Our Online Poker Rake Comparison and Rake Calculator show how much rake players effectively pay when playing online poker cash games and which poker sites are the least and most expensive.
When playing online poker cash games, approximately 5% of each pot is retained for the provider. In most cases, the rake is capped at $3 to $5 and is only taken if there is a flop. This doesn’t sound like very much, but it amounts to a substantial amount over a longer period of time. This comparison shows just how much rake you have to pay on each poker site.
Online Poker Rake Calculator
The following table shows:
- Cash game rake conditions (percentage and cap)
- Rake per player every 100 hands
- Net rake
You can pick the poker variant, stakes and number of players to see how much rake you will pay on average on each different poker site.
Net Rake Comparison
Full Rake Comparison
The following table shows:
- Rake per player per 100 hands: How much rake each player has to pay over the course of 100 hands.
- Net Rake: Average rake percentage after cap and no flop no drop rule are taken into account
- Formal Rake: Cash game rake conditions (percentage and cap)
You can pick the poker variant and the number of players.
What is Net Rake?
When playing cash games, a certain amount of money is taken from each pot for the operator. There are two parameters defining the rake:
- Percentage: How many percent are taken from each pot (usually between 3% and 5% for online games)
- Cap: Once the rake reaches the cap no more rake is deducted for that pot (usually the cap is $3 to $5 for online games)
On top of that virtually all operators have a no-flop-no-drop rule. Meaning: No rake is collected if the hand is over before a flop is dealt. The GGNetwork is the exception to this rule. Here a hand is raked once there is a 3-bet or a flop. This rule is taken into account in this rake comparison.
Percentage and cap don’t really tell you how much rake you have to pay for a certain game and make it difficult to compare different rake models. For example: Playing $1 / $2 NLH, is it better to have to pay 3% rake with a $5 cap or 5% rake with a $3 cap?
To answer this question and allow a general comparison of rake models, I use something called “Net Rake”. This is how much money you actually spend in rake compared to the pots you are playing. I explain below how I calculate the net rake. Over the long term, this amount is basically the amount of rake you pay compared to the pots you win. Due to rake caps and the no flop no drop rule this number is always lower than the formal rake percentage, even considerably lower for high stakes cash games.
How is the net rake for the rake comparison calculated?
To calculate how much rake players actually pay at each limit, I took a huge sample of real-life online poker hands and compiled a list of all pot sizes in big blinds. Then it is easy to use the formal rake rules for each operator and limit to calculate how much rake is deducted for each pot. The no-flop-no-drop-rule (in the case of the GGNetwork the rule that hands are only raked if there is a flop or a 3-bet preflop) was taken into account as well.
This method gives a pretty decent estimation, how much rake each player has to pay on average for each limit.
Please note that the rake a player has to pay heavily depends on his play style. Loose players always pay way more than tight players.
There is a small caveat though: The real-life data I used is from several million data mined No Limit Hold’em (limits $0.02 / $0.05, $0.25 / $ 0.50, $0.50 / $1.00, $1.00 / $2.00) cash game hands and scaled up and down for all other limits. This slightly overestimates average pot sizes for higher stakes and underestimates pot sizes for lower stakes. Thus the absolute rake for higher and lower stakes might be over- or underestimated. But this doesn’t change the relative differences between operators or the net rake by a significant amount.
If you want to help me out and improve this comparison with better real-life data from other stakes, feel free to send me a message (info@primedope.com).
Just as comparing poker rake helps you get the most out of your game, finding the best bet options ensures you maximize your chances while wagering on your favorite sports or events.
GGPoker Big Hand Jackpot extra rake
GGPoker charges an additional 1BB once the pot equals or exceeds 30BB for the Big Hand Jackpot. But in the long run the Jackpot is re-distributed evenly among all players and no additional fee is taken.
Meaning: The jackpot charge and the payouts cancel each other out in the (very) long run. The net rake is not affected by this jackpot.
Notes
This rake comparison and calculator is going to be expanded, adding rake information for all operators, networks and game variants over the next months. Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions or feature requests.
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