Low Rake Poker Sites – Lowest Rake Online Poker Rooms

    Finding low rake poker sites should be of critical importance to the serious poker player. Everything else being equal, you will be paying more rake at one poker site than the other. Below are the lowest rake poker sites. The lowest is by far Ultimate Bet, followed by Sportsbook Poker. Both are highly recommended.


USA Poker Sites with the Lowest Rake in 2010

Bonus codes provided can be used at sign-up to qualify for an 100% first time deposit bonus.


  • What Is Rake And Why Is It Collected ?

The rake is how poker rooms earn money. They are entitled to a little percentage of every pot, which quickly adds up, called the rake. Some players think it’s unfair for the casinos to collect money this way, but really you should view it as a “tip” that you are paying the service provided. A lot of people often miss the incredible overhead that goes into designing, coding and running a poker site. The rake is credit that the operators receive for all their hard work. If casinos didn’t collect this rake, they would go out of business almost immediately.

  • Typical Rake Values At Online Poker Sites

Traditionally, the standard is rake is 5% of the pot. However, this is capped for the bigger pots. Typically, the rake is capped at $3 or $5 depending on the stakes you play. Obviously the higher the stakes you play, the higher the rake will be. But keep in mind that relative rake should be considered too. For example, if you play the 50NL heads up tables on Full Tilt, the size of the rake relative to the pot may be higher than 100NL. So understanding rake and stake dynamics isn’t as trivial as it may seem. Fortunately, we made the job easy for you at instantpoker.org, by the listing the online poker rooms with the lowest rake.

  • Full Tilt has slightly higher rake, especially for heads up

Full Tilt Poker is average when it comes to rake values. If you play ring games, the rake percentages will be fairly decent, and in line with the industry average. However, if you play the low stakes heads up games on Full Tilt, we feel that the relative rake is not optimal. If both you and your opponent have 50 dollar stacks and equal skill levels, you may just be wasting time and donating money to the casino. Some professional poker players even recommend to start playing heads up at 100NL because of this. In my personal experience however, I’ve had good results playing the heads up games at 50NL on Full Tilt, and can attest that they are definitely beatable. But you came to this page looking for the most profitable poker sites, so our recommendation is Ultimate Bet when it comes to great rake.

  • Ultimate Bet has the best, lowest rake

Ultimate Bet is a fantastic site that has an above industry average rake structure. Below is a chart showcasing the various amounts collected for the NL/PLO games. In our opinion, the rake at Ultimate Bet is the best.


  • Easy Tips To Compensate For the Rake

A very easy tip that you should implement right away is to use a sign-up deposit bonus. This has the great advantage to mitigate the amount that is collected every hand you play. The reason is that your bonus is released gradually at every hand you play, therefore compensating for the rake. Obviously bonuses will eventually run out, but they can still give you a nice short term boost. We have some bonus codes listed for you in the table above.

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