In this free online poker article I want to talk about one of the most crucial aspects of playing poker for profits and why it is so important to have a Handle on it. That handle is called rake. Rake is the amount of money the poker room takes from pots and fees. At the secondary level you need to get a handle on this too.
As most poker rooms take a rake from the pot, after each hand you will end up with the house pre-flop and rake. A rake is simply the percentage of the small blind and big blind that the poker room takes. Notice the rake is lower in a pot limit game than a no limit game. This is because in a pot limit game you are not losing anything extra. However in a no limit poker game you are losing a percentage of every hand. This is called the rake.
One way to get a handle on rake is to track your playerials by looking at your rake percentage. This can be a little bit of work as you have to keep track of every player you have in every game. But there is a very good free online pokerTracker that can help with this. Also another way is to look at a table review or image gallery. In these reviews and galleries you will see what a typical player pays and what the average rake is. This way you can get a good idea of what your expected profit will be.
Most players who play poker for a living play break even. They figure this is about break even or profit + loses. However if you are making $300 a day and plan to increase your bankroll to $500 a day then you need to be making at least $3.00 a hand to be able to support yourself. It is suggested by the MTT Wise Bettor’s Book that you buy an online poker school. This will teach you how to calculate the odds and easily handle yourself when you are collecting information for your poker calculator (such as SitNGo Winnings). The advantage of buying a poker school is you will learn about all the various hand combinations and play styles people have. You will also learn how to calculate MGR and average chips on your opponents.
There is another free online Bola88 guide that will also let you in on when to move down in limits. The guide suggests that the break even point for limit hold’em players is 30 buy ins. So if you are playing a limit game you need to have a bankroll of at least thirty buy ins. This will allow you to play your best poker and most profitable poker when you are in a limit game.
When you are learning and/or growing your bankroll you should consider moving down a level only if you are experiencing a very low run rate of profits. A low run rate of profits is a result of many missed draws, which are common in limit hold’em games. I recommend only moving down after you have built your bankroll a bit and the profits you are making are comfortable. It is also recommended you wait at least thirty buy ins before moving down.
So if you have a fixed bankroll of say $1000 and you are making $1 or 2 per round then you should wait at least thirty buy ins before moving down.