Staford Wong used ot refer to blackjack tournaments as either negative equity, neutral equity, or positive equity. In negative equity tournaments the house was taking a percentage of the entry fees. In neutral equity tournaments all the money was returned to the public. And in positive equity tournaments the house added money to the prize pool. Wong shied away from the negative equity tournements.
Poker tournaments are negative equity affairs but if a player is good enough, he/she can have a positive expectation.
In cash game poker the player who wins the pot is paying a "rake" or "commission" for services provided. It can have a big effect on ones bottom line, especially at low limits. But some players do have positive expectations in these spots. I remember one 3/6 game where I was making about $8 an hour, but if the rake hadn't been there I would have been making about $22 an hour.
Most winning players I know believe one has to be playing at the 10/20 level or higher to have any kind of decent hourly rate. Poker is essentially a percentage game. There is a big difference, percentagewise, between $4 coming out of a $40 pot, and $4 coming out of a $100 pot.
The Big Game, hosted by Chip Reese and Doyle Brunson, moved out of the Mirage so Bobby Baldwin, Mirage exec, could play in the game. It moved around town to spots like Sam's Town, Rampart, Golden Nugget, Planet Hollywood. Chip and Doyle pretty much dictated there own terms. They wouldn't pay more than $100 an hour for a table and dealers. The house collected every hour and the money was paid by whoever won the next pot.
Eric Drache let them play for free, for publicity purposes, when the Golden Nugget reopened it's poker room.
