The Rake and How to Beat It

What is the Rake and how do you beat it? If you play Texas Holdem at a casino, poker room or online poker room, there is a rake. The rake is a percentage of the pot that goes to the house, usually 4 to 10%. A lot of poker rooms will only rake when the pot reaches a certain level. The term comes from “raking a little off the pot.”

If the house is only raking when the pot reaches a certain level, you can play to minimize your contributions to the rake. For example, you can blind steal or buy free cards. Blind Stealing is betting when only you and the blinds are left in the game pre-flop. To pull this off, you should be in the dealer position, just before the small blind. You make a large enough raise to get the blinds to fold, and you “steal” the blinds. If you’re in last position, you can buy a free card. If on the pre-flop, no one else has raised, you bet. This cuts down on the number of players – ergo cutting down the money in the pot, which avoids the rake. Everyone who doesn’t fold will tend to check to the raiser – you. Then, on the turn, after the other players have checked again, you don’t have to bet again. That’s why it’s called a free card. It is best used if you’ve got a flush or straight draw.

Getting pots early and getting out is how to minimize the rake. Let’s face it, the house is going to get its money. You just don’t want to give them more than you have to. The rake at a casino or poker room is going to be more than an online poker room. Let’s face it, there is a lot less involved in maintaining an online room than a building with dealers, waitstaff, parking lot attendants and everything else. They have to pass that cost on to the players and one way they do it is through the rake. The rake at an online poker room is usually about half of what a live casino or poker room would charge.

Written by texas holdem Team · Filed Under Poker

Different Types of Tournaments

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Texas Holdem tournaments, along with most all other poker tournaments, follow a typical path. All players start with the same amount of poker chips. At the poker tables, the blinds gradually increase. And the players are gradually eliminated until a winner is decided. The winner is awarded a prize amount and so are the other top finishers. Most of these poker tournaments are freezeouts – once a player loses all his poker chips, he’s gone.

While that’s the way it usually goes, there are a number of variations on this theme. One of the most common is Re-buy and Add-on Tournaments. A re-buy lets a player buy back into the poker tournament. There’s usually a time limit on when you can re-buy. After it passes, players can still add-on. They can buy a set number of poker chips for a set price to “add on” to their stack. With these options, you can take more chances betting, especially in the early rounds where you can re-buy.

If you’re in a hurry to make your money or get chased from the poker tables, you might try a Turbo tournament. That’s one where the blinds rise very quickly, sometimes every 5 minutes. Sometimes as quick as every two minutes. With blinds getting that high, there’s not too much post-flop play because players are often forced to go all-in pre-flop or fold. In a Turbo tournament, it’s smart to play aggressively. Steal the blinds as often as you can and hope the poker cards come your way.

A satellite tournament doesn’t offer a cash prize. It rewards the winners with entry into a higher buy-in tournament. The World Series of Poker uses satellite tournaments.

We have Party Poker to thank for the steps tournament. It is usually a series of single poker table satellite tournaments with increasingly larger buy-ins, with big cash prizes at the final step. Most steps poker tournaments have five steps. Winners of the first step are awarded an entry into the second step and so on.

These are just a few of the many poker tournament variations you’ll run into in casinos, live poker rooms and online poker rooms and casinos.

Written by texas holdem Team · Filed Under Poker

Strategies for Texas Holdem No Limit Tournaments

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Turn on the television and it’s not to difficult to find a No Limit Holdem Tournament going on. They are wildly popular because they have lots of drama and suspense that gets paid off every hand. The World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour have intrigued viewers and fans who are intrigued by the chance to win big.

However, no limit Texas holdem tournaments are very different than sitting at a poker table to play a no limit ring game. In these poker tournaments, when you get down to the end, all the poker chips get shoved in pre-flop on poker hands that are no better than 50-50 odds. If you have a pair in the hole or holding AK, you’re ready for a late tournament battle.

A major strategic difference between no limit tournaments and a no limit ring game is that you can’t bluff as much. Players’ stacks of poker chips are usually smaller in relation to the pot. And the amount of chips you might win from a bluff are worth a whole lot less than the amount you might lose. So bluffing loses its value.

But don’t think you can keep folding and stay in the game. You have to win pots to keep your seat at the poker table; if you don’t, you’ll watch your chips steadily disappear to the blinds. In the early going, though, don’t gamble too much. You just need to win enough to keep you in the tournament.

As you get to the middle of the tournament, you need to change your poker strategy. As the poker tournament moves on, the blinds get bigger. Stealing the blinds will keep you sitting pretty. You are still in survival mode and hoping to build your pile of poker chips with a few wins here and there. And unless you really have the nuts, avoid getting into any costly battles.

The end game of the tournament is all about a toss of a coin, 50-50 gamble. The blinds are so big that it makes sense to go all in on the pre-flop, especially if you’re holding an Ace and a good kicker or a pocket pair.

Written by texas holdem Team · Filed Under Texas Holdem

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The Rake and How to Beat It