How Rake Affects Your Win Rate
Rake Is The Fee A Cash Game Takes From Each Pot, And Because It Is Capped It Costs Small Pots The Most: In An Example Structure Of 5% Capped At 3 Big Blinds, A 10 Big Blind Pot Pays 0.5 Big Blinds And A 100 Big Blind Pot Pays Only 3, Which Is 3%.
Cash Lesson From Smarter.Poker, Updated
How Rake Is Taken
Most Cash Games Take A Percentage Of Each Pot Up To A Cap. Many Also Follow A Rule Often Called No Flop No Drop, Where A Pot That Ends Before The Flop Pays No Rake. The Structure Varies By Room And Stake, So Always Read The One You Are Playing. The Figures Below Use An Example Of 5% Capped At 3 Big Blinds To Show The Shape, Not Any Particular Room.
| Pot | Rake | Effective Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 4 BB | 0.2 BB | 5% |
| 10 BB | 0.5 BB | 5% |
| 20 BB | 1 BB | 5% |
| 40 BB | 2 BB | 5% |
| 60 BB | 3 BB | 5% |
| 100 BB | 3 BB | 3% |
What Rake Does To Strategy
Because The Cap Only Bites In Large Pots, Small And Medium Pots Pay The Full Rate. In The Example, Every Pot Up To 60 Big Blinds Pays The Full 5%, And Only The Largest Pots Pay Less. A Player Who Wins Many Small Pots Pays Far More Rake Per Big Blind Won Than A Player Who Wins Fewer, Larger Ones.
That Pushes Good Strategy In A Clear Direction. Limping And Calling To See Cheap Flops Is Expensive, Because Those Small Pots Are Raked At The Highest Effective Rate. Raising First In And Winning The Blinds Before The Flop Is Cheap, Because Under No Flop No Drop Those Pots Are Not Raked At All. The Higher The Rake, The More A Tight Aggressive Opening Strategy Is Rewarded.
Measuring Rake Against Your Results
Win Rates In Cash Games Are Usually Measured In Big Blinds Won Per 100 Hands. Rake Comes Straight Out Of That Number, So The Same Player Can Be A Winner In A Lightly Raked Game And A Loser In A Heavily Raked One. Track What You Pay, Not Only What You Win, And Compare It With Your Win Rate.
Rakeback And Loyalty Programmes Return Part Of The Rake To Players, And In Heavily Raked Games They Can Be The Difference Between Winning And Losing. Factor Them Into Any Comparison Between Games. Smarter.Poker Itself Uses Play Credit Only, With No Real Money Gambling, So This Lesson Describes Cash Games You May Play Elsewhere; You Can Practise The Preflop Discipline That Rake Rewards In The Training Games Here.
Keep Learning
- Bankroll Rules For Cash Games
- Preflop Opening Ranges By Position
- How To Play In Straddle Games
- Expected Value (EV) In Poker
Poker Terms In This Lesson
Practise It On Smarter.Poker
The Answer Above Is Complete. When You Want To Drill It, These Are The Matching Training Tools.
- Play Rake Awareness The Training Game For This Lesson.
- Open Jarvis Training Insights Jarvis Explains Your Training Decisions In Words.
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