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Rake eats your winrate: what it really costs at NL2-NL10
There is one player sitting at all your tables who never makes a mistake and wins almost every pot: the site. Rake is the commission taken from cash game pots, and at the micro-stakes it is often the most expensive opponent of your session. Many players know it by name without ever asking what it actually takes from them — or how to adjust their game to pay less of it.
How rake works
The principle is almost always the same: the site takes a percentage of the pot won, up to a maximum cap per hand. The percentage, the cap and the exemptions vary from one site to another and sometimes from one stake to another, so the only reliable source is your site's official rake schedule. What matters here is the mechanism, not a precise number.
Important point: rake is taken from the pot you win, not from what you bet. When you lose a pot, you "only" pay your bet; when you win it, you collect the pot minus the commission. Your net result — and therefore your BB/100 — is always calculated after that deduction.
Why the micro-stakes pay more
The rake cap is set in euros, not in big blinds. At NL2, that cap represents a huge number of blinds: it is almost never reached, and you pay the full percentage on nearly every pot. The higher you move up, the earlier that same cap is reached in big pots, and the lower the effective rake measured in BB.
Take a fictional example to picture it: with 5% rake, a 20 BB pot costs the winner 1 BB, whatever the stake. But if the cap equals 2 BB at one stake and 15 BB at a lower stake, the big pots at the higher stake get capped, while those at the lower stake pay full price. That is one of the reasons why moving up from NL2 to NL5 mechanically improves your breakeven threshold, even at the same skill level.
Direct consequence: at low stakes, being a little better than the table is not enough. You have to beat your opponents AND the commission. A player who would be slightly winning without rake can perfectly well end up breakeven, or even losing, once the site has taken its share.
The spots that pay the most rake
Not all pots contribute in the same way. Rake mostly hits situations where you often win small amounts, or where a lot of money changes hands without a clear edge on your side.
Small pots that see a flop
This is where rake weighs the most in proportion: the percentage applies to every pot won, and in a small pot you are nowhere near the cap. A limp called by three players and then abandoned on the turn pays its rake like a big pot, without ever paying the winner much.
Multiway pots
The more players, the bigger the pot grows without your share of the winnings really increasing: your equity is diluted, but the rake is taken from the total. Four-way pots are often the ones where the winner gets back the least relative to what they put in.
Preflop cold calls
Calling a raise without the initiative, often out of position, leads to medium pots that you win less often. Every time you win one of these pots, the rake trims your gain; every time you lose it, you paid the full price. This is the spot where a call that is "marginal but correct" without rake becomes a losing one with it.
The adjustments that protect your winrate
You cannot negotiate the rake, but you can choose the pots you play. The general idea: fewer medium pots contested by several players, more pots won early or played with the initiative.
3-bet or fold rather than call
Facing a raise, favor a line that gives you the initiative or costs you nothing. A 3-bet often wins the pot preflop, and on most sites a pot that ends before the flop is not raked — check your site’s exact rule.
Fewer limps, more raises
Limping creates exactly the kind of pot rake loves: small, multiway, no initiative. Raising or isolating reduces the number of players and increases your chances of taking the pot right away.
Steal the blinds more
A successful steal wins the blinds with no rake (again, depending on your site’s rule). Opening a little wider on the button and the cutoff is one of the few adjustments that turn rake into an argument in your favor.
Pick your tables
Rake is the same for everyone, but your edge is not. The bigger the skill gap with your opponents, the more margin is left once the rake is paid.
None of these adjustments should become dogma. A call remains correct when your hand and position clearly justify it. But in close decisions, rake tips the balance toward aggression or folding, rarely toward the passive call.
Measuring the impact on your own results
Rake does not show up in a single hand: a few cents here and there. It shows up over volume. To judge whether you really beat your stake, you need a large enough sample — we explain how large in our article on how many hands you need to judge a winrate — then an honest look at where you win and where you lose.
The questions to ask about your history: how many multiway pots do you play? Is your cold-call result positive or negative? Do you win more in pots you raised preflop than in pots where you called? If the pots without initiative drag your result down, that is often where rake does the most damage. And if your margin stays thin, careful bankroll management becomes all the more important.
Frequently asked questions
What is rake in poker?
It is the commission the site takes from cash game pots, usually a percentage of the pot capped at a maximum amount. In tournaments, the equivalent is included in the entry fee (the part of the buy-in that does not go into the prize pool).
Why is rake more expensive at the micro-stakes?
Because the cap is set in euros. At NL2, that cap represents a huge number of big blinds and is almost never reached: you pay the full percentage on nearly every pot. At higher stakes, the cap is reached faster and the effective rake, measured in BB, goes down.
Is my BB/100 calculated before or after rake?
Results from your hand history are net: the amount you actually collected in each pot you won already accounts for the rake taken. Your BB/100 therefore measures what you beat once the commission is paid — which is why a player who is "slightly better than the table" can still be a losing player.
Does rakeback make up for rake?
Only partly. Loyalty programs return a fraction of what you paid, which improves your overall result, but they do not turn a losing player into a winning one. Count them as separate income, not as an excuse to play losing spots.
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