Poker sites? Who has the lowest take?

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Handicapper
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Poker sites? Who has the lowest take?

any site stand out liek Pinnacle does for sports?
 

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try..not sure how to see what there takes are..but I really enjoy partypoker....always many people to play with and all kinds of games...I mean for 150 Dep I got 20% bonus after 150 raked hands you recieve the bonus in your account its yours


..you do not have to even play the hand you just need to be on the table when they take a rake...so that is 180....have it up to 220 and I have been playing for about 1 month....so you can play for a long time on just a little deposit
 

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All the sites I know rake 5% to a max of $3, except Total Poker which caps the 1/2 game at $1. Total is a small room with a game the goes mid-afternoon to evening EDT.

So the rake is not a factor to use in selecting a room.

BTW this rake is based on that of B & M rooms and gives the virtual operators a large margin. So far no-one has entered the industry promoting their room with a low rake. I suppose they feel the average player doesn't understand the cost of the rake, while they can be lured with bonuses without realising these incur 20 to 30 hours of playing time to be able to cash out, should they last so long.
 

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Poker rake is a finely balanced issue actually, if you rake a game too low compared to your competitors you might find you don't get all the business like you think. As you say, the dummies have no idea what the rake means, but the smart players and even the just decent players with lots of playing time know. These guys will gravitate to the lowest rake and you end up with a lot of tougher than average games for the market and that isn't good for your rake, nor drawing regulars. Back in the day I used to live up in the Bay Area in CA and the Oaks always had the lowest rake and advertised it. The Oaks is smack dab in the middle of everything, you can't beat its location right off the freeway and within 15 miles of all the most densely populated area in the state. Yet other rooms on the fringes and down in San Jose always got the action of the players, even without competing on rake. And if you played in those Oaks games you knew why, the action was crappy compared to elsewhere and you often found the few rocks that play in CA all seemed to sit down at the Oaks. I suspect this concept could have something to do with it. Sometimes its not a good idea to try to get too much business simply on price, because you could simply draw the wrong people playing for the wrong reasons.
 

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im not so sure. low rake will happen and even NO RAKE could happen. If a company could advertise in some other way, or charge a yearly commissionon on winners or even set it up and have a few in house experts play that think they have an extra advantage. that would draw tons of people. If marketed right.

just like lower Rake in sports (sides and parlays) and horses (cash back bonus) was not a big deal it will become one. Id think we would see that soon. Especially if you can just buy the sortware from a third party and not develop it yourself.
 

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Well you can go play there too, but I think a lot of people will be more than happy to stay at places with higher rake, but action. In the end rake is a very important impediment to your ability to be a long-term winner, but I think if you are playing in mostly bad games where everyone plays decently or quite good you will find that is a worse impediment. After all the reason why the low rake games and even rake games instead of time charge games thrive is because the tightest players seek them out, but the key to beating a rake in them is just play very tight. More tight you play, less rake you pay right?
 

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The high rake is the only reason I'm still playing home games instead of online for real money. I only play online for fun (not using real money). The rake is ridiculously high in my opinion. So if someone ever enters the online business with low rake as their come on I'll be playing.
 

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Thanks for your thoughtful reply Bill. I've only ever visited the Oaks once, while passing through. I walked in and decided not to play. I know exactly what you mean, it had the look and feel of a rock garden.
 

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Buffalo - my situation is entirely different. The home game I play in the rake is out and out ridiculous. They rake $5 a hand and if the pot goes over a couple hundred they take another $5. Sooner than that if they can take it without anyone noticing. We used to call these snatch games and no there wasn't any women playing. The term comes from the fact the dealer would snatch as much as he could out of the pot when no one was paying attention. I have quit to never go back again just to protest but I'm the only one there who cares. A week or two of me sitting home and the place still being jam packed always sends me back over with my tail tucked between my legs. Down here gambling is not legal anywhere (except on boats that go out in international waters) so everyone plays in home games.

I can only dream of a game with these sort of players and a cap of $3 on the rake.
 

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Interesting thoughts...I think rake is a factor for everyone, not just the tightwads, but I agree it is way down the list, action being number one.

So if you are a poker site trying to entice action by offering lower rake, then you had better be competitive in all other areas as well (ie. software speed and reliability, customer service, user-friendliness, layout, etc.) or you won't have a chance.

The place I see a real opportunity for low rake to make a difference is heads-up games. Even at 50c per game at levels like 10-20 say, that's over $100 per hour being raked off since you easily get 200 hands per hour. Just like in online chess, there is something about head-to-head combat that is enticing in itself and a good player usually doesn't mind playing against another good player because the ego element is more important than the money element. But if you are faced with paying $50 per hour each just for the privilege of using the website, then it kind of makes things undesirable. Imagine paying those kinds of fees for online chess!? OK, poker offers banking services that chess does not but is it really that expensive!? I think heads-up rakes are highway robbery as they are now and I think they could be reduced to as little as 10c per hand and the sites would still make nice profits. The opportunity to play heads-up on-line at reasonable prices would really make things exciting IMO and it is a shame that no site has taken this route as of yet. As for the future, though, I'm still hopeful.
 

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Regarding the rake, in my view WildBill is correct here. The only folks who care enough about the rake are the good players and professionals. Therefore, a low rake type of room would attract the more knowledgable players who are less likely/willing to give "action." The majority of players are recreational and rake does not factor into their play. Keep in mind, most people (in the US) have few poker outs unless they happen to live near an Indian casino that offers poker, live near a local casino or live in Vegas or California. As a result, the low rake room would have to have other features to draw players from the existing room in order to ensure that there is enough action to keep the room going.

The situation is similar to trying to tell a losing player that he could lose less and maybe win if he read a book and altered his style a bit its pretty hopeless if all he wants to do is gamble.

Personally, the low rake room would only be attractive to me if it has the right kind of action. While I may be somewhat knowledgable player, I KNOW that I cannot beat a low rake game if there are 9 other players at the table at my skill level or BETTER.
 

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Darryl-

Your observations on the rake in heads up are good. I was playing at a short handed table at Party last month and some guy was being an asshole. Basically, short handed you need to play a ton of hands BUT he played every hand. I took down a couple of pots including one where I hit a river card and won a large pot. He went on to berate other players and tells me that I couldnt handle him heads up. Generally, he was right since he was a maniac but I actually felt that I could expose him since I thought he played a very poor short handed game (I actually just started playing short but I knew that his strategy was not a winning one).

I challenged him to a heads up freezeout. I wanted this to last no longer than an hour or so and we took each took 150 to a 5/10 table. You ready for this....I finished this guy in 26 minutes (just checked my records) and 46 bucks
icon_eek.gif
was taken off the table by Party.

I'll NEVER do that again, not even to prove a point, unless it is big money. The rake was absurd!!!
 
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I think rake is a factor for everyone, not just the tightwads <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Rake affects whoever wins the most pots the most. Tightwads are least affected.
 

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trytrytry said:
im not so sure. low rake will happen and even NO RAKE could happen. If a company could advertise in some other way, or charge a yearly commissionon on winners or even set it up and have a few in house experts play that think they have an extra advantage. that would draw tons of people. If marketed right.

just like lower Rake in sports (sides and parlays) and horses (cash back bonus) was not a big deal it will become one. Id think we would see that soon. Especially if you can just buy the sortware from a third party and not develop it yourself.

thought this would happen!!!
 

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