Vigorish, vig
Vigorish, also known as rake, is the scaled commission that the card room, which is operating the poker game, charges. Usually set to about 5 – 10 percent of the pot, in each poker hand, which is up to a certain maximum amount decided by the card room. But there are no standard rules about the percentage amount, in fact some cardrooms have other unique ways to take the rake, or Vigorish.
In Texas hold’em, some cardrooms do not take a percentage rake, in case the hand does not generate a flop, in fact this is true for many other community games as well. This is called no flop, no drop. The Vigorish is basically the charge the establishment charges for supplying the required services, for holding the poker game.
Now this differs according to the establishment in question. In the case of an online poker game, the Vigorish is charged to cover costs for software, personnel and support, whereas traditional casinos also include the charge of the dealer as well into the Vigorish charged. Some casinos do not include the dealer charge as that is covered in tips that the dealer receives. In poker games that charge a Vigorish, the winner not only has to beat all his/her opponents but also win by enough to overcome the Vigorish amount.
There are many ways in which a Vigorish is charged, which include, pot rake, tournament fees, time collection, dead drop, subscription fees and finally rake free games. In pot rake, the card room takes a percentage directly from the pot. Dealers usually remove the chips equaling the Vigorish charged, while the hand is being played, and remove them into a secure box, once the hand has ended. In online games the Vigorish amount is either displayed on the side of the screen, or they deduct it from the pot total once the hand is over.
Tournament fees, like the name suggests includes a rake which is collected as entrance fees, and is a common occurrence in poker tournaments. For example, tournaments often advertise their buy-in as $100 + $ 30, where the $ 30 is the vig. Meanwhile, time collection is actually a set amount, which is collected every half hour, or any other duration set by the card room. Either the time collection is a player time, which is collected from the players, or a time pot, which is a certain amount collected from the first pot.
Dead drop, on the other hand, is the fee which is placed on the dealer button, by the player who is at that position, and is collected by the dealer before the cards are dealt. Subscription fees are mostly found in online games, where the site charges a monthly subscription fee, and thus do not rake in during individual games, or pots. Finally rake free games, like the name suggests, are games where no rake is charged, and is a common practice only in online games, which depend on revenue from advertising, or directing traffic to other business sites.
It is important to know that taking a rake is illegal if the card room does not have proper gaming license, or permits. This means that charging a rake in private games, or home games, is illegal.
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