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Rake comparison in poker sites (2023)
Whether winning or losing at the tables, online poker players pay substantial money as "rake". Therefore, they want to know everything about the rake structure in their poker site compared to competitors. In this article, we will compare the commissions in the leading poker rooms in Hold'em and Omaha across all stakes from $0.01/$0.02 to $5/$10.
What is rake in online poker?
Rake is the commission collected from each pot and poker tournament, which the organizers take for themselves.
For a cash table, it is taken from the flop (usually under the principle of “no flop no drop"). In tournaments, the commission is paid in the buy-in and can vary from 3% to 10%. The rake paid is distributed among players according to different models:
| System | Rake is distributed among | Principle of rake distribution |
|---|---|---|
Dealt | Everyone who has been dealt cards | Equally among all players in the table |
Actual | Participants in the hand | Winner takes all |
Simple Contributed | Those who added money to the pot | Equally among all players who joined the pot |
Weighted Contributed | Those who added money to the pot | Proportional to the money added to the pot |
The fairest is “Weighted Contributed," which is why it is used in almost all modern poker sites.
How much is the rake in online poker sites?
The standard commission rate of 5%. Therefore, it is easier to list those cases when there is a deviation from this figure:
But in terms of caps, poker sites have much more differences.
| LIMITS | POKERSTARS | GGPOKER | REDSTAR | POKERKING | WPT GLOBAL | 888POKER | BETONLINE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NL4-5$ | 4.15% | 5% | 6.67% | 5% | 4% | 5% | |
NL10$ | 4.50% | 5% | 6.67% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 6.25% |
NL20-25$ | 4.50% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 6.25% |
NL50$ | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 5.56% |
NL100$ | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 5.56% |
NL200$ | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 5.56% |
NL500$ | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 5.56% |
NL1K$ | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 5.56% |
Caps
What is a cap? The maximum amount of rake that the room can take from the pot.
The rooms indicate the cap size in regular currency, which is unclear for comparing and understanding the ratio of the maximum rake amount to the size of the blinds on a specific limit, so we converted the cap size (for 5+ tables) to big blinds (BB).
| LIMITS | POKERSTARS | GGPOKER* (NLH) | GGPOKER (PLO) | REDSTAR | POKERKING | PARTYPOKER | 888POKER | BETONLINE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NL2$ | 15ББ | 10ББ | 3ББ | 25ББ | 150ББ | 50ББ | 200ББ | |
NL4-5$ | 20ББ | 10ББ | 3ББ | 10ББ | 60ББ | 20ББ | 80ББ | |
NL10$ | 15ББ | 10ББ | 3ББ | 20ББ | 30ББ | 10ББ | 40ББ | 15ББ |
NL20-25$ | 8ББ | 8ББ | 3ББ | 10ББ | 12ББ | 12ББ | 20ББ | 6ББ |
NL50$ | 4ББ | 8ББ | 2ББ | 6ББ | 6ББ | 6ББ | 8ББ | 7ББ |
NL100$ | 2.5ББ | 5ББ | 2ББ | 4ББ | 3ББ | 3ББ | 4ББ | 4ББ |
NL200$ | 1.4ББ | 3ББ | 2ББ | 2ББ | 1.5ББ | 1.5ББ | 2ББ | 2.5ББ |
NL400 | 0.75ББ | 1ББ | 0.75ББ | |||||
NL500$ | 0.6ББ | 1.6ББ | 1.5ББ | 0.6ББ | 0.67ББ | 1.4ББ | ||
NL600$ | 0.58ББ | 0.67ББ | 0.5ББ | |||||
NL1K$ | 0.3ББ | 1ББ | 1.5ББ | 0.4ББ | 0.3ББ | 0.3ББ | 0.5ББ | 1.25ББ |
*All other rooms have the same caps for Hold'em and Omaha tables.
Other indicators
Although the BB/100 indicator can be explanatory regarding the impact of rake on your winnings, it depends on the characteristics of your playing style.
Recently, calculations based on an extensive database of hands from the largest poker rooms were published on the primedope website. We still recommend taking these figures as an approximate to give you a general idea. The following table shows the average rake in bb/100 on the leading poker sites:
| Poker room | NL2$ | NL5$ | NL10$ | NL25$ | NL50$ | NL100$ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GGpoker | 13,5 | 13,2 | 13,2 | 12,8 | 12,8 | 11,6 |
PokerStars | 9,5 | 11,2 | 12,2 | 11,7 | 11,8 | 9,5 |
PokerKing | 13,5 | 13,5 | 13,5 | 13,4 | 12,1 | 10,1 |
BetOnline | 15 | 14,9 | 13,2 | 11,8 | ||
RedStar | 18 | 16,8 | 14,4 | 12,8 | 12,1 | 11 |
partypoker | 13,5 | 13,5 | 13,2 | 13,4 | 12,1 | 10,1 |
888Poker | 16,9 | 15,9 | 13,5 | 13,5 | 12,8 | 11 |
Conclusions
Overall, it is necessary to compare the caps since the commission percentage tends to be standard, in addition to considering that the gaming style impacts the rake paid in the long term.
- From NL50, the difference in caps has less impact than in lower stakes.
- From NL100, the cap starts to fall in all the rooms, which confirms the traditional recommendation to regulars to try to get out of micro limits as soon as possible.
- Very low caps up to NL/PLO50 in GGPoker are “leveled” with the preflop rake on pots from 25bb, although these are more common in Omaha than in Hold'em.
- In NL/PLO500-$1k GGPoker players also pay more rake.
- High caps almost always mean that the room has a very soft field or that a very high rakeback percentage is paid even to players of the lowest limits. Therefore, it is recommended that the only decision factor about a room is not the rake structure.
The bonus policy, rakeback, promotions, the exclusive deal from WPD, the number of games, the regular/recreational ratio, and the poker software are equally or much more important.
Read also — Poker rooms with the lowest rake in 2023
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