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Beating the Rake

You need to know certain things about Texas Holdem before you go out and start betting all of your money on each hand that you have. Some of the factors to consider are the number of players, how aggressive or passive the players are, your position, your bankroll, and how much of a risk you are willing to take. If there happen to be eight or ten people at the table it is much more likely that one of the other players has a strong hand in the pocket than is a short handed game. Also in larger games the chances of someone's pre-flop hand fitting the
flop will be much higher. The more competition there is the stiffer the competition gets.

Assuming that you have been playing with a few people for a good several hands, you have noticed that someone will probably be raising every hand pre flop, in this case you will want to play tighter. The best thing for you to do is to let that guy win the blinds and then get him when you have a very solid hand in the pocket pre flop. Realistically the house already has the edge on you. The rake is built in so that the house does take money from you in very small and usually unnoticed amounts.

There are some ways that you may be able to minimize this with. Some rooms will only rake the pot once it has reached a predetermined amount. This way you can play opposite the style of the table. You can put the tight players through the tactics such as stealing the blind and buying free cards. Buying a free card is usually a trick used in the last position, if no one else has raised the post flop then you bet. Doing that will most likely lower the number of players, but those who do stay in will usually tend to check you. Then after that on the turn after everyone has checked you don't necessarily have to bet again therefore you bought a card for free.

When you play against an aggressive player you should tighten up the way you play. Be aware of the position you hold at the table. Play only great starting hands and fold after the flop if it didn't bring anything to your hand. You have to be a better player to overcome that percentage of the rake and bluffing. Once you get to that point, you really don't need to be preoccupied with the rake. If you happen to be a beginner you really should play tighter than you normally would. Some casinos you can ask for a rake break if the game happens to become short handed. This is when they lower or get rid of the rake.