What Is a Rake in Poker?

Fixed Fee is a form of rack collection which was introduced by inland cardrooms after disgruntled winners started complaining about having to pay all the rake while the others didn't. This led to most of the card rooms putting forth a fixed entry fee which ensures that every player pays a charge for sitting at a poker table. In this way, all the poker players pay equally for the chance of winning the pot, regardless of the outcome. Casinos also benefit from this as they are able to receive rakes even when there are multiple losing players at the table. It's more attractive and fairer for high-stakes players who normally had to pay big amounts of rake on large pots.

This type of rake collection is an alternative to pot rake, where everybody pays the same thing. However, this system sees a fixed rake amount placed on the dealer button by the player currently in that position for each hand, which the dealer collects before the stack of cards is dealt. This ensures that each player at the table pays the same, regardless of whether they win or lose. Even if a player decides to fold without participating, they will still lose the rake amount.

It is common for a lot of online poker rooms to offer tournaments that come with zero rakes. Take Freerolls for instance, they are free-to-join poker tournaments that charge absolutely no fee and have a little added prize money. Some sites even put forth the occasional rake-free tournaments on offer where players only have to cover the buy-in. This approach appeals to potential customers and thus keeps them interested and playing at their site. Additionally, some platforms feature a reduced rake structure which involves players paying a small amount of rake. With the possibility of an overlay, a number of these poker rooms make up for this by offering a guaranteed prize.

Some players usually go hours playing poker in physical and virtual gambling venues. This is the primary reason why the timed collection rake was brought in. Here, each player submits a predetermined amount of rake fee after a specific course of time, which is typically every 30-minutes to one hour that they remain active at the poker tables. Time collection is quite popular among high rollers since it allows for better rake amount and helps them avoid bigger fees that are otherwise charged on their pot.

Timed pots are a variant of this timed collection method. A timed pot represents a fixed commission fee which is collected from the first pot over a certain amount within an agreed period of time.