Most poker players are familiar with concepts such as buy-in, blind, and ante. But not many people know what rake is and what role this fee has.
In this guide, we take a closer look at the concept of rake and tell you how it works in poker. This way, you’ll be able to play poker online Australia like a pro.
Rake Explained
Simply put, you can think of rake as a fee that you have to pay to participate in an online poker game.
While other fees are something the players actively contribute to, this isn’t the case with the rake.
Rake ends up right in the pocket of the casino, basically to cover the expenses they have to arrange the game and maybe also to make a small profit on top of that.
Keeping track of rake isn’t easy, especially for newcomers. That is probably also the reason why there are so many people who are not familiar with the concept.
In most games, the casino will deduct a % rate from the total pot and this happens automatically without the players having to do anything.
In a poker room, i.e., in a land-based casino, understanding how rake is collected is a lot easier, as the casino collects the free right in front of the players.
How Rake is Collected
The way the casinos collect rake can be different. Sometimes it is a percentage of the pot. Other times a fixed amount. Or if you’re lucky, you won’t have to pay rake at all.
Below is an overview of the most common methods used by casinos to collect rake.
Regardless of the method, you should know that the rake is collected automatically or by a dealer without you having to do anything.
Pot Rake
Pot rake is the traditional approach used by most gambling sites, where the casino keeps a percentage value of the pot.
Thus, the size of the rake will at all times be governed by how much money is in the pot. Let’s say that the total pot is $1000 and the rake is 2%, so $20 of the pot will be taken by the casino.
In a physical game, the dealer will physically remove the number of chips corresponding to the percentage from the pot, while in an online game, this happens automatically. Pot rake is usually somewhere between 2.5% and 10%.
Fixed Fees
In contrast to a pot rake, the fixed fee is a fixed rate and does not vary based on the size of the pot. In other words, you’ll pay a fixed sum regardless of how big the pot is.
Dead Drop
Pot rake is controversial because many believe it is unfair that it is the winner of the pot who becomes the victim.
This is probably also the reason why the dead drop was introduced, a system based on all players paying exactly the same in rake.
This form of rake is most often practiced in land-based casinos.
Time Collection
This variant of rake is based on collection at a specific time, typically every half hour. There are two ways that time collection rake is collected:
- Player time: A certain amount is paid by each player.
- Time pot: A certain amount is deducted from the pot.
Time collection rake is most commonly introduced in online poker games with high stakes.
Is Rake Justified?
The vast majority of casinos you’ll come across will charge rake. It applies equally whether you sit down to play cash games or participate in a tournament, and this also applies to freerolls even if the players do not contribute money to the pot.
Rake can be compared to the RTP that you may know from other casino games, such as slot machines.
Just like RTP, rake must ensure that the casinos make money so that they can cover their fees for arranging the game.
But there are also some controversies associated with rake. In a land-based game, it is quite visible to the players what expenses the casinos may have for the game, both in terms of the use of a dealer, a physical deck of cards, chips, and costs for everything from rent to electricity.
But in online poker, where everything happens automatically, this isn’t the case. Nevertheless, the casino will have costs linked to the operation of the platform to ensure that the game runs without problems.
So, after all, it’s only natural that rake also exists online.
