Raked and chopped

For some reason I can't fathom, PokerStars decided to institute a rake on their play money tables at some point within the last year. Actually, let me just do a little research to find out when ...

The first session I played which had a non-zero rake was on July 1st, 2012. For those who don't know, a rake on a poker table is how the house makes money. Every hand, some percentage of the pot goes to the house. The rake is generally capped, so that it's never more than a certain amount no matter how big the pot gets. It makes little sense to put a rake on a play money table, since any percent of any amount of play money has no real money value. The only reason I can see to do this is to get players used to a rake, so that there won't be any surprises if players transition from play money tables to real money tables.

Last night, I became aware for the first time how annoying a non-zero rake can be. On two separate occasions, I chopped the pot with another player, but neither of us made any money because of the rake. On the first occasion, we each spent $8,000, and each collected $8,000 from the pot, so neither of us came out with a profit, even though we had each won. A rake of $500 went to the house.  On the second occasion, we each spent $2,800; I collected $2,770 from the pot, and my opponent collected $2,669. The rake was $261, which was why there was an uneven amount in the pot to split. I ended up losing $30, and my opponent ended up losing $31, even though we had each won. The other $200 in the rake came from the big blind, who had folded before the flop.

I don't like being raked and chopped, but that's how poker sometimes rolls.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 29 hands and saw flop:
 - 7 out of 7 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 5 out of 6 times while in small blind (83%)
 - 11 out of 16 times in other positions (68%)
 - a total of 23 out of 29 (79%)
 Pots won at showdown - 7 of 13 (53%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $16,156
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,939,287
balance: $7,296,240