Beating the Rake
In order to profit from poker, not only do you have to overcome your opponents at the table, you have to overcome the rake too. There is no set industry standard over the charges imposed at the various stake levels and this information is invariably provided by most most poker rooms via their website and well worth checking out. Low limit
ring games tables like $1/$2 typically pay $1 a hand and $10/$20 tables pay around $3 a hand; so at a three handed $1/$2 table that plays 100 hands an hour, each player will most likely contribute around $30 to the rake per hour.
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There are two methods used to charge rake, the dealt method and the contributed method; the dealt method divides the total rake between the players that were dealt into the hand, whereas the contributed method more fairly charges players based on how much they have contributed to the pot. For sites that use the contributed method, tight aggressive play is often the best approach to reduce the effect of the rake, the less you play the less you pay.
The rake structure changes as the limits increase, each poker room operates their own rake structure, it is advisable to investigate this futher as some ring games will invariably provide better value than others within a poker site. A good rule of thumb is to play at the highest limit for a particualr rake structure, for example, a poker site may use the same rake structure at their $3/$6 tables aswell as their $5/$10 tables and may also have the same maximum amount of rake taken per pot. By playing at the tables that have the highest ratio between rake and bet size, you are effectively minimising the impact the rake has on your bottom line. It is also worth understanding that there are some low limit online ring games in which the rake is so high that it's virtually impossible to profit long term at those tables. A little investigation into how the rake works on your favourite poker sites could easily translate into a significant increase in profit long term.
