What's an acceptable win/rate at $1/$3?

[teepack]

So far this year I've managed to play live poker four times.

I played 4 hours at MGM National Harbor and lost $300.
I played 3 hours at Mohegan Sun Pocono and won $526.
I played 5 hours at Rivers Portsmouth Casino and won $399 ($200 of that was from a hot-seat promotion)
I played 5 hours again at Rivers Portsmouth and won $98.

For the year, I've played 17 hours and am up $723. That's a rate of $42.50 per hour. If you take out the promotional win, my hourly rate is $30.75. If I take out expenses ($50 for food/gas for each trip to Rivers), then my rate dips to $36.64 and $24.88 if I don't count the $200 of promo winnings. I don't consider that I had any expenses for the first two trips because I made those as I was driving up the east coast to get my daughter from college.

Should I consider the promo winnings as part of my poker winnings?
What is a good hourly rate?

 

[takinitSLEAZEE]

I like this question, it's right there in my crosshairs for discussion. I would have to say $30ph at 1/3 is livable, for me at least. This is on top of the rake/seat-rental (here in Texas we basically rent a seat by the hour) I presume. I'm a working man on hiatus so making the same wage playing poker would require me to make at least a double-up; sit down w/300, leave w/600. Do that 3 or 4 times a week, maybe a nice trny cash and I'm good.

 

[Jillychemung]

Should I consider the promo winnings as part of my poker winnings?
What is a good hourly rate?

Yes
$25/hr before expenses

 

[steve01991]

i think 1 of 3 is good. but i think over 50% would be better.

 

[teepack]

Thanks, all. After my last trip, my hourly rate is down to about $5 per hour now. But at least I'm still up.

 

[Station_Master]

Interesting question, and I wonder if I should move to playing live if the games are as soft as they appear!

Based on online play I would say 20bb/100 hands is readily achievable v bad opponents, so that would mean 6bb per hour if you are dealt 30 hands. I.e. $18 an hour.

But given the bigger open sizes live will tend to lead to bigger pots, it might be possible to win at $20 - $25, assuming rake is reasonable and opponents are bad.

You need a big sample to accurately calculate a win rate, which is tough live. E.g. the 17 hours you played are probably only 500 hands, so its difficult to draw any conclusions from such a small sample.

 

[YLAN]

I'ld say that depend from player to player. Acceptable for me whence at least I get back the buy-in. Other expenses & time, I just charge to recreational cost for enjoying the games. Obviously, more profit is better but its not my goal to make a living out of it.

 

[ELJugador1213]

I would assume what you gain from your experience is classified as a win or loss to me. I know that i will win if i improve. I would then use ny w/l rate as a factor over a good sample size if i should move up.

 

[SpanRmonka]

If you're looking to compare to what is achievable. Then I agree with the posts above, Anything around the $20-$30 per hour mark would seem to be good.

If you're playing poker, seriously, but primarily for recreation, then I'd be prepared to be happy with any results that are keeping my BR going in the right direction and I'm still learning along the way.

You absolutely should include any promo type win, as this to me is part of game selection.

I'd add that if this was an occupation, then yes you should include your expenses of course, but if just for fun, then maybe not. For example, if you go for a meal, or go to the cinema, you are not thinking about an ROI, you are simply paying for entertainment.

It is a good idea to at least be recording/considering the expenses, but in terms of working out how successful your trips are, I'm not so sure it matters.

 

[teepack]

Good point about expenses. I only include them because it's a three-hour drive to the casino. A new casino will open much closer to me next year, so if I start playing there, I probably won't worry about expenses.