Many people will swear up and down that $2/4 and $3/6 limit games can’t be beaten because of the rake. I doubt they’re basing this pronouncement on an exhaustive sample, because I doubt there are any good players patient enough to play low stakes for the 3000 hours or so that would be necessary to get a reasonable sample.
So we turn to theory. I have a theoretical argument that makes sense to me to explain why the rake must be beatable. No one’s ever answered this argument. I present it not because I’m certain that it’s right, but because I wish people would either refute it or STFU about low-limit rake until they can refute it.
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Malmuth famously estimated that a good player would make 1 BBet/hour in the mid-limits. I haven’t played much mid-limit HE, but it’s not hard to imagine that the players are much worse in $3/6. Not a little worse.
If a bad player calls $6 when she really has only $1.50 in equity, but the same player wouldn’t be in a $15/30 game to make that call, that’s $4.50 toward the rake that isn’t happening at the mid-limits. That should be almost enough to overcome the higher percentage rake.
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[My standard terse answer from now on, linking back here:]
That said, obviously if you play $2/4 you’re only playing to have fun and not to make serious loot.
