Local: numbers $7/Hr. Seat fee no door fee. Plus $2 take per hand. Let’s assume 30 hands on high side per hour. That’s an extra $60 if you assume 8 handed play $7.50 per house divided evenly you are paying $14.50 per hour on average. Playing 1/3$ uncapped with a $6 btn straddle 1/3/6$. $14.50 you get free food and drinks (non alcoholic) and there is bad beat jackpots $5k progressive. Not terrible Vs a $10-12 seat fee plus $10 typical door fee. Plus Legends has 8+ games/tables going 24/7. I did the math and I hate rake but the value is close.

This is much better in long version than the short

I believe this caller greatly underestimates the ability of the law in Texas to do whatever the F they want.

The big problem here is that the caller simply doesn't understand that you MAKE your money in poker by getting opponents to call with worse when you're ahead; or folding a better hand. You can't be seeing monsters under the bed all the time. Straight flushes that require 2 cards are just too rare. Betting the turn here is 100%. I had a similar hand awhile back where I had KK with the K of diamonds. The board was like Ad 3s 5d 8d 4d. The flop action checked around 4 ways. Turn the HJ bet into me (on the button), I call and the SB calls. The river checked to me, of course I bet and now the SB raises. On one hand, what else can he be raising here but the straight flush; but on the other, why didn't he bet or check-raise the turn? At that point he doesn't have the nuts, but does have a flush. I still had to make the call, simply because the craziest bluffs are still going to be more frequent than a straight flush. Sure enough though I get shown 67 of diamonds.

I think possibly good way to describe the rake model would be "predatory"

I play at Legends only during the day when it's free play. The poker scene isn't as robust as I thought it would be in Houston. Rare 24hr games and most of the clubs listed on the poker apps aren't even open.

Rooting for you in the main event regardless of weather I win a piece!

OMC is crazy here. The clubs giving the most back down here are the ones doing it legally. I literally got 40 hours for $100 at Capri in South Houston area the other day. They must be handing out lobsters at Legends lol.

The fact that the chips stay on the table is a major reason why time games are better than rake games.

I would have played the hand as if villain had AdXo, a set, or something like 6d5d. Turn rules out the first one. He did fine to jam turn, I might have just minraised or 2.5x'ed it, depending upon how likely I thought a set was, vs underflush, vs straight flush draw. Make him put more money in the pot before a board pair or 3d. Any turn raise looks super strong, so I'd just try picking an amount he would call not only with hands which are drawing to 1 or 10 outs, but also with ones that are drawing dead. You'd be shocked at how many people would call a $180 minraise there with one out, just to see if they hit the straight flush, when they'd never call with 2 pair and 4 outs to a boat.

Poker is alive and well.

I’m in Europe and I would love a membership format rather than rake… that said if taking rake is illegal and for some reason the club gets closed down for illegal activity then your probably not getting your money back out of that club, right?

It's one thing to think J8 of diamonds is good on the flop. After the turn though there's no universe where it's good. :)

Just wondering if the places with the high hands etc draw a weaker field.

combo draws might call the flop. ace diamonds with an offsuit 5 or 3 is a combo draw and it's texas / a soft game where they love junk aces. ace with a pair as you mentioned.

from villian perspective weird he didnt bet the flop himself either, and then on turn I would check a fair amount of the time there to give hero chance to bluff river and pot control against the better flushes.

Texas club in watuga was raided in October with chips seized and $360 tickets written. Charges were dropped by the DA but I had heard they raided for suspicion of rake as well as the owner running backroom table games.

Your link to the giveaway isn’t working, it’s not clickable.

Most rooms that take rake also extend credit to known players.

Stopped at 19:39 to say that I disagree with Bart's take that he's not worried about 53dd. 53dd is _exactly_ the hand that someone who decided to limp-call pre, and _then_ limp-call hero's monster check-raise is quite likely to show up with. Especially in an uncapped _Texas_ 1/3 game. Now, I'm never _folding_ in hero's spot once we've gotten this much money in going to the turn - in part because 56dd is the other holding that might get played this way - but I expect to have been turned dead some percentage of the time. And I'm OK with it. At 1.5 SPR at the start of the turn action, I'm going to ride or die with the second nuts.

I actually guessed the villains exact hand on the turn. I figured he would open JTdd. The A, K, Q, 9 are accounted for. Therefore J8dd. Other then that, my only thought is this seems like a very soft game.

Legends is $7 an hour plus $2 a hand for the free food

Bet when you have the best hand. Don't think "they won't call." You'd be surprised what people will do. Bet your good hands. The money isn't going to put itself into the pot.

@$10/hrs that's $200 / hrs disappearing. With only time, no money disappears. Bart is 100% right. I'm in Austin.

By check raising the flop what he does is exactly makes his hand look like what it was. By flatting the flop bet he wouldn't expose the strength. Personally I wouldn't care about ending the hand with the check raise, but of course he's face up at that point.

Good morning!

Lmao at “you mean the hijack right” “Nope”

I think it's hard to say check call turn lead river is better then check jamming turn. Feel like most low stakes players in villains spot/perspective would assume Q or K would never check jam turn so maybe he just thinks caller is clicking buttons, I think ev would be close especially when you consider that the river lead would maybe not be for the remaining 500 but only 300 or 250. Also check jamming turn is perfect play if villain was turning a set into a bluff because he's fucked himself with the price. Also board will pair 25% of time which will make it significantly harder to get called by worse flushes with the check call, lead line. Think this is sort of a spot where you should be genuinely be balanced and actually mixing up how you play the nuts

At a $10 rake they're taking more than the max Buy in on a 1/2-game every hour. Long-term it would be impossible to profit in this game.

All in with AJ with 2 hands to play till day 3? OMG! Obviously you were going to be behind on any callers

Hard to listen to. But great analysis. thanks Bart

I play at underground rooms in New York all the time and one club was raided 3 separate times... before they let the police in (they have a double door with a buzzer) they run around and give everyone their money back.... nothing happens to the players they ask who runs it and who the dealers are and we just play dumb and say we don't know it's our first time there blah blah....cops take chips, tvs, tables everything....1 week later club is up and running in a new location.

Before the river* For some reason I think he has the straight flush. Idk what bets on turn Edit* this was a good call. And makes sense now

I agree with Bart that the flop call isn't the most important thing. The most important thing to me is that there are NINE diamonds in play! Who pulled them out of their sleeves??? 😂

So 1. It’s not about the local municipality. The state can step in at any given time. And taking rake is a clear violation of state law. Period.

"the days of raids are over" - until the next raid, sigh.

Monsters under the bed. Pops should be blasting off here.

If I could poker room and charge rake I would do that too shit I’m trying to make money that’s your choice play there or not

This guy sounds like the guy that sells old guns on pawn stars

ok stopped at 14 min. Two problem with the caller mindset, no it's not guaranteed someone has Ad, infact it's very likely no one has that card. 2. I think check raising is super strong, too strong for a nut flush hand. you want to appear weak in this instant and the best way is by pretending to bet for a draw.

Can I get a side bet if Bart leads with ‘I’m giving away….’?

time charge and rake are both deadly in the end unless youre a super player and also leveraging poker playing to create other income you will end up broke playing on a regular basis its quite simple

Hero is also a fool.

What this guy likes or does not like DOES NOT matter! It is ALL about what the laws in Texas say!

100% agree with not raising hands on the bottom edge of our blind raising range against a table of uknowns. Being out of positions is a huge disadvantage.

And all this analysis ends up meaningless because as usual the villain was just an idiot.

Does caller work or own a poker room that takes rake? Can't think of anyone else who would have such a terrible take

Time rake will always be the best deal for the winning players and the worst deal for losing players… when you lose all the pots you play you never really pay rake but being asked to pay time as you leave after dropping a few grand will tilt even the biggest whales 😂

There is no regulatory agency on poker in Texas so no fear of retaliation from the authorities. The popular social clubs have no daily fees and give away free food and other enticements to play. In Hold’em the max buy in is $1K or match a stack. The players are very sticky at Legends!

Thumb nail is completely ridiculous. Well done Bart.

Sec. 47.02. GAMBLING. (a) A person commits an offense if he: ........ (3) plays and bets for money or other thing of value at any game played with cards, dice, balls, or any other gambling device. (b) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that: (1) the actor engaged in gambling in a private place; (2) no person received any economic benefit other than personal winnings;"

Replying to "charging rake as a marketing decision," the $1/2-1/3 player pool will not, by and large, pay a time rake because they have a (probably incorrect) skewed perception that time rake is taking more money out of their pocket, they might pay for a down then go bust, etc. The players just don't want it.

People from Texas generally don't look at all like that preview picture BTW, at least not in Dallas. They don't look anywhere near that dumb, although most of them are. I can say that confidently, having played home games here since 2005.

The whole Texas card room industry is in violation of the spirit of Texas law. Players should create clubs that are truly non-profit. As for the membership model.... That is just an attempt to sidestep the clear intent of the law. This idea that we must have for profit card rooms in order to play poker seems deeply flawed.

weak play from both players and bart somewhere in the middle trying to explain this and that...funny hand

How to spend 30 minutes talking about a hand that takes 5 minutes to dissect. The villain is a fish, plain and simple. What else do we have to say? Youre in a good game. Congrats, get that chedda

Caller is stupid... they give back more. Ya I wonder why😂

Texas poker operates under a "gray area", taking advantage of styling themselves as "private clubs". Taking a rake explodes that legal strategy. A private club exists for the "mutual" benefit of members. Rake violates that "mutual" benefit construct. If we actually had an Attorney General with integrity, he would have issues an advisory opinion 4-5 years ago, blowing up poker in Texas.

This caller is promoting dangerous ideas.

logical Perspective and Texas, LoL

Texas games are next level soft.