No Rake does not put me in debt, if you play well then you do not think about such things.
I disagree with this. Playing well at the lower live limits (like $1/$2) requires that you do think about such things. Sure, you know you're doing fine if you're showing a net positive, because you're obviously beating the rake. But, there are some plays and hands that become unprofitable because of the rake structure. Basically, you want to avoid a lot of the small pot hands where you don't have a dominant edge. Those pots are raked highest (relatively) and your edge can get wiped out by the rake.
Even if you're beating the rake, you should have an idea of how much it is. One of the benefits of online play is that I can see how much rake I've paid. In the long run, I've made more for the sites than I've made for myself, and that's as a long term winner. I used to have rakeback payments that rivaled my actual earnings for a month.
I joked with my friend when Carbon gave me ~$70 in incentives to come back. He was amazed that they would just give me free money. I told him that they'd make it back and more in rake if I played on their site. From July 17th until today, they've raked $161.49 from my winnings. I've cleared some extra money from their bonus program, but in all they've gotten more from my play than they gave me to come back.
The amount of money that silently slips off the tables on a
poker site can be mind-blowing. And, the smaller your edge, the more the rake hurts you. You can't really take a 55/45 flip in some games, because the rake wipes out your advantaged.
* It was really more like $50 in incentives because I had to play it through their casino and sports book before it was released for poker. And neither of those have a +EV expectation for me.