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How casinos make money – Poker

In our ‘How casinos make money series’, this time we’re going to look at Poker. This famous card game is known to have developed during the 19th century in United States. 

Poker is one of the most favoured games played in casinos. In poker, ‘rake’ is a percentage of money that a casino keeps from almost every cash game pot or tournament entry fee, more or less like tax. Irrespective of it being a No-Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha or any other form of poker, the rake is taken out of a great majority of pots before they are handed over to the winner.

In most casinos, rake is a fixed percentage, anywhere between 2% to 10% of the total pot. Generally, keeping it as 3% to 5%. A rake is often collected by the casino to cover their expenses for organizing the event, to pay their workers and to make some extra money. 

Hourly rate option

The previously mentioned method of collecting rake is predominantly followed. Some exceptions do employ a different model. An hourly pay is collected for the time that you sit at the table. This loosely translates that, no money will be taken from your pot when you play, but there will be a fixed amount to be paid every hour. 

Tournaments

Tournaments are a different game format altogether, as players compete for chips and try to outlast other players during the event to reach the money stage. As chips don’t have monetary value, casinos can’t get their rake the same way they do in cash games. Tournament rake is paid right before the buy-in itself. For example, a $500 tournament will have a buy-in of $510 or $520, inclusive of the rake.

If you compare live casinos and online ones, the latter always charges lesser rake. This is mainly because online platforms do not have many extra expenses for launching the tournament. We have also done multiple other articles about ‘How casinos make money‘! Keep reading GutshotMagazine.com to know more! 

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