Both Blackjack and poker dealers get paid minimum wage. In some casinos the tip split is a 24 hour split, in others by shift. In some casinos the poker and BJ dealers do not pool their tips in. With the new reality of table-games gambling being immensely restricted on casino floors it’s impossible to see how officials will allow massive groups of people gathering for high-scale poker.

Some dealers exchange money in the form of bills for gaming chips, and they always keep an eye on the dice and cards to make certain there are no irregularities. Mar 26, 2019 The first way in which casinos make money is through the handle. Regardless of the game, the handle is the most important part of the gaming operator. The handle is the total amount that the players have put in bets. In table games, for example, craps, all the players put their bets in the handle, and the handle is made up of cash or chips.

With the ring or cash games, part of the drop or rake might actually go towards a jackpot pool. But you have to check about the percentage of the 'jackpot contribution' that is returned to the players when the jackpot is hit. At a few of the casinos where I play, they take HALF of the jackpot pool as an administration fee. You'd never know that if you didnt ask for the rules at the cage.

50 % of the jackpot fund is highway robbery. I think most Midwest casinos take out about 10% as an Admin. fee, but some states require that any funds collected in such a manner must be paid out to players regardless. The same idea applies to Caribbean Stud... the jackpot gets funneled into some promotion or game that must be paid to the player. The jackpot still can charge and Admin fee, but it's much higher on table games than it is in a poker room.
Actually, I think ANY Admin Fee on a player-funded jackpot pool is ridiculous... in most cases, that money sits there, untouched for a long period of time. The casino is collecting interest on that money, and in many cases, it's not paid to the pool (I think there are states where even interest must be applied to the pool). The purpose of a rake the casino's portion for running the game; any promotions they choose to run shouldn't come at the cost of the player.

For smaller casinos poker only collects enough money from the rake to pay for the cost of the poker room and the dealers. The casino is hoping that these players will stick around and play more profitable games. Sometimes friends accompany the poker player and play slots or pit games. So it is basically a loss leader.
Poker brings in 1.6% of the total gaming revenue for NV, sports brings in 1.4%, and race book brings in 0.7%. So in general you can probably refer to them collectively as means to attract people into the casinos. There are some exceptions, casinos that do make a bigger profit on poker.

I agree that a poker room 'legitimizes' a casino nowadays. It used to be a burden, now it's an asset. Smaller rooms barely make their money back, but the bigger rooms (typically run by MGM, Caesars or Hollywood) are going to be profitable. Poker is too big right now, and casinos can charge higher rakes without much backlash. The circuit tournaments, with a good turnout, are cash cows. This is why the bigger casinos run 4 of them year...Well, not ALL poker rooms are profitable. Tuscany, Fitzgeralds and Silverton all closed their poker rooms in the last couple weeks.

Well, not ALL poker rooms are profitable. Tuscany, Fitzgeralds and Silverton all closed their poker rooms in the last couple weeks.

The larger casinos run poker rooms with some exceptions. Gold Coast has Bingo instead, Paris, Cosmopolitan, and NY-NY do not have poker because it doesn't seem to fit in with the theme. The 19 poker rooms in the larger Strip hotels made $100 million last fiscal year (2.06% of revenue). The 10 poker rooms in the smaller strip resorts made $5.7 million (0.97% of revenue).
I have seen managers write about poker in their quarterly and year end financial reports about smaller casinos. They flat out tell the shareholders that poker revenue just barely covers costs, but they believe it attracts other business into the resort. It may be as simple as a wife or girlfriend (or boyfriend so as not to be sexist) who plays slots while their partner plays poker.
Clearly tournaments have to be more profitable for the casino than grabbing a percentage of the pot as a rake. People are relatively immune to lotteries taking up to half the money. But they are very sensitive to sticking your fingers in the bowl.
One floor manager told me that in decades of running the floor, the first thing any green manager will tell him is that slots make the most profit per square foot. His answer is always, of course!, any idiot knows that. But slots alone don't bring people in the door.

It may be as simple as a wife or girlfriend (or boyfriend so as not to be sexist) who plays slots while their partner plays poker.

How Do Casinos Make Money On Poker Tables Near Me

It doesn't necessarily need to be a second person.
There is hardly any casino trip that I devote exclusively to poker. You'll ALWAYS find me at a craps table for at least one short session. Maybe longer or more than one...
And if I did particularly well at poker, I might be inclined to play a little looser at craps.

The larger casinos run poker rooms with some exceptions. Gold Coast has Bingo instead, Paris, Cosmopolitan, and NY-NY do not have poker because it doesn't seem to fit in with the theme.

Paris and NY-NY do not offer poker largely because of space restrictions and the fact that neighboring properties DO offer poker. My understanding was Paris closed theirs to funnel all the action over to Bally's and now Planet Hollywood. It's cheaper to run one larger poker room, than two separate rooms. NY-NY doesn't have a great space for poker, given it's open air layout and awkward paths. My guess is they, too, wanted to funnel action to other rooms, though MGM properties tend to all have poker rooms, so I'm not sure that's as valid of an argument.
Why Cosmopolitan doesn't offer one is a huge question to me. I disagree that it doesn't fit in the theme. Poker is a chic game, and of all the places on the strip, I would think they could have the coolest one around. There's a lot of great places they could put it too, and possibly even offer some sort of higher level so you get a nice view of the strip.

slots make the most profit per square foot. His answer is always, of course!, any idiot knows that. But slots alone don't bring people in the door.

Precisely. Its a casino and many customers define the look and feel differently. Some slot players don't go near table games but they still consider them to be part of the ambiance. Even Table Game players tend to enjoy the sights and sounds of slot machines paying off. Consider the interests of spouses, rail birds, etc. and it can be that a poker room makes its money by attracting customers. Just as a Casino's Bingo Room makes money on the even hours wherein Bingo players utilize the slot machines, so too some casinos may make money on their poker rooms under times and circumstances not discernible to bean counters.
Poker rooms have reputations for tight-fisted locals, Tourists, ... whatever. I don't think its the question of how much a poker room actually brings in, but how much a casino loses if they close the poker room. Think of those famous shrimp cocktails. Its not cost of all that shrimp, its the cost of ending the special promotion.

It doesn't necessarily need to be a second person.
There is hardly any casino trip that I devote exclusively to poker. You'll ALWAYS find me at a craps table for at least one short session. Maybe longer or more than one...
And if I did particularly well at poker, I might be inclined to play a little looser at craps.

I definitely second this opinion. I often see guys I know only from the poker room playing high limit blackjack or slots. I usually try to hit the poker rooms when a tournament is ending. Just love all those moves and bluffing the tournament players try at low limit hold'em. LOL

I understand completely. For what it's worth, I'm 52, and this was my first cruise. Before I sailed, I didn't think I was a cruise person either. Now I'm anxious to go again.

You are 'eager' to go again. 'Anxious' means you are anticipating something negative, 'Eager' means you are looking forward to something positive ;)

Many different paths carry first-timers to the poker table. Some come to poker via other card games, while others find poker after having sampled other gambling games in the casino such as blackjack, craps, or roulette. Sports bettors also sometimes wander from the sportsbook over to the poker room and find themselves in a game — and perhaps find poker intriguing thanks to the sports-resembling competition the game provides.

Those who stick with the game do so for many reasons as well, although most are motivated by the prospect of making a profit at poker. Especially those who win at first — which happens quite a lot — will keep playing to try to win more, with some even being encouraged to think about winning a lot more and perhaps even to become professional poker players.

But while poker is a game that rewards skill, luck plays a role, too. Those who initially win at poker likely do so in part because of getting dealt good cards, hitting draws when they need to and avoiding others' hitting theirs. Only those who take some time to learn poker strategy and gain experience are usually able to sustain that success over longer periods.

In other words, the short answer to the question 'Can I make money playing poker?' is obviously that you can, but you also need to be willing to put in the work to increase your skills and have an advantage over your opponents. The fact is, while it's certainly possible to win at a single cash game session or go deep and win a lot in a single tournament, only a small percentage of players remain profitable long term, and invariably those players are better skilled than those who do not.

Let's look a little more closely at the question, however, by asking a few other questions addressing factors that will affect the likelihood of your being able to make money at poker as well as how much money you can make.

1. What is your win rate?

The generic term 'win rate' is used to refer to how much someone is winning at poker over a given period of time or hands played, although in truth the term is also used when referring to how much a player is losing, too. A player with a positive win rate is profiting at poker while a player with a negative win rate is not. Calculating your win rate is done differently in cash games and in tournaments.

In cash games, a win rate is usually expressed as the amount won per hour or 100 hands. In no-limit hold'em or pot-limit Omaha, the unit of measurement is often converted to big blinds — e.g., in a $1/$2 NLHE game, making a profit of $10 = winning 5 big blinds.

Meanwhile in limit hold'em, stud games, and others with fixed-limit betting the amount won is usually measured by the number of 'big bets' it represents. For instance, in a limit hold'em game where the small bet is $2 (preflop and flop) and the big bet is $4 (turn and river), a player who makes $100 is said to have won 25 'big bets.' (Somewhat confusingly, both 'big blinds' and 'big bets' are often abbreviated as 'BB.')

Meanwhile in tournaments a win rate is usually expressed as a player's 'return on investment' or 'ROI.' Divide your profits by your expenses and multiply by 100, and you get a percentage representing your ROI. For instance, if you spend $200 in buy-ins and cash for $220 total, your ROI is $20 (the profit) / $200 = 0.1 * 100 = 10%.

Obviously if your win rate or ROI is negative, you aren't making money playing poker. But even if you enjoy a positive win rate or ROI, you need to consider other expenses related to playing poker and look at whether or not your winnings are exceeding them. If it costs you $10 in gas every night to get to and from a poker room and you're only averaging winning $5 per session, your win rate is positive but you aren't making money. Or if you spend $10,000 over the course of a year traveling to poker tournaments but only have an ROI good enough to earn you $8,000 worth of cashes during that time, you're technically 'winning at poker' but losing money overall.

The biggest point to take away here is that if you are interested in making money at poker and don't keep track of your wins and losses, start doing so right now. Find out what your win rate or ROI is, take into account other possible expenses associated with playing poker, then you'll see whether or not you are making money at poker. You'll also likely be encouraged to sharpen your study of the game in order to try to increase your profit if you're winning (or to become profitable if you're losing).

2. How much do you play?

Another question to ask when addressing the larger question of whether or not you can make money playing poker is to consider just how much poker you're playing.

If you're strictly a recreational player who only joins a home game once per week or who plays online poker for an hour or two here and there, you can still win at poker but only a limited amount. Also, those who play poker only sparingly aren't necessarily gaining experience and knowledge that will help them build their skills and win more consistently.

A number of serious players who put in a lot of 'volume' at the tables are able to increase their profit steadily even if their win rates are somewhat low. Most tend to consider cash games a more reliable way to make money at poker given the higher variance of poker tournaments.

How Do Casinos Make Money On Poker Tables 2019

If you think about it, in most poker tournaments only the top 10 or 15 percent of finishers enjoy any profit at all, so it logically follows that the majority of players finish out of the money most of the time they play. Really only the most successful tournament players are able to cash enough to sustain an ROI as high as 10 or 20 percent (or more), with most who are profitable sitting in the 5-10 percent range.

That means when playing tournaments even good players lose money more often than they win money. But when they win they win enough to more than make up for the losses, sometimes hitting especially big scores when finishing at a final table or winning the entire tournament and getting back 10, 20, 50, or even 100 times the buy-in.

Cash games tend to be less volatile that way, although even there good players will frequently have losing sessions. They may even have more losing sessions than winning ones, although they manage to enjoy larger profits than losses, generally speaking, and thus have positive win rates. Even so, if you don't practice sound bankroll management, you can experience one very bad cash game session and lose everything you've won and then some.

Once you've figured out your win rate, you can think about how much you need to play in order to make a desired amount over a given period of time.

You should also try to gauge what is the best amount of time to play poker for you in order to increase your chances of remaining profitable. Some are better of playing, say, only 10-20 hours per week than 40-50 hours per week, or shorter sessions instead of long ones, because they have trouble focusing and thus playing well over longer periods. Meanwhile others can put in those extra hours and not suffer as a result.

3. What stakes are you playing (and are they right for you)?

Probably the most important question to answer when delving more deeply into whether or not you can make money at poker is to look at the stakes for which you are playing. And — importantly — whether you are choosing well when deciding upon your stakes and sitting down in games in which you can win and win consistently.

One common misconception among new players is that the best way to win more money at poker is to play for higher stakes. A player who wins consistently at the $1/$2 NLHE cash game might imagine simply picking up and moving over to the $10/$20 game will result in winning 10 times as much money, but more often than not such ideas turn out to be foolhardy.

Games of different stakes attract differently skilled players. While the lowest stakes games almost always include the least-skilled and least-experienced, they attract strong players sometimes, too. Similarly, many of the best players can be found in the higher stakes games, but there also will inexperienced or poor players sometimes sitting around the table.

How Do Casinos Make Money On Poker Tables Without

On average, though, the higher the stakes the tougher the games. Thus do the profitable players' win rates actually go down as the buy-ins and/or stakes go up. In online cash games (just to cite one example), NLHE players of the lowest stakes including the 'micros' have been known to sustain win rates of as much as 20-40 BB/100 hands over large sample sizes, while the best players in the higher NLHE games online generally top out at around 3-8 BB/100 hands.

That's one reason to be realistic about moving up in stakes in poker — even if you're great and better than most in the games, you aren't going to win at the same rate you did at the lower stakes.

But you also need to be practical about your own ability as a poker player and recognize when the competition is too tough to beat. As you move around and test out which stakes work for you, continue keeping accurate records and note at which stakes (for cash games) or buy-ins (for tournaments) you are winning most consistently, and where you are winning less or losing.

How Do Casinos Make Money On Poker Tables Near Me

Sometimes you might find it hard to win in a lower stakes game than in one a notch or two above, simply because of your particular skill set and how well you respond to the styles and tendencies of others. More often, though, there will be a stakes 'threshold' (of sorts) above which you might take shots now and then but probably shouldn't go on a regular basis.

In any case, be honest with yourself and smart with your bankroll, and your chances of making money at poker will increase as a result.

• Tags

  cash game strategytournament strategyno-limit hold’embankroll managementwin rateROIgame selectionmixed gameshome gamesvariancerecord-keeping

• Related Room

  Full Tilt

• Related Players

  Variance