Rake
Rake is a room charge commonly taken from pots; some rooms instead charge for time. Pot rake already reduces the pots received and therefore the cash-out-minus-buy-ins result. A time charge paid from the stack is also included. Deduct a separately paid charge only if it is outside that result; record the structure for cost comparisons.
In short: The house's cut of each pot.
- Category
- Metric
- Best use
- Session review and bankroll decisions
- Related page
- What to track in a session
Why Rake matters
The same headline rake percentage can produce different costs when caps, qualifying pots or table size differ. Metrics matter because stake decisions need a unit that survives a change of game size. Cash profit tells you what happened. A rate tells you whether the session belongs in the long-term picture, and whether a bigger game, a different room, or a different schedule is actually paying you.
Worked example
Synthetic attribution example: a £1/£2 player receives four won pots in an hour, each with £3 deducted as rake, so £12 was removed. A recorded +£16 table result already reflects those deductions. Adding £12 gives £28 before that attributed rake, not another £12 to subtract from the recorded £16. This does not predict a different room or strategy. The useful part is not the label itself; it is the decision it changes. If the example changes your stake, stop-loss, review queue or next study block, write it cleanly in the log.
How to apply it
Write the raw session first, then convert it into the rate. For live cash, that usually means hours, net result and big blind size. For online or tournament work, use the hand count or total buy-ins when the format gives you a cleaner denominator. For Rake, the practical question is whether the label changes a bankroll, session or study decision. If it does not change a decision, it belongs in a note, not in the headline read.
In Overshove, log the raw result, stake, hours and any cost fields before you judge the rate. The dashboard can then show the number by stake, venue, day and sample size, so you are reading a filtered metric rather than a headline graph. Use the same spelling every time, then link it back to what to track in a session so the page, calculator or guide beside the term does useful work.
Common mistakes
- +Reading a rate without checking the sample behind it.
- +Comparing raw money across different stakes.
- +Ignoring rake, tips, travel or buy-in volume when the metric depends on them.
Questions players actually ask
How should I use Rake in a session log?
Use Rake as a decision label, not decoration. Log the raw session first, then attach the term only where it explains a stake, bankroll, variance or study choice you can review later.
What is the common mistake with Rake?
The common mistake is reading the term without the sample and context behind it. In live cash, a clean label still needs stake, hours, stack depth, cost and result data before it tells you anything reliable.