You check your poker tracker at the month-end. You have played 50,000 hands of NL50, you have won 4.2bb/100, and that makes you feel good about yourself. You ought to, because you are beating the game.
Many players, however, still do not understand that this 4.2bb/100 is nearly always your net after rake. What is often not stressed by your tracker is the fact that the more hands and larger pots you play, the more rake you typically generate. It’s the hidden gap between your real skill level and your reported win rate that eats a big portion of your profitability.
Understanding What Rake Really Costs You
This is what most poker rooms boast of their “5% rake, capped”, which would make sense at first. The problem is that rake percentage is not what actually determines game difficulty. In practice, the only thing that really matters is how many big blinds per 100 hands you pay in rake.
Because rake is capped in money, it directly translates into big blinds — and that’s what makes games punitive for winning players. Your tracker win rate is your result after rake, and your actual poker performance is your win rate net of the rake bb/100.
In a typical NL50 game, players will usually be paying about 5-9bb/100 in rake based on the site, the format and style of play. It means that the winning player with 4bb/100 net is generally making about 9-13bb/100 before rake. Practically, an average poker room often receives a similar amount, or even larger, than what many of the winning players really have in hand.
This does not represent bad play. It is just a mathematical fact of the present rake structures.
Why Rake Caps Matter More Than Rake Percentages
The percentage of the advertised rake is not as important as the cap due to the fact that the cap affects the amount you actually spend on a big blind.
One such establishment is PokerStars, which operates a conventional rake structure of 5%, with caps that are typically around ~4bb on NL50 full-ring games, depending on region and table type. CoinPoker also charges a 5% rake, although with a sliding cap table: 2bb heads-up, 3bb three to four players and 4bb full table.
Such a distinction of one or two big blinds in a capped pot quickly accumulates over volume. Even a 1bb/100 difference can work out to about $1000 at NL50 in a year of average play, which would buy you a few buy-ins, which could otherwise be in your bank.
Higher stakes continue to have structural differences. WPT Global advertises 4% rake on many cash games, while GGPoker applies rake in certain no-flop situations once specific betting thresholds are met.
Why Rake Is a Bigger Problem at Small Stakes
Small stakes are claimed to be hard because of the quality of the players, but the more basic problem is rake geometry.
On smaller limits, pots are smaller, the rake caps translate into numerous big blinds, and a larger percentage of hands reach significant rake limits. The same caps are expressed as a smaller number of big blinds when the stakes go up, and rake will be less prohibitive compared to the pot size.
A smaller rake (often at higher stakes like NL50) allows skill to matter more, hence why players can be even more profitable there despite the harder competition.
Anything about a “small-stakes trap” being a conspiracy or a coaching gimmick, you can forget about. It's just math. When you play small stakes, the fixed rake they take from each small pot gobbles up a big portion of the money which otherwise might have come your way. That's the whole “trap.”
Rakeback Helps, But It Doesn't Fix a Bad System
Rakeback has been claimed to be the magic bullet, but modern programs typically fall in the 25-35% range unless very large volumes are being produced. CoinPoker has been known to give a promotional rate of up to 33% a week, Americas Cardroom up to 27% at larger scales, and WPT World with a rate of about 30%, although the exact numbers depend on the volume and promotion.
The main point here is that rakeback percentage in itself is not very meaningful. A reduced rate of rakeback on a good structure is often superior to a higher rate of rakeback obtained on a poor one. The best way is to base the rake and rakeback evaluation on bb/100, because that is what determines your actual bottom line.
Fast-Fold Formats and the Volume Effect
Although it does not affect the rate at which you are charged per hand, the rate at which you play changes dramatically with fast-fold poker. When you play twice or even three times the number of hands in an hour, you will pay twice or three times as much in rake in the same hour.
In the case of strong winners, this can accelerate profits. In the case of marginal winners, it is usually devastating. A player who is winning 2bb/100 with 8bb/100 in rake is already working on thin margins, and every increase of volume only enhances the rate at which the rake is killing those profits.
Crypto Casinos and Structural Alternatives
This is where broader industry coverage comes in. Some sources, such as CCN, often examine trends in crypto casinos and blockchain gambling platforms from a transparency and business-model perspective.
Players who like decentralization and control of their money will also enjoy these sites in areas where mainstream poker sites are not allowed because of regulatory restrictions. To others, it has nothing to do with perks, just having choices where mainstream options have been limited.
The important thing is not the cryptocurrency, but a business model which is possible due to this technology.
Some pro-poker websites have embraced this new format to offer their players an apparent advantage, including lower maximum rake, much faster cashouts, and easier options for moving money between sites.
Nevertheless, these platforms are not necessarily any better. Ultimately, it does not matter whether it’s branding or technology buzz. It is only your actual cost of play: the amount of rake that you are paying per 100 hands (bb/100) that matters.
The Bottom Line
Win rate is the number displayed by your poker tracker after the rake. To know your actual skill level, you must consider your performance before the rake. That number is this:
Your “Pre-rake” performance = Your net win rate + the rake you paid (both in bb/100).
Rake is basically the “house edge” in poker. Unlike in the case of casino games, this effect can be alleviated. This is done by selecting your poker site, stakes to play and formats (fast-fold or regular). A lot of players spend countless hours studying solvers and strategy, and spend close to no hours evaluating rake structures, yet this single factor can determine whether their edge survives at all.
That is an oversight that quietly leaves money on the table — money that you had already earned. We hope this article has helped educate Sweepstakes Advantage members on Win Rate.
