Poker
Online poker cash games
The only game here where the house is not your opponent. The other players decide the result, and that is the appeal.
Skill. Genuinely, measurably, over time — it is the one game on this site you can get better at.
on €50 · Good value
€2 an hour at €1 a go
How to play it well
The decisions that actually move the number, and the version of the game worth looking for.
- The operator takes rake from each pot, typically 5% up to a cap. That is the cost of the seat.
- Rake caps matter more than the percentage at low stakes. A capped pot is cheap; lots of small pots are not.
- Table selection beats every other skill in the game. Pick soft tables and everything else gets easier.
- Fast-fold formats multiply hands per hour, which multiplies both your volume and the rake you pay.
- Start at stakes where a bad session is boring rather than painful, and move up when the numbers say so.
Where that comes from
How long €50 of play lasts on average, at €1 a hand, spin or roll. Bet more and it scales down by the same amount.
- Return to player
- 97.5%
- Volatility
- High
- Does skill change it?
- You play other people, not the house
- Typical minimum
- Around €0.02/€0.05 blinds online
What the figure assumes
The operator's rake only, estimated at 5% of pot capped, at low-stakes online cash games, expressed against money wagered. It excludes your results against the other players, which dominate.
Source: Typical online cash-game rake structures at low stakes. Last checked 2026-09-21.
Worth seeking out the good version
The version to look for
€2
2.5% edge
High-rake micro stakes and fast-fold formats
€5.60
7% edge
Same game, same stake: 25 hrs of play against 8 hr 56 min. Worth two minutes checking which table you are on.
Poker is the only game on this site where the house is not your opponent. You play other people; the operator takes a cut of each pot and has no stake in who wins.
That cut — the rake — is typically 5% of the pot up to a cap. For an average player at low stakes that works out somewhere around 2% to 3% of the money they put in, which on paper looks like a mid-range table game. The difference is what sits on top of it: your results against the other players at the table, which can be strongly positive or strongly negative and are not random.
So the figure below is the house's cut, not your expected result. Every other game on this site has a fixed price. This one has a price plus a contest, and the contest is where almost all the money is.
Things worth knowing
- Rake caps, which matter more than the percentage at low stakes
- Fast-fold formats, which multiply hands per hour and therefore rake paid
- Table selection mattering more than anything else in the game