Rake, not house edge
In poker, the operator takes a small percentage of each cash-game pot (the rake) or a fee on top of tournament buy-ins (usually 5–10%), rather than holding a statistical edge against your hand. That means your long-run results depend on your skill relative to the other players at the table, not on beating a fixed percentage baked into the game. Weak tables with rake as low as 2.5%–5% of the pot are far more beatable than tough tables at any rake level.
- Cash games: rake taken per pot, typically 2.5%–5% up to a cap
- Tournaments: an entry fee on top of the buy-in, commonly 5–10%
- Your win rate depends on opponent skill, not a house-set percentage
Cash games versus tournaments
Cash games let you buy in and cash out at any point, with blinds staying fixed and stack depth mattering a lot to strategy. Tournaments have a fixed buy-in, rising blinds, and payouts structured around finishing position — most players lose their buy-in, with a small percentage of the field taking most of the prize pool. Cash games generally offer more predictable hourly variance; tournaments offer bigger score potential with much higher variance.
| Format | Variance | Typical rake structure |
|---|---|---|
| Cash games | Lower, more predictable | 2.5–5% per pot, capped |
| Tournaments | High, top-heavy payouts | 5–10% entry fee on buy-in |
In poker, the site’s cut is transparent and fixed — your actual edge or deficit comes entirely from the players sitting across from you.
Offshore versus regulated Canadian poker
Outside Ontario, most online poker traffic for Canadian players runs through offshore rooms licensed under Kahnawà:ke, MGA, or Curaçao frameworks, which pool international player liquidity into larger, more active tables. Ontario’s regulated market instead runs a ring-fenced pool through iGaming Ontario, meaning Ontario players can only play against other Ontario players on regulated sites — see our Ontario poker page for what that does to table selection and traffic.
What this means for game selection
Larger, non-ring-fenced player pools generally mean more tables running at any given time, softer competition at low stakes due to higher overall volume, and faster-filling tournaments. Smaller regulated pools trade some of that liquidity for a fully licensed, locally-overseen environment. Neither is inherently “better” — it depends what you value more.
Is online poker rigged against players?
Regulated and reputable licensed rooms use certified RNG for shuffling, with the operator’s revenue coming from rake, not a hidden edge against your hand.
What’s a reasonable rake to look for?
Cash game rake around 2.5–5% with a reasonable cap is standard; anything noticeably higher eats into your win rate faster than it should.
Why do Ontario poker pools feel smaller?
Ring-fencing under iGO restricts regulated Ontario tables to Ontario players only, which reduces total liquidity compared to internationally pooled offshore rooms.
