Ignore the last part of my post when it comes to cash games.
As for cash games
The rake for a 6 person .10/.25 cash game is 5% of pot @ .75 and up.
Say you pick a table with $2.00 average pots
$2.00 x .05 = rake of .10
1 full orbit = 6 x 2 = 12.00 x .05% rake = .60
Blinds = .35 every orbit (assuming I dont play a hand, dont call a raise in the BB, and I dont complete the SB.)
10 orbits x .60 rake = $6 = 6 FTP points
6 FTP points x .06 bonus = .36
10 orbits x .35 blinds = 3.5 in blinds
$3.5 in blinds to win .36 in bonus = -$3.14
@ $5.00 average pot, 10 orbits
$3.5 in blinds to win .90 in bonus = -$2.6
@ $10 average pot, 10 orbits
$3.5 in blinds to win $1.8 in bonus = -$1.7
@ $20 average pot, 10 orbits
$3.5 in blinds to win $3.6 in bonus = + .10 Good luck finding this...
The rake for a 6 person .05/.10 cash game is 10% of the pot @ .75 and up.
Say I pick a 6 person .05/.10 table that averages $2.00 pots
$2.00 x .10 = rake of .20
I full orbit = 6 x 2.00 = 12.00 x .10% rake = $1.2 in rake for every orbit.
Blinds = -.15 every orbit (assuming I dont play a hand, dont call a raise in the BB, and I dont complete the SB.)
($1.00 rake = 1 FTP point = .06 in bonus)
10 orbits x $1.2 rake = $12 total rake = 12 FTP points.
12 FTP points x .06 bonus = .72
10 orbits x .15 blinds = $1.5 in blinds
$1.50 in blinds to win .72 in bonus = -.78
@ $4.00 average pot, after 10 orbits
$1.50 in blinds to win $1.44 = -.06
@ $5.00 average pot, after 10 orbits.
$1.50 in blinds to win $1.8 = +.30 = profitable
Of course, this is assuming you dont play any
hands and the average pot stays around the same. Of course, this probably wont happen and its very likely there will be pots without any rake and there will be huge pots that'll pull in a big rake to balance things out. Also, its very unlikely that a person will sit there and not play a single hand. I still say its wise to max buy in to maximize your profits off of your big hands while earning the bonus points. For max value, i'd say its best to play in a 6 handed .05/.10 table with big average pot size + high percentage of players involved in each pot. Im assuming 9 handed has the same percentage of rake, but the cost in blinds after 10 orbits is still the same, you just get to see a few more extra hands before you have to pay.