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'If you are playing for real money at online poker rooms then you are paying rake.'

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No shocker there.

'At low stakes cash games you're paying relatively more rake than at higher stakes.'

Okay, that's also a well known fact I guess.

'Micro stakes no limit cash game players could be winning a lot more money at another online poker room due to a difference in rake structure!'

Now, that's interesting I'd say!

'What's a lot more money', you're asking? Well, even if you're already a fairly talented player winning 10 big blinds per 100 hands at 2nl on a Full Tilt Poker account without 27% rakeback then you can almost double your win rate by moving over to PokerStars. That's almost a full buy-in extra for every 1000 hands you play! If you would already receive 27% rakeback at Full Tilt Poker, than the difference would be small, but still in favour of Pokerstars.

Because a professional poker player and webmaster of PokerDataMining.net provided me with a lot of data, I was able write this article which will show you exactly how a different rake structure at PokerStars can result in such a big increase of your win rate when playing at the lower limits.

Since this review is fairly long I'll start by giving you a summary of which rooms take the least amout of rake from their low stakes players in table 1.

Recommended poker rooms for beginning and low stakes players:

Table 1: recommended poker rooms by limit.

Stakes	Best poker room	Download
2nl	PokerStars	Download PokerStars
5nl	PokerStars	Download PokerStars
10nl	PokerStars	Download PokerStars
25nl	Full Tilt and Cake Poker	Get rakeback at FTP or Cake*

* This link will take you to RakeTheRake, a big and reliable rakeback provider.

Interested in why exactly these rooms are so great? Then follow me through the rest of this article!

Poker rake structures

In another article that is a reference for rake structures of several poker rooms and networks I already explained that the rake structures used by online poker rooms differ by:

• the maximum amount raked (the rake cap),
• the pot size increments from which rake is taken
• and the way in which these rake structures account for the number of active players in a hand.

Not mentioned specifically is the fact that some rooms also just rake a higher percentage from whatever pot size increment is used.

Summarizing you can say a rake structure is better when:

1. The percentage raked from the pot size increments used is lower
2. The pot size increments from which rake is taken are larger
3. The rake cap is lower and this cap will also sometimes be reached
4. There's a higher degree of differentiation based on the number of active players in a hand (i.e., lower rake cap or larger pot size increments with fewer players in the hand).

Rake and rake structures at the low limits

So why exactly is all this more important for nano and micro stakes no limit players (2nl - 25nl) to pay attention to than for those players playing at a higher level?

First of all, the rake structures used at different poker rooms simply differ most from one another at the micro stakes levels.

Secondly, the maximum amount of rake (rake cap) is higher in terms of big blinds at the micro stakes. Because of this the rake cap will rarely be reached and you'll always end up paying the maximum amount of rake relative to the size of the pot. And because the rake you pay decreases your win rate, your win rate suffers most from rake at the micro stakes.

Furthermore, a difference in pot size increments from which rake is taken (point 2 from the 'better rake structure' list above) is only of influence on the average rake percentage when the rake cap isn't reached and will also be most relevant at small pot sizes (up to around $10). This is already illustrated in a figure in the article comparing the micro stakes rake structures of PokerStars vs Full Tilt Poker. In this article I also showed that for 2nl, 5nl and 10nl games a 27% rakeback deal at Full Tilt Poker does not even compensate for the higher amount of rake you pay when compared to PokerStars' rake structure(!).

Hand histories

Although I already compared some micro stakes no limit rake structures in both articles mentioned (PokerStars' is better than Full Tilt's, even slightly with FTP rakeback, up to 10nl) I did not have information about pot sizes at the different low stakes levels to calculate the exact differences in the amount of rake charged by these rooms. I did some calculations with the assumption that pot sizes are equally distributed over a certain range (see tables 1 and 2 here), which is not true in reality. With the help of information supplied by PokerDataMining.net this 'problem' is now solved.

PokerDataMining.net provided information from 40.000 unique hand histories to FirstTimePokerPlayer, 10.000 hand histories each from 2nl, 5nl, 10nl and 25nl 6-max games at Full Tilt Poker with 6 active players in the hand and a flop being dealt. With these hand histories it is possible to calculate the true distribution of pot sizes at the different low limit games as well as the exact differences in the amount of rake charged between rooms when calculated using their own rake structures. This will show exactly which rooms suppress your win rate the least by taking rake, or the other way around, which online poker rooms rip off their micro stakes players the most.

Pot size distributions

The distribution of pot sizes at the different micro stakes has been determined by counting the amount of pots falling within a pot size range for a number of consecutive pot size ranges. By doing this 5 times for 2000 unique hand histories (10.000 total), a margin of error (with the minimum and maximum value as lower and upper limit) could also be calculated, see figure 1:

What does this figure mean?

• At 2nl and 5nl most of the pots don't even reach $1 and at 10nl this counts for almost 50% of all the pots.

• At 25nl the amount of pots of $10 or bigger is the largest: almost 20% of the total amount of pots. At these higher pot sizes a difference in pot size increments from which rake is taken does not have a great influence on the average rake charged. Therefore differences in average rake between online poker rooms will likely become smaller at 25nl when compared to lower stakes.

The average pot size turned out to be around 26 big blinds at all four levels.

Average rake

For all 10.000 pot sizes at a certain limit rake was calculated according to the rake structures of the following rooms/networks (click the room/network name to view rake structures on FirstTimePokerPlayer):

With these three rooms/networks most of the available rake structures at other online poker rooms are also covered:

Table 2: rake structure similarities.

The rake structure of...	is most similar to that/those of...
PokerStars	Everest Poker (at 25nl and up) Boss/IPN above 10nl (but most games in €)
Full Tilt Poker	All iPoker rooms All rooms on the Cake network Everest Poker (up to/incl. 10nl)
Merge Gaming rooms	Ladbrokes (at 10nl and up) Boss/IPN at 10nl ((but most games in €) Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker

Figure 2 shows the average rake calculated for all the 10.000 pots at every level using the three rake structures mentioned above. The rake is expressed as a percentage of the average pot size:

What does this figure mean?

• Rake charged at Full Tilt Poker is the highest at all the micro stakes. This is the result of the higher amount raked per dollar and the small pot size increments from which rake is taken ($0.01 for every $0.15 in the pot and at 25nl $0.01 for every $0.20 in the pot).

• PokerStars and Merge Gaming rooms charge the least amount of rake at 2nl. This is the result of the larger pot size increments from which rake is taken compared to FTP's rake structure ($0.01 rake for every $0.20 in the pot).

• At 5 and 10nl rake charged at PokerStars is comparable to Full Tilt Poker with rakeback. At this point it will be interesting to compare the equivalent rakeback percentages of the PokerStars VIP club and the Full Tilt promotions to see at which of both rooms playing poker would be cheapest. If you follow the link, you'll find out that this will depend a lot on your playing volume and how consistent you play. In summary: when playing very low or high volumes you would most likely be better of at PokerStars. Play anything in between and Full Tilt could be the better room.

• Only at 25nl does rakeback at FTP result in a lower amount of average rake paid from every pot when compared to the other rake structures (the lowest with on average 3.6% rake per pot to be precise).

Rake and your win rate

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Rake has a tremendous negative effect on your win rate at the micro stakes. Take a look at the following calculation:

The average pot size at 2nl turned out to be $0.52 or 26 big blinds. At Full Tilt Poker the average amount raked at 2nl is 5.8%. This means that on average 5.8% x 26bb = 1.5bb per hand is taken from the table. Assuming that every player pays an equal amount of rake this would result in you paying approximately ¼ bb per hand in rake or 25 bb/100 hands.

Your poker win rate is usually expressed as the amount of big blinds (bb) you win per 100 hands. If your win rate would be 10 bb/100 hands, then you're doing very well.

Now compare the average amount of rake paid with a very good win rate, and you'll see that at the lower limits it won't be unlikely for you to pay multiples of your winnings in rake.

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Example: say you are playing 10nl at Full Tilt Poker on a non rakeback account. The average pot size is 27.3bb and the average amount raked is 6.5%, which comes down to 29.6 bb/100 hands for you in a 6-max game.

To improve your win rate you want to play at another online poker room, because you are unable to get rakeback. The logical choice would be PokerStars since they take the lowest amount of rake (only 4.8%, or 21.8 bb/100 hands for you alone). With this move to PokerStars you would instantly be winning 29.6 - 21.8 = 7.8 bb/100 hands extra due to paying less in rake. That's $7.80 per 1000 hands or 1 full buy-in every 1282 hands. How cool is that?

For players already having a rakeback account at Full Tilt Poker the difference in rake charged would be negligible, but Pokerstars' loyalty program would be more beneficial than the iron man program at Full Tilt Poker.

As you can see from this example it can be worth it to take into account the amount of rake you pay when choosing where to play. You now know that rakeback can be nothing more than a marketing trick that doesn't necessarily result in a higher win rate.

PokerStars rakeback

You could say that the lower amount of rake paid at PokerStars when compared to Full Tilt Poker is essentially a form of rakeback. In a table it would look something like this:

Table 3: PokerStars rakeback.

PokerStars vs...	2NL	5NL	10NL	25NL
Full Tilt Poker	28.8%	27.0%	25.7%	4.8%
FTP + 27% RB	2.4%	0.0%	-1.8%	-23.3%

What does this table mean?

• The percentages are the amount of 'rakeback' you get by having to pay less in rake at PokerStars vs Full Tilt Poker with or without 27% rakeback. For example, playing 10nl at PokerStars would be the same as playing 10nl at Full Tilt Poker with 25.7% rakeback.

• Rake charged at Full Tilt Poker is the highest at all the micro stakes. This is the result of the higher amount raked per dollar and the small pot size increments from which rake is taken ($0.01 for every $0.15 in the pot at 2-10nl).

• At 25nl playing at Full Tilt Poker with 27% rakeback would be the same as playing at PokerStars with 23.3% rakeback. So without taking FTP iron man and PokerStars VIP into account, it seems like PokerStars' rake structure can't compete with Full Tilt's 27% rakeback at this level anymore.

Rake and rakeback at the micro stakes - conclusion

PokerStars' rake structure is the best rake structure for micro stakes players up to 10nl. People playing these nano and micro stakes games at Full Tilt Poker without 27% rakeback could easily be adding 8 bb/100 hands to their win rate by moving to PokerStars.

At 25nl Full Tilt Poker with 27% rakeback is a very attractive option. Keep in mind though that rooms on the Cake network (with essentially the same rake structure) offer 33% rakeback instead of 27% for an even more attractive offer (but instead of 25nl they offer a level of 20nl games and their loayalty program could give a lower return).

Although the figures in this article do not take into account any benefits from bonuses and loyalty programs and the pot sizes as measured at FTP can be different at another room, I think this article clearly shows the significance of rake at the micro stakes as well as the rake differences between online poker rooms. Know that rake has a significant influence on your win rate at the micro stakes. Also realise that rakeback can be a deceiving marketing trick that doesn't necessarily result in a higher win rate for you but at the same time can definitely be worth it, even at the lower stakes.

In summary these are the recommended rooms to play at if you want to pay as little rake as possible:

• 2nl players and low and very high volume 5nl and 10nl players play cheapest at PokerStars

• while medium volume 5nl and 10nl players as well as 25nl players should really visit RakeTheRake to open a rakeback account at Full Tilt Poker or Cake Poker.

Now, go play some poker and don't pay too much rake!

With special thanks to Jake from PokerDataMining.net for the time spent to collect and extract data for this article.

Further reading at First Time Poker Player:

• PokerStars VIP vs Full Tilt Poker rakeback (recommended)

Online poker is a wide-open game that features numerous stakes. You can play no limit cash games ranging from $0.01/$0.02 to $50/$100.

This variety is nice from the standpoint that it gives you plenty of places to start your online poker career. It also allows you to step up to bigger limits in hopes of earning more profits.

The only problem, though, is that you’ll also have a tougher time figuring out where you should begin. Many players think the lowest limits are the best place to enter the game.

But as I’ll cover below, you should think about more factors than just the cheapest limits. That said, I’m going to discuss more on online poker stakes and how you can decide where to begin.

Online Poker Offers the Lowest Stakes and Has Free Games

When compared to land-based poker, online sites offer the lowest possible limits in the game. The micro-stakes feature blinds as low as $0.01/$0.02, which most players can easily afford.

You don’t even have to risk any money when playing internet poker. You can simply jump in free games at poker sites or use a social gaming site.

The great thing about micro-stakes and free poker is that you can practice without spending much or anything at all. This low risk factor means you can minimize losses until you improve your skills.

Many people start out playing social poker or micro limits for this very reason. The stakes are so low that they don’t stand to lose much, even if they play badly.

Sometimes Micro-Stakes and Free Poker Aren’t Great Starting Points

If your online poker goal is to simply play a few hands and have fun, then free games and micro-stakes are perfectly fine. In fact, you’re better off playing these games as a casual player so that you don’t have to face off against highly competitive grinders.

But if you have aspirations of moving up the limits and winning bigger profits, then the lowest stakes aren’t for you. The chief reason why is that the competition is mostly terrible.

Free online poker and social gaming sites are the absolute worst. They feature a large number of players who don’t really care about strategy, because they’re just pushing around fake chips.

Of course, you’ll find some people who take these free games seriously. However, they don’t study enough strategy to pose a threat to skilled players.

The micro-stakes competition is slightly better than what’s seen in free and social games. But you’ll still find plenty of inexperienced players and even idiots who go all-in on almost every hand.

These games are good if you’re looking to win a dollar or so every hour. Again, though, they don’t present any real competition when you’re already a competent player.

Going further, you won’t improve by playing against weak competition on a consistent basis. All you’ll be doing is racking up tiny profits against bad opponents.

Some grinders go out of their way to avoid this scenario by using reverse game selection. This strategy refers to finding tough opponents at your usual stakes.

The idea is that you’ll eventually become a much better player by testing yourself against the best at certain limits. Famed high-stakes player Dan “Jungleman” Cates used reverse game selection to improve when he couldn’t beat $0.25/$0.50 NL hold’em early on.

You don’t have to go this far to improve as a player. But reverse game selection shows how successful players think when it comes to competition and improving.

Micro Stakes Poker Strategy

Use Your Bankroll to Determine a Good Entry Point

You can see where playing free poker and micro limits aren’t going to help you much in the long run. But how do you go about determining where you fit in as a new player?

A good way to figure this out is by finding cash game stakes that you can comfortably afford. Your bankroll will be the best measure of determining this.

You want to choose limits that allow you to have a comfortable amount of full cash-game buy-ins (100 big blinds). More buy-ins give you a stronger chance of surviving downswings and poor play in the beginning.

The next question becomes how many buy-ins you need for certain limits. It’s commonly suggested that you have at least 20 buy-ins for your chosen stakes.

Assuming you’re new to online poker, though, you might want to consider upping this amount to 25 to 30. Even if you’re experienced with live poker, it’s good to have more buy-ins so that you have a bigger cushion when adjusting.

Here’s an example of choosing limits based on your bankroll size:

• You have $5,000.
• 5,000 / 25 = 200
• 200 / 100 (big blinds) = 2
• You should start out with $1/$2 NL cash games.

As you become a more experienced and better player, you should consider choosing limits based on 20 buy-ins. But again, having 25 to 30 buy-ins gives you more comfort while learning the game.

Won’t I Get Crushed When Starting With Bigger Stakes?

The biggest fear that players have about starting at higher limits is that they’ll get crushed. Many poker players don’t even want to play at $1/$2 NL tables in the beginning for fear that they’ll lose big.

Of course, these fears subside if you’re willing to play seriously and improve. Chances are that you’re not going to dominate $1/$2 NL and above right away.

However

You can at least minimize your losses by studying opponents, learning poker strategy, and only playing a single table at a time.

As for observing your opponents, some online poker beginners aren’t good at paying attention to the games. They’ll surf the internet, listen to music, and even watch YouTube videos in between hands.

These habits aren’t so bad if you’re like the micro-stakes players I mentioned before who just want to have a little fun. But you won’t get any better if you’re not learning how to study and read opponents.

Regarding playing a single table, some beginners get bored with waiting on others to act in hands. They’ll open another table or two and start multi-tabling.

Multi-tabling is a good way to boost your profits when you’re already a winning player at certain stakes. However, this practice only accelerates losses when you don’t have a good win rate.

You want to instead thoroughly throw yourself into one table and keep learning other players’ tendencies until you’re a winner.

As for poker strategy, there’s no end to improving your game. Of course, you likely don’t have all day to study poker tips.

A good way to handle this is by dedicating at least one hour to strategy for every four hours you play. You especially want to keep up this ratio in the beginning, as you’re learning to become a stronger player.

Studying poker strategy helps you figure out how to deal with difficult situations and implement new techniques. By keeping up your playing, you can apply what you learn to the felt in every new session.

Poker strategy comes in a variety of forms, including articles, books, training videos, and Twitch streams. Twitch is especially helpful, because it allows you to watch how pros play the game without having to spend a dime.

Conclusion

Ideally, you’d be able to start at the lowest online poker limits and properly learn the game. The reality, though, is that micro-stakes and free games make poor starting points for those who have higher aspirations.

The biggest problem with low-limit games is that you don’t face any real competition. Most of the players don’t care much about strategy, while some are completely screwing around.

The only advantage to free and micro-stakes tables is that you don’t have to risk much. However, this benefit doesn’t mean much if you want to become a better player.

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Your best bet is to use your bankroll as a measuring stick for where to start in the game. If you’re totally new to online poker, I suggest picking stakes where you can cover at least 25 cash-game buy-ins.

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Of course, good bankroll management alone won’t help you be a winner. You also need to steadily improve your skills by learning strategy.

Poker strategy is all over the internet, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding resources. Through a combination of experience, bankroll management, and learning strategy, you can work your way up the limits and become a successful player.

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