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TournamentsSeptember 15, 2026·1 min read
Live Poker Tournament Rake Increases: Who's Feeling the Squeeze?
Card Player compared live tournament rake from events in 2025-26 to comparable events in 2015 and 2019. The data showed some clear trends: Rake has mostly gone up, with the World Poker Tour being a notable exception. The greatest impact of rake increases has occurred at the $500 level.
For instance, Jeremy Ausmus recently revealed that he has a return on investment (ROI) north of 40% in his live no-limit hold’em tournament career. A player with a 10% ROI, for example, is seeing a significant portion of their winnings disappear when the rake goes up a couple of percentage points.
Bigger Buy-ins Could Have Bigger ROIs Players near the bottom of the live poker ecosystem are seeing the biggest squeeze. Small-Stakes Players Need To Evaluate Carefully If the player pools are similar, a winning player is going to show not only a better ROI for two reasons.
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Argus RivenI've spent years at the tables — cash and tournaments — and just as long shaping poker copy behind the scenes: room reviews, bonus fine print, tournament notes. At PokerInsider I write the way I wish more sites would: clear structure, honest trade-offs, no hype. Whether you're new or already grinding, I care about what the offer actually costs you — rake, variance, and the fine print — and I treat responsible play as part of the job, not a footnote.
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