Texas Holdem Cash Game
Rake is the scaled commission fee taken by a cardroom operating a poker game. It is generally 2.5% to 10% of the pot in each poker hand, up to a predetermined maximum amount.[1][2] There are also other non-percentage ways for a casino to take the rake. Some cardrooms will not take a percentage rake in any community card poker game like Texas hold 'em when a hand does not have a flop. This is called 'no flop, no drop'.[1]
Poker is a player-versus-player game, and the house does not wager against its players (unlike blackjack or roulette), so this fee is the principal mechanism to generate revenue.
It is primarily levied by an establishment that supplies the necessary services for the game to take place. In online poker it covers the various costs of operation such as support, software and personnel. In traditional brick and mortar casinos it is also used to cover the costs involved with providing a dealer (though in many places tips provide the bulk of a dealer's income) for the game, support staff (from servers to supervisors), use of gaming equipment, and the physical building in which the game takes place. The rake in live games is generally higher than for online poker.
To win when playing in poker games where the house takes a cut, a player must not only beat opponents, but also the financial drain of the rake.[3]
- In no-limit Hold'em, you can lose your entire stack in a single hand, so stick with.
- Jan 13, 2021 $1/$2 No-limit Texas Hold'em is by far the most popular poker game being played in live poker rooms around the country. For the average poker player $1/$2 cash games are the bread-and-butter of their weekly poker fix. For someone who's up to speed on the basics of good cash-game strategy, it's also the main source of their poker profit.
Mechanism[edit]
There are several ways for the rake to be taken.[4] Most rake is a fixed percentage of the pot, taken on a sliding scale, with a capped maximum amount that can be removed from the pot regardless of pot size. Less frequently, rake is a fixed amount no matter what the size of the pot.
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Pot rake[edit]
Texas Holdem Cash Game Videos
Texas poker is a fast and lively game with Holdem being one of the most popular types of poker played today. Each player starts receives two hole-cards which are dealt face down.
A percentage rake is taken directly from the pot. In a live casino, the dealer manually removes chips from the pot while the hand is being played and sets them aside to be dropped into a secure box after completion of the hand. When playing online, the rake is taken automatically by the game software. Some software shows the rake amount next to a graphical representation of the dealer and takes it incrementally between the rounds of betting, whereas other software programs wait until the entire hand is over and then takes it from the pot total before giving the rest to the winner of the hand. This is the prevalent method of collecting rake in online poker.
Dead drop[edit]
The fee is placed on the dealer button each hand by the player in that position, and taken in by the dealer before any cards are dealt.
Time collection[edit]
Time collection (also 'timed rake' or 'table charge') is a set fee collected (typically) every half-hour during the game. This form of rake is collected in one of two ways:
- Player time: A set amount is collected from each player.
- Time pot: A set amount is collected from the first pot over a certain amount.
Time rakes are generally reserved for higher limit games ($10–$20 and above).[citation needed]
Fixed fees[edit]
The fee per hand is a fixed rate and does not vary based on the size of the pot.
Tournament fees[edit]
The above examples are used in ring games, also known as cash games. The rake for participation in poker tournaments is collected as an entrance fee. This may be displayed by showing the tournament buy-in as $100+$20, with the $20 being the house fee or 'Vig'. Other times they will show they buy-in as $100 and list the percentage they take for expenses.
Subscription fees[edit]
Some online cardrooms charge a monthly subscription fee, and then do not rake individual pots or tournaments.
Rake free[edit]
Some online poker websites have done away with the rake altogether. These 'rake free' poker rooms generate revenue by increasing traffic to the company's other profitable businesses (such as a casino or sportsbook) or by charging monthly membership or deposit fees. Some sites are only completely rake-free for frequent players, while offering reduced rake instead for other customers. Due to high fixed costs of operating a poker room, such as marketing, few online poker rooms have been successful in offering rake-free game, often going bankrupt or sustaining themselves by exploiting loopholes in offshore jurisdictions to refuse to honor players' cash withdrawals. However, some financially sound poker rooms have on occasion offered rake-free games to entice new sign-ups or to encourage players to try out new game formats.
Rakeback[edit]
Rakeback is a player rewards method that began in 2004, whereby some online poker sites or their affiliate partners return part of the rake or tournament entries a player pays as an incentive for them to continue playing on that site [5]
Rakeback in cash games can be calculated using two different methods: dealt and contributed. The dealt method awards the same amount of rakeback to each player dealt into a hand, and the contributed method rewards players based on their actual contribution to the pot. In poker tournaments, rakeback is deducted from cardroom's entry fee. Rakeback is similar to comps in 'brick and mortar' casinos.
As online poker becomes more mainstream online poker professionals have begun using rakeback as a means of increasing profits or cutting their losses. Depending upon the stakes the player is playing, how many tables they are playing at once, and the number of hours played daily, online poker pros can earn thousands of dollars in rakeback every month. This gave rise to so-called rakeback pros, players using a less intensive losing strategy at many tables simultaneously while offsetting their losses through rakeback.
Not every online poker room offers rakeback. Some allow affiliates to offer rakeback as a direct percentage of rake and tournament entries paid back to the players. Other card rooms such as PokerStars, PartyPoker, Ongame Network and the iPoker Network forbid affiliates to give rakeback. Instead they offer in-house loyalty programs that gives cash and other rewards to players based upon how much they play.[6] At such networks, rakeback deals are sometimes cut between an affiliate and a player without the poker operator's knowledge. Such deals, if discovered, tend to result in the expulsion of either offending party, and, sometimes, in penalties for the poker operator, if they are part of a bigger poker network.
In brick and mortar rooms, the floorperson may offer a rake reduction or rake-free play to players willing to start a table shorthanded.
Legality[edit]
In most legal jurisdictions, taking a rake from a poker table is explicitly illegal if the party taking the rake does not have the proper gaming licences and/or permits. The laws of many jurisdictions do not prohibit the playing of poker for money at a private dwelling, provided that no one takes a rake.
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ ab'Poker Rake - Calculate Poker Room Rake - Calculating the Rake'. www.pokerstars.com. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
- ^'View The Rake and Blind Structure For Cash Games at partypoker'. www.partypoker.com. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
- ^Raked Over the Coals: Poker Rake, archived from the original on 2015-09-15, retrieved 2017-02-13
- ^'Poker Article: The Effects of the Rake or Time Charge on your Bottom Line By: Dave in Cali - The Poker Forum.com'. www.thepokerforum.com. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
- ^'Is Rakeback Legitimate?'. ProfessionalRakeback.com.
- ^flopturnriver.com (2010-01-13). 'Make Thousands by Playing at PokerStars in 2010'. Flopturnriver.com. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
Brad Owen makes one of poker’s most popular vlogs (video blogs) with a YouTube channel that documents his time playing $2-$5 no-limit hold’em cash games in Las Vegas. He has more than 95,000 subscribers to his channel, making his vlog one of the most viewed in the burgeoning entertainment space.
Owen moved to Las Vegas in 2012 playing on a semi-professional basis. In 2015, he transitioned back to full-time hours, eventually starting his vlog at the end of 2016. Much like his good friend and fellow vlogger Andrew Neeme, Owen gives his followers a first-person view of his poker experience, sharing the ups and downs of the grind.
With poker vlogs increasing in popularity, Owen and Neeme have introduced their ‘Meet Up Games,’ where the duo leaves Las Vegas and hits the road to host cash games in other locations. Since the two vloggers have sometimes met resistance from the casinos when it comes to filming at the poker tables, these games give them a chance to keep the camera rolling and play poker with their fans.
The prevailing opinion about current mid-stakes cash games in Las Vegas is that the action is dying and that the ceiling on how much someone can earn in those games is much lower than it used to be. Card Player caught up with Owen to find out if that notion is true, and further discuss the state of live no-limit hold’em cash games.
Steve Schult: Give me a general overview of what a typical $2-$5 game looks like for you. When you sit down, is it mostly pros? Mostly recreational players? What is the general ratio?
Brad Owen: It’s definitely a good mix. Typically, I play at Red Rock Casino if I’m going to play $2-$5. That’s a game that was great when I first moved out here. It’s gotten much tougher. When I first moved in 2012, I was usually sitting in games with one or two other pros. Now, it’s probably one of the toughest $2-$5 games in Las Vegas. There are generally three to five other professionals in the game, I’d say. Everyone just has a pretty good idea of what they’re doing.
I think on the Strip, the games are a little bit easier. But since I’ve played at Red Rock and got used to it when I first moved here, I just really enjoy the atmosphere. The room is great, the staff is great and I’m really good friends with everybody because it’s kind of a local’s casino. As you get to the Strip, games tend to be softer, but they’re not generally as friendly. Maybe there’s three or four other pros in the game at Aria or the Venetian.
If I go to Bellagio, I pretty much only play $5-$10 because that’s kind of the natural progression. It’s the smallest $5-$10 game in Vegas. It’s a $1,500 cap. The $2-$5 is a $500 cap there and I just don’t enjoy playing 100-big blind poker for $2-$5.
SS: The Strip obviously has more options in terms of tables and rooms than some of the more local casinos. If you were to go to the Strip, how many of those rooms will have a $2-$5 or a $5-$10 game running on a consistent basis?
BO: On the Strip, there are five places that have $2-$5 on a daily, or almost daily basis. There’s Caesars Palace, Bellagio, Aria, Wynn, and Venetian. If you’re looking for a $5-$10 game, there’s only three properties that have it regularly – Bellagio, Aria and Wynn. The $5-$10 is smallest at Bellagio with a $1,500 cap and then there is a $3,000 cap at Aria. It’s uncapped at the Wynn. Generally, if you’re working your way up the ranks in Las Vegas as a $5-$10 pro, you typically start out at Bellagio, then go to Aria, and then go to the Wynn.
SS: It seems like there aren’t many consistencies with regards to cap buy-in amounts at these stakes among these properties. How do the different buy-in structures affect the quality of the game? Are there more pros in the Wynn $2-$5 game than at Bellagio?
BO: Yeah, I think there’s definitely more rec players in the Bellagio $2-$5, but since it is a smaller game, it kinds of plays similarly to the $1-$3 at the Wynn and the Orleans. Both of those properties have a $500 cap on their $1-$3 game. You’re able to open to $15 in those $1-$3 games just like you would in the Bellagio $2-$5 game. I think that some of those other $1-$3 games are more profitable than a Bellagio $2-$5 game just because it is so small.
The Wynn is interesting because it is pretty tough regardless. It’s regarded nearly unanimously as the nicest poker room in Las Vegas. You have a lot of wealthier businessmen come in there that aren’t necessarily the best poker players. They’re willing to splash around a lot. But there are a ton of other $2-$5 players there that could be playing $5-$10 profitably. There’s just kind of a big mix and wide spectrum of players with regard to skill level at the Wynn. And for $5-$10, I think Bellagio is the softest. Aria is a little bit tougher and the Wynn is by far the toughest.
SS: What are attainable hourly win rates for these games?
BO: In general, 6-10 big blinds per hour is what good players typically make. Anything beyond that and you’re either a phenomenal player, you’re running well, or both.
SS: Are there any crazy outlier win rates that you’ve heard about or gone through yourself?
BO: My friend last year made $140,0000 over 2,000 hours playing almost exclusively $2-$5 in Las Vegas. I’ve never heard of anyone making more at that stake, that I believe anyway, over the course of 12 months. My friend is one of the very best $2-$5 players in town, but he’d probably be the first to tell you that he ran extremely well too. If he were in a different city like Phoenix, Austin, Tampa, or Baltimore, I think he could’ve potentially made more than $200,000.
SS: It seems like you think there are better cities than Las Vegas to grind poker full-time in. If you decide to play a session in Las Vegas, how often do you find yourself switching tables to get out of a bad game? Or even switching entire casinos as a whole?
BO: People see the YouTube videos of Andrew [Neeme] and I doing meet-up games a lot of the time. And we’ll generate seven $2-$5 tables or something like that, or more. We were just in Maryland Live! and we had 22. In the videos, I’ll be changing tables all the time, but when I’m in Las Vegas, I’m typically not table changing that often.
If I go to a place like Aria that might have four or five $2-$5 games, then I’ll definitely table change once or twice on average to try and find the most profitable game. But typically, like in $5-$10, there aren’t that many options for tables. If I go to Bellagio, there might only be two or three games, and one of them might be a must-move, or two of them might be a must-move. You can’t really table change as frequently in $5-$10. Sometimes you can’t table change at all.
And as far as going to different properties, I think that’s something really important if you’re going to be playing poker for a living. If the games aren’t that good at one property, you definitely need to be moving around. That’s something most people generally don’t do. There are a few problems with that. The biggest one is that it does factor into your hourly a little bit. If you show up at Bellagio and the games aren’t that good, and you want to go to Caesars, you have to walk over there and wait on the list. That’s a half hour or 45 minutes or more possibly that you’re not actually playing, but it’s still a work day for you.
SS: Do you find pros playing smaller than $2-$5 no-limit hold’em? Would you ever recommend playing smaller full-time?
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BO: There are definitely pros that play $1-$2 and $1-$3 for a living. I don’t know how much they’re really able to make, and I would not suggest people play it for a living. It’s just extremely stressful and impossible to save any money. I think anything that you do for a living, you need to factor in how that’s going to affect your future and your ability to have a family and retire. You just can’t really do those things if you’re grinding those games for a living for the most part.
SS: Do games above $2-$5 and $5-$10 run very often?
BO: $10-$20 no-limit hold’em really only runs consistently at Bellagio. And then it runs a little bit at Aria and maybe once in a while at the Wynn. Those player pools are tiny. When you go upstairs at Bellagio to the high-stakes area, you’ll notice that the $10-$20 game is filled with pros. It’s basically eight pros in a game and maybe one recreational player.
SS: Tell me a little bit about the other places you have played. Recently, with the meet-up games that you have been running with Andrew Neeme, you’ve gotten to play a lot in Texas and were just up in Maryland. How do those games compare with your normal game at Red Rock Casino?
BO: There are fewer pros in those games. The games are softer and there’s a lot more limping. People don’t seem to have as firm of a grasp on proper poker fundamentals, and in general they’re more profitable to play.
SS: If someone were aspiring to become a poker pro, would you even tell them to move to Las Vegas? Where do you think is the most profitable place to start a mid-stakes poker career right now?
BO: There’s a few things you have to consider when you decide you want to play poker for a living. I think Las Vegas is great for a lot of different reasons. There’s a lot of different games you can choose from across the different stakes, so that’s a huge plus. It’s the entertainment capital of the world, so there’s a lot of things to do when you’re not playing poker, but there are a couple other things to factor in.
Vegas can be kind of a depressing city to live in for sure. If you don’t have any friends here, it can be a very lonely city. And poker is one of the loneliest professions that there is. Every day you show up and how you do and regardless if you win or lose, nobody really cares outside of you. If you lose, no one cares, or can relate to you at all. You’re just completely on your own.
The games are not softer here than they are in other locations, so I don’t think that you can make as much money, as much gross revenue from playing poker here. But when you compare it to California, I mean, the cost of living is so much more there that it might make it difficult to play for a living in a place like Los Angeles for instance.
But yeah, I would recommend playing for a living in place like Florida where there’s a lot of options and the games are soft. Texas is the same way. Also the Maryland area, the games are pretty soft and you have a few different options. You want to go places where your opponents are not highly skilled and where there’s a lot of money in the area, and the cost of living is cheap. That’s the ideal combination of determining factors.
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Check out some of Owen’s most popular vlogs below.
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Photo Credit: Brad Owen/@bradowen1