Ladbrokes Fiddles with Rake

Ladbrokespoker.com has made a change to its rake structure that will undoubtedly go unnoticed by the majority of online poker players.  It is, frankly, a rather sneaky change, and one that has not even been announced on its website yet. 

As a poker room on the Microgaming network, Ladbrokes had been using a very simple, tried-and-true rake schedule in which it took five percent of the pot, up to a maximum of three dollars.  Now, while the maximum remains the same, the five percent rake has been adjusted to anywhere from five to six percent, depending on the size of the pot. 

You see, for every twenty cents that goes into the pot, Ladbrokes will take a penny.  That’s five percent.  But for the final twenty cents in every dollar (thus, every fifth twenty cent increment), Ladbrokes will now take two cents.  Therefore, in a one dollar pot, the rake will be six cents. 

High stakes players should not be affected by this, as their rakes almost always hit the cap, and even if they don’t a few cents in a fifty dollar pot won’t make too much of a difference in one’s long-term win-rate.  But those playing small stakes are really being taken advantage of here.  By levying an extra tax on small pots, Ladbrokes is able to build to the maximum rake faster, earning more profit in the process. 

It does not appear that other sites on the Microgaming network have followed suit.