The cash games with rake are the most profitable for the poker rooms, where about 80-85% of the revenue in the industry comes from. The tournaments are not as profitable, as many of them are multi-table tournaments taking up to several hours for the average player to complete. Regardless of the time it takes to play it does not cost the player more than the initial fee.
The percentage taken out as rake in cash games is usually 5%, raked in intervals of 25 cents up to a maximum cap of $1-$3 depending on the stakes and number of players. Short-handed tables have a lower maximum cap and heads-up often have a $0.50 maximum cap. The effective rake tends to be roughly 3.5% in low limit games (e.g. up to $3/$6 fixed limit), close to 2% in mid-limit games (e.g. up to $15/$30 fixed limit) and much lower in the high-limit games. This is due to the fact that the rake is between 2.5%-5% depending on where the pot " lands" in the intervals and then is capped at $3 regardless of the size of the pot. For tournaments the fee is typically 10% of the buy-in (like $0.50 fee for $5 buy-in, this translates to an effective cost of $5.50 for each participant) for the small buy-in tournaments. The percentage goes down to 5-7% for the larger buy-in tournaments (like $30 fee for $500 buy-in). This way high-limit player pays relatively more to the house in tournament fees than the low-limit players, as the rake difference is much higher in cash games.
From a rake perspective, the high-limit online games are very advantageous compared to the offline games where a high hourly fee is normally charged. For all players the cost of playing is much lower at online poker compared to offline poker and even more so if you count in the tipping. Almost all online poker rooms have a " no flop, no drop" policy meaning that no rake is taken for pots not reaching the flop, even if there has been betting pre-flop.
As a beginner you should often avoid playing short-handed and heads-up games for two reasons. The rake will be taken in quicker intervals therefore with a higher proportion taken from you. Plus you will have a harder time to win in these short-handed games as the skill factor is bigger. Heads-up tournaments are the big exception where you only pay the normal low fee and do not get trapped for paying huge rake - and it can be a great way to pound away at someone after you suffered a big bad beat! Overall, you will pay much less rake by playing in low buy-in big multi-table tournaments.
As an un-experienced player should be very wary of playing short-handed games, as you will lose more per hour if you are not a winning player (due to higher skill factor and more hands played) and as mentioned before, you will also pay a much higher proportion of the rake. You could end up paying $30 per hour and table in rake if you play short-handed middle-limit games. You see, the favorite type of games for the poker rooms are short-handed middle limit poker where a $2-$3 rake is taken out over 60 times per hour for an hourly table rake of upwards $150-$180! And as above, avoid the cash game style heads-up games like the plague unless you are a very good heads-up player, only play them tournaments style.
Websites with the lowest rakes...
End Of Avoid Paying High Rake
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