The rake

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Phlegmatic

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For the most part i understand "the rake" in poker but could someone explain it in its entirety so i get a better grasp on it and how it would affect the pots id take down at different levels of the game. Explanations of things like capping the rake and such would be appreciated.
 
detroitjunkie

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Rake 101

Rake is collected so the card room can make money, otherwise why run one.

Typically it is 10% up to $5 per hand, charity rooms do $6 max. At almost every room there is never a rake unless there is a flop seen (this was not always the case), the same for online rooms.

Tournaments will take a percentage of prize pool. Anywhere from 5% to 20%.

Some online rooms take less, the average is around $3 max per hand.

What does this mean? The higher limit games get raked less per hand in terms of percentage of the pot.
When you play pot limit games the pot is determined before the rake is taken out.
High limit games will charge a per/hour fee called 'time' instead of rake. wsop 'time' is between $7 to $15 per half hour payed by all active players. Some really high limit games the players will decide that when TIME is due, whoever wins the next pot pays for everyone...these pots are in the thousands so it is quite insignificant for the most part.
When playing split pot games, and you know there is a high chance of splitting the pot, when you are heads up it is wise to check it down if the max rake hasnt been taken yet to avoid paying more. I feel that split pot games are not the best when playing cash, especially heads up play.

I never heard the term 'capping the rake', so not sure what you mean there.
How it affects the pots, well its a game of math. A $50 pot you really only win $45. A $100 pot you only win $95, a $10 pot you only win $9, etc...no rake if pot is under $10 (except online).

Hope this helps
 
TimovieMan

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When playing split pot games, and you know there is a high chance of splitting the pot, when you are heads up it is wise to check it down if the max rake hasnt been taken yet to avoid paying more. I feel that split pot games are not the best when playing cash, especially heads up play.

I never heard the term 'capping the rake', so not sure what you mean there.
Simple: "capping the rake" is what the site does. That means that once the rake reaches 3$ of 5$ or whatever the rake cap is, no further rake is taken from the pot.

This is important in split pot situations like you describe: if the rake is already capped, and the pot is going to be split (because the board holds the nuts, for instance), it's actually good to raise like there's no tomorrow. You don't lose any additional money to the rake, and there's the off-chance that you make a multitabling (or otherwise not paying attention) opponent fold.

I once folded a player on the river when the board was a royal flush. I think it was a 2/4 fixed limit hand and we were still 4-way on the river. The rake had been capped on the flop, so I lost nothing by raising/3-betting on the river, and getting that guy to fold meant we all got a third of his bets extra... :cool:
 
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kdr723

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Simple: "capping the rake" is what the site does. That means that once the rake reaches 3$ of 5$ or whatever the rake cap is, no further rake is taken from the pot.

This is important in split pot situations like you describe: if the rake is already capped, and the pot is going to be split (because the board holds the nuts, for instance), it's actually good to raise like there's no tomorrow. You don't lose any additional money to the rake, and there's the off-chance that you make a multitabling (or otherwise not paying attention) opponent fold.

I once folded a player on the river when the board was a royal flush. I think it was a 2/4 fixed limit hand and we were still 4-way on the river. The rake had been capped on the flop, so I lost nothing by raising/3-betting on the river, and getting that guy to fold meant we all got a third of his bets extra... :cool:

Someone folded with a Royal Flush on the river? Why???
 
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