You might think that the winning player gets the entire pot of chips when they prevail in a poker hand, but you’d be wrong.
Why? Because in the absolute vast majority of cases, the poker site that you are playing at will take a ‘rake’ from the pot.
That’s so that they can pay for their associated costs, which in bricks and mortar casinos include staff salaries, energy bills, guest comps and all the rest of it. But be under no illusion, most online casinos also charge a rake on their games as well.
Ultimately, if you play hundreds of pots a year and the casino is taking a small percentage of them in rake, clearly you are not winning as much money as you could be. That’s why players tend to look out for low rake poker sites, or those that offer some kind of rake-back promotion – more on those shortly.
How is the Rake in Poker Calculated?
There are different methods of calculating rake that a casino or poker site can use, although the most common by far is a percentage based approach.
As the name suggests, the rake here is a flat percentage of the pot, which is taken no matter what size the pot gets to. Typically, the percentage taken is between 2.5% and 5%, although there are casinos and poker sites commanding 10% rake – these really do need to work hard with bonuses and other incentives to keep players on board in such unappealing conditions.
However, there will often be a cap imposed on how much rake the house can take. For example, if the cap is £25 and the pot percentage is 10%, if the pot increases to £500 then they would only take that £25 limit – rather than the £50 rake that the normal calculation would suggest.
Some poker sites will instead opt for a fixed pot rake; a specific amount that is taken when the pot reaches a certain size, e.g. £2 from every £50 pot. If the pot doesn’t reach this size due to small stakes or a flurry of players folding their hands early, no rake is taken.
Another way that poker rake might be taken is via a timed interval approach. Here, a specific amount is taken from each player after certain timeframes – e.g. £1 every half-hour. In these situations, you need to manage your bankroll accordingly.
From time to time, you might come across a ‘dead drop’ poker rake. Similar to timed rake, this requires you to pay a specified amount every hour on the hour – the so-called dead drop. If you cannot pay the rake, you will be removed from the game.
How is Poker Rake Different in Tournament Play?
When you enter a poker tournament, a quick bit of maths will reveal that the house is taking their rake before a card has even been dealt.
For example, if 100 players enter a tourney with a buy-in of £10, you would expect the prize kitty to total £1,000. However, it’s very rare that this will be the case – more likely, a sum of around £975 will be split between those that finish in the paid places, with the other £25 taken as rake.
To ensure you maximise your chances of profitability in the long run, you should look to only enter tournaments with a low rake structure – anything else is simply taking that all-important prize money out of your pocket.
Rake-Back and Reduced Rake
Casinos and poker sites know that rake is considered a scourge by most players; in fact, getting the lowest rake possible is one of the factors that goes into deciding which operators to join and which to avoid.
To try and combat that, sites that have a high rake structure on the whole will try to entice players in a handful of different ways: the creation of sporadic ‘no rake’ games, or at least those with a reduced rake structure, are designed to appeal to the most cost-conscious players.
Similarly, there’s operators that offer rake-back promotions to new and existing customers. A form of loyalty programme as opposed to a welcome bonus, rake-back promos reward players by handing them a percentage of the rakes they have paid back as bonus funds. The idea is that players will be likely to play more games and tournaments as a result.
How Does Rake Affect Poker Strategy?
The higher the rake, the smaller the pot prize – it’s amazing how that can shape the mindset of poker players.
Those that play a tighter, more conservative game are arguably more mindful of rake – their grinding style of fewer hands played per hour can be decimated by an aggressive rake structure, because they simply aren’t playing/winning enough hands to compensate for it.
It’s interesting too that some poker rooms deploy a ‘no flop, no drop’ policy. In short, if a round doesn’t go to the flop because a player has taken the pot in the opening salvos of wagering, no rake is taken. That in itself can help to incentivise aggressive pre-flop strategy.
It goes without saying that with some rake structures, the longer you play the more you will pay in rake tax. That refers to both time and the volume of hands played, which is another reason why some players prefer the ‘early bird’ approach and stake larger percentages of their chip stack per hand – they don’t want their bankroll to be drained by continuous rake payments.
Generally speaking, although this isn’t always the rule of thumb, the higher the rake then the quicker the game/tournament will be over – players will typically bet bigger and be more assertive during high rake action. Conversely, when the rake is low or none is taken, the play will often be more conservative as those seated at the table wait for the right cards to come along.
Of course, when rake is depleting a player’s bankroll, they may become more cautious – folding hands they might otherwise call with. Understanding the amount of rake you will be charged and when is another weapon in the armoury of a poker player, as it will undoubtedly have some bearing on how each of your opponents goes about their business on the felt.