THE RAKE

Texas Holdem is played player-against-player – you don’t play against the casino. Why would a casino offer that game if they don’t stand to make money? Enter the ‘rake,’ a small percentage of the pot the house takes from each hand, up to a set maximum. Every casino, both live and online, have their own rake percentages, so be aware that they’re not all the same. A typical casino rake is 5% or 10% to a maximum of $3 or $5 per hand. The percentages are usually lower online, which is certainly a bonus as you get to keep more of your money!

Casinos also take a commission for tournaments, which is normally a percentage of the entry fee, usually about 10%. If it costs $10 to enter a tournament, then $1 (10%) would go to the casino for their take.

HOW TO FIGURE OUT THE RAKE AND OVERCOME IT:

In a game that charges a 10% rake with a $3 maximum, if the pot is $30, 10% is $3 (which happens to be the maximum). If the pot is $100 or $1000, the casino will still only take $3; $3 of $1000 is only 0.3%. That said, in order to overcome the rake, you should strive for bigger pots to decrease the percentage taken from your winnings.

When you play Texas Holdem in a live casino, it’s courteous to tip the dealer $1 or $2 per pot, depending on how high the stakes are. You’ll need to factor that into your calculations as well.

Check out award-winning PokerStars.com for excellent deals on rakes. The maximum rake is $5 for higher-valued pots; it’s even less for smaller pots. PokerStars.com has state-of-the-art security technology to give you piece of mind that your cash deposits are secure.

HOW TO GET SOME OF YOUR MONEY BACK: THE RAKE BACK

Did you know that in some cases, you might be able to get a percentage (usually 30%) of your rake returned to you? This is called a ‘rake back’ and requires you to sign up with a rake back business online. Most of them include fees collected in online tournaments as well. Rake backs apply to only to online poker and not live casino play.

Previous page | Next page