Smal
Almost everybody acknowledges that it’s more durable to win at poker now than it was 5 years in the past, 10 years in the past, and so forth. The largest purpose for that’s the growing talent degree of the common participant.
However, gamers cite increased rake as a driving pressure as effectively:
Is there any information about rake in reside poker tournaments during the last 5/10/20 years? It looks like the whole quantity taking out the prize pool will get progressively increased. When will it / does it should cease?
— Patrick Leonard 🫡 (@padspoker) October 8, 2025
But is that true? Has rake continued to place an ever-growing squeeze on reside match poker gamers?
Card Player determined to analyze.
Rake Has Mostly Risen in Poker Tournaments Over the Past Decade
Card Player in contrast reside match rake from occasions in 2025-26 to comparable occasions in 2015 and 2019. The information confirmed some clear traits:
- Rake has largely gone up, with the World Poker Tour a notable exception
- The magnitude of the will increase is generally fairly small, typically round 1% or much less
- The best affect of rake will increase has occurred at the $500 degree
Card Player examined three tournaments every at the $10,000, $3,000-$5,000, $1,000 and $500 ranges. Here’s a glance at the complete image of rake modifications throughout roughly the previous decade:
| Tournament | Rake % (2015) | Rake % (2019) | Rake % (2025-26) | Change from 2015 | Change from 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WSOP $10,000 Main Event | 5.99% | 6% | 7% | +1.01% | +1% |
| WPT 5 Diamond/World Championship $10,400 Main Event | 6.73% | 6.73% | 5.77% | -0.96% | -0.96% |
| L.A Poker Classic $10,000 Main Event | 4% | 5.32% | 7% | +3% | +1.68% |
| EPT Prague €5,300 Main Event | 8.49% | 8.49% | 8.49% | 0 | 0 |
| WPT $3,700/$3,800 | 8.62% | 8.24% | 7.89% | -0.73% | -0.35% |
| WSOP $5,000 | 6% | 7% | 8% | +2% | +1% |
| PokerStars $1,100 | 11.81% | 11.81% | 12.73% | +0.92% | +0.92% |
| WSOP $1,000 | 11.70% | 10% | 12% | +0.30% | +2% |
| WSOPC $1,700 Main Event | 10.45% | 10.88% | 10.88% | +0.43% | 0 |
| WSOP $500 Colossus | 11.50% | 16.50% | 17.00% | +5.50% | +0.50% |
| Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood ~$400 multi-flight | 14.29% | 15% | 18.00% | +3.71% | +3% |
| WSOPC $400 multi-flight | 18.08% | 17.50% | 17.50% | -0.58% | 0 |
For the highest gamers at their respective stakes, the rake improve produces a small hit to their backside line, however they’ll nonetheless be comfortably profiting. For occasion, Jeremy Ausmus lately released a video the place he revealed that he has a return on funding (ROI) north of 40% in his reside no-limit maintain’em match profession. Players posting a win fee that elite will most likely barely discover the tiniest drop of their backside line.
The story is completely different for gamers nearer to the breakeven threshold. A participant with a ten% ROI, for instance, is seeing a good portion of their winnings disappear when the rake goes up a few share factors.
Combine the elevated rake with match codecs that enable extra reentries and later registration, and the match ecosystem has begun to empty bankrolls quicker than ever earlier than. Players could also be seeing the efficient of that in a match just like the World Series of Poker essential occasion, which has misplaced entries year-over-year twice in a row now.
Bigger Buy-ins Could Have Bigger ROIs
Players close to the underside of the reside poker ecosystem are seeing the most important squeeze. As prices for operators proceed to rise, it is smart that an ever increased buy-in degree will grow to be the “threshold” for the place match poker is theoretically beatable for the common aspiring participant.
What’s fascinating about that’s that the rake distinction between a $500 buy-in and a $1,000 buy-in, contrasted with the relative talent distinction of the participant swimming pools, creates a scenario the place many gamers would, bizarrely, have a better ROI within the higher-stakes occasions.
Sure, there are some gamers who will fireplace right into a $500 occasion and never a $1,000 one. But they’re most likely a small portion of the pool.
Small-Stakes Players Need To Evaluate Carefully
If the participant swimming pools are related, a successful participant goes to point out not solely a greater ROI for 2 causes. The rake is making up a smaller share of their buy-in and they are going to be enjoying for bigger greenback quantities. Not solely are they shifting up in stakes, however gamers are additionally getting to maintain extra of their buy-ins within the prize pool.
A participant in that scenario constrained by bankroll can be higher off merely promoting some extra motion as a way to play larger than losing effort and time within the higher-rake video games.
Plus, gamers voting with their wallets would have the added impact of pressuring operators to position extra lower-rake occasions on match schedules. If gamers constantly averted the higher-rake tournaments in favor of the lower-rake ones, it’d end in a greater panorama total for the gamers.
The backside line is that reside match rake as a complete isn’t climbing at an alarming degree. However, gamers at the decrease stakes ought to do their analysis when selecting the place to allocate match {dollars}. Edges at small stakes have grow to be thinner, whereas increased stakes prices have stayed about the identical.
