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Learn how land-based casinos and online poker rooms make money from poker. Understand what all rake, fees, and vig are.
One of the best things about land-based and online poker compared to other casino games is that you can keep winning money without getting kicked! As you are playing against other players instead of at home, the casino doesn’t care who wins or loses as long as there is a game running for them to get the rake.
Like parimutuel betting, the casino makes money by organizing and arranging cash games and tournaments. Players play against each other, and the casino or online poker site takes a small portion of what is at stake. We’ll talk more about it here at Xgtiger Casino.
How Casinos Charge You for Poker Games
Online casinos make money from poker by charging a certain amount for hosting the game. This is called the ‘rake,’ and the rake in poker can be taken differently depending on the game you play.
Pot Rake
“Pot rake” is one of the most common ways a casino takes rake in poker and is used for low-stakes cash games. This is where a percentage of each pot is taken after the hand is completed and when a flop is seen. The pot rake is usually capped at a certain dollar amount, called the rake cap.
The rake is only taken when the hand reaches the flop (unless the casino is very greedy!), so if you raise a hand pre-flop and everything folds, the pot will not be raked.
Depending on the casino, you will find that the percentage of the pot taken as a rake is between 5-10%. Online poker sites are often better at rake, mostly less than 5%, because there are fewer overhead costs to cover for hosting the game.
Hourly Pay
In higher limit cash games, instead of “pot rake,” they charge an hourly (or half hourly) rate for each player in cash games. This is also called “table charge” or “time collection.”
It is used in high-limit games rather than the more common pot rake because low-denomination chips are required to get the rake (usually a few dollars) from the pot, and those chips are not used in actual game.
Instead of clogging the table with dozens of low-denomination chips, they calculate a fee that covers the cost of running the table with a little extra and take that from the players at a certain time.
Fixed Fee
The pot rake we’ve covered before is a percentage of each pot’s maximum amount that can be taken (the rake cap). However, some card rooms will charge a fixed fee per hand regardless of pot size.
This is even worse for the players because it means that the smaller pots are won at a very high percentage, and if they are small enough it can cost the players money to win!
There is not much of an advantage in the larger pots, although the percentage raked is somewhat smaller than in the smaller pots; Pot-raked games usually have a cap that will amount to a fixed fee.
We’ve covered cash games so far, but how do casinos make money from poker tournaments?
Tournament Vig
A certain amount of the tournament buy-in goes to the casino for hosting the game, and the rest goes to the prize pool. The percentage earned will vary depending on the casino and the size of the tournament, but on average, it is 10% for most tournaments, while smaller ones can be as large as 20%.
Since it takes a lot of space to run a tournament in a casino, they need to make sure they can cover the cost of the venue and the dealers in addition to making a profit. That’s why they charge very high percentages for low-stakes tournaments.
How Online Poker Sites Make Money
Online poker rooms make money in much the same way as brick-and-mortar casinos. They charge a small percentage of what is at stake for a particular game. However, because it costs less to run each table, online poker sites can charge less rake.
Online Poker Rake
Online poker rake works in much the same way that pot rake works in a regular casino. In a cash games, a percentage of the pot is taken every time a flop is seen, because a virtual poker table is cheaper to run than a physical one, the rake of the pot they take as rake is less than brick. -and-mortar casino.
Depending on the poker site and the stakes you play, a rake can be between 1-5%, and if you manage to get up to the nosebleed stakes, you pay no rake!
Subscription Fees
Some poker sites offer a different alternative to the traditional rake model. Instead of taking a percentage of every pot played, players have to pay a subscription to play poker games on the site. This allows players to win 100% of the pot because they have paid their rake in advance.
This is great for players who play a lot of hands, as the rake they pay is the same no matter how many hands they win, while tighter players are at more of a disadvantage.
Time Drop
Online poker sites do not offer a time drop rake structure. Due to the “come and go” nature of online poker, where it’s easy to sit down for two or three hands and then leave, it’s difficult to find a fair way to charge players without locking them into a time commitment.
Plus, without physical chip limits (which is one of the reasons brick-and-mortar casinos use time drops), there’s no reason why every cash game can’t be pot raked instead of time raked.
Tournament Fees
Like brick-and-mortar casinos, online poker tournaments take a portion of the tournament buy-in as the rake, the rest goes into the prize pool. The cost of running online casino games is significantly lower than in a casino, so the rake is usually lower: between 4-10% depending on the site and the bet level.
As with cash games, the higher the stakes you play, the less rake you’ll pay as a percentage of the total buy-in – an incentive if you need it to hit the stakes!
Make the most of Rakeback
One of the main advantages of playing online poker is Rakeback. Because of how high the rake is in micro stakes, it can be the difference between a player winning or losing.
Poker rake backs are promotions offered by most online poker sites that reward you for frequent play by returning some of the money they have earned from you.
It’s like comps in a casino; the more you play at that casino, the better comps they give you, which motivates you to keep playing at that casino.
Different sites will offer different amounts of Rakeback depending on their policy. Some sites don’t care about Rakeback and will show little or no rewards for playing on their site. Others think this is very valuable to players and can deliver anywhere between 20-65% of your rake back to cash.
For some players, the amount of rakeback a site offers is one of the determining factors in where to play. Some places, like King Game may have the best software. However, their attitude towards Rakeback at the time of writing has led players to go to other sites, such as Xgtiger Casino, which offer very competitive rakeback deals.
Rake in poker is a necessary evil because it is how casinos and online casino sites make money from poker. Poker raking and vig have to exist for places to play! However, that doesn’t mean you have to get ripped off. Look at the rake structures where you play and see what works best for you.
Conclusion
Are you an avid gaming fan and want to know how to bet on online casino games? At Xgtiger, you’ll get the latest information on this year’s best casino games and a variety of gaming options, all in one place.
To start your online gambling journey, all you need to do is create an account on the site, deposit funds and you’ll be ready to bet on the best and most anticipated casino games.
