~ R A K E S & F E E S ~
Reasonable Rakes And Fees In Online Poker
It's easy not to think too much about rakes and fees, especially when playing poker online. Most of the time you'll barely notice the dollars and cents being snuck away out of every pot that you drag in, and when you're signing up for a tournament you're more likely going to be eying up the 1st place prize rather than the extra fee on your buy-in that doesn't go into the pool. The fact is though, that online poker rooms are taking a slice of all the action that's going on. Of course they have every right to do so, and indeed must do so in order to operate and become profitable, but the fact that they indirectly charge you a little extra to play on their site isn't exactly something that they want to advertise outright.
Information regarding the rakes and fees of online poker rooms is something that you'll want to be aware of and well-versed on before you sign up for an account and begin playing, and most rooms will provide these numbers somewhere on their site. At most sites you'll probably find that the rakes and fees are relatively similar, maybe with a few minor differences. There are a few outliers though, on both the overpriced and cheap sides. A few online poker rooms have even attempted to rebel against the conventional ways of raking in profits, substituting them for fixed monthly fees or other fine-print gimmicks. All in all, you should find that there are very few places to play online where you cannot beat the rake. However, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to narrow your choices down to the site or two that offers the most reasonable rates - and higher profits - for you.
Expect to find both rakes on cash games and tournament entry fees averaging between 5% and 10%, generally being higher for tournament fees. Also, as the limits and buy-ins increase, you should expect to find the rake and fee percentages decreasing. For instance a site may take 5 cents out of every $1 in a low-limit pot (5%), but take only $1 out of each $100 in a high-stakes pot (1%). For tournaments, you may find that a $10 SNG or MTT carries a fairly standard $1 fee (10%), while a $1,000 buy-in only costs you an extra $60 (0.6%).
Also make sure you find out what the cap is for rake on cash games - that is the limit at which the online powers that be will cease to rake money from the pot. At most sites they keep it fairly low, around $3 or so. This is good news for you if you're playing the higher limits, but it's not much of a break for lower-limit folks. After all $3 is a fairly insignificant piece of a $5,000 pot, but it really starts to add up when it's taken out of 10 $500 pots.
One more thing to think about, especially if you're a low-limit player, is whether or not the site offers any rake-less games. Perhaps tournaments that are of lower buy-ins of only a few bucks and have no fee attached, or cash games of lower limits, where they don't even bother to rake out a few cents from each pot. If you are in the market for these types of games, it would definitely be to your advantage to find the sites that host them to increase your profit margin a little bit.
What you should expect regarding online rakes and fees:
~ Virtually all online poker rooms carry some variety of additional costs in the form of rakes and fees.
~ Rakes are money taken from each pot in cash games, whereas fees are added to tournament entry buy-ins.
~ Make sure your poker room makes rake amounts available to it's players, and check to see how much you are paying, as well as how it compares to other rooms.
~ For a better idea, track the rake taken for each pot that you win over a few sessions and see approximately how much is coming out of your winnings.
~ Tournament entry fees should be no more than 10% of the buy-in, and as the price of the buy-in increases you should find that the additional fee decreases.
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Whatever you may do in your poker endeavors, just make sure you remain cognisant of the fact that online poker rooms are in the business of making money, and it both detracts from your gains and adds to your losses. This certainly doesn't mean that it's impossible to "beat the rake," but is a point at which you have to say no to unreasonable rakes and fees. Don't settle for a $5+1 SNG when there are $5+.50 SNG's; don't play at a site where they rake $5 out of a $50 pot, when there are sites that only rake $3 out of it. Be aware of the percentages of your bankroll that are going towards these less obvious costs of playing poker, and keep track of your overall spending on rakes and fees. You may be surprised to see just how much they're biting into your profits, as well as how much you could be adding back to your bankroll.
~ Related: Online Poker Room Overview - links to rake information for top online poker rooms.
~ Next: Overhead In The Live Poker Market
~ Summary: Rakes & Fees Overview
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