Calculate break-even win rate for cash games
Min Cash = Entry / Effective Payout × 100Enter cash game parameters
Your profitability assessment
Payout Multiple
1.80x
Effective Payout
$16.20
Expected Profit
$-1.09
Expected ROI
-10.9%
Common cash game structures
TL;DR summary
Min-cash rate is the win rate you need to break even in cash games. With $10 entry and $18 payout (1.8x after 10% rake), you need to win 55.6% of contests to break even. The formula is: Min Cash Rate = Entry Fee / Effective Payout × 100. Any win rate above this is profitable.
Important things to know
Common min-cash questions
Min-cash rate is the minimum win percentage you need to break even in cash games after accounting for rake. If a contest pays 1.8x and has 10% rake, you need to win 55.6% of contests to neither profit nor lose money over time.
Rake directly increases your required win rate. With no rake, 50% win rate would break even at 2x payout. With 10% rake, you need ~55% to break even. With 15% rake, you need ~58%. Every percentage point of rake makes profitability harder.
You need to beat the min-cash rate by any amount. If break-even is 55.6%, winning 56% makes you slightly profitable. Top cash game players sustain 58-65% win rates, representing 2-10% edge over the field.
Yes, when available. Lower rake means easier break-even and better ROI for the same skill level. Look for promotional contests, overlay situations, and smaller-field games that sometimes have reduced rake.
Record every cash game result with entry fee and payout. Divide wins by total entries for your cash rate. Need 100+ entries for meaningful data. Compare to min-cash rate to see if you're profitable long-term.