Much ado has been made in the online poker industry in recent months about rakeback. I’m not writing about that controversy in this article, but suffice it to say that many, if not most, poker rooms and networks are not fond if it. What I am going to do in this piece is educate those of you who are new to online poker rakeback, namely discuss what it is, how to go about getting it, and what to look for in your rakeback arrangement.
Let’s start with a quick explanation of rakeback. It really is just want it sounds like – it’s a payment made to you, the player, in which you get back a portion of the rake you have paid to a poker room. The term “rake rebate” used to be common as well, but rakeback is what you will hear the most nowadays. It is basically a way to play poker for a discount. Almost all high volume players play at a site where they get rakeback, as it serves as a supplemental income stream. It can make winning months even better, can turn break-even months into winning ones, and can ease the pain of losing months.
The logical question that follows is how do you get rakeback? The most common way is to go through a rakeback “affiliate”, which is a website that partners with different poker rooms to bring them customers. These affiliates receive a portion of the rake you pay to the poker room as compensation for their services and, in turn, will pass some of that along to you. Additionally, some online poker rooms offer up rakeback to players directly and several, like PokerStars, don’t offer rakeback at all. Now, let’s take a look at what to look for when evaluating your rakeback deal.
Affiliate Reputation
Seeing as you will be dealing with money that is to be paid to you, you want to be sure that the rakeback affiliate with whom you will be signing up is trustworthy. You don’t want someone promising you the keys to castle only to find the castle goes into foreclosure in a couple of months. There are plenty of reputable affiliates out there – ask around some poker message boards for suggestions. Two good ones you may want to check out are ThisIsTheNuts.com and PokerSource.com. Both have been in business for several years.
Percentage
This is the easiest and most obvious aspect of rakeback. How much are you actually going to get paid? Will 30% of your rake be returned to you? 40%? 50%? Does it vary based on how much you play? I think it’s obvious that the higher the percentage, the better.
Method of Payment
With some poker rooms, rakeback payments are deposited directly into your online poker account. With others, the affiliate with whom you signed up will hold your payments until you decide to cash out. The affiliate may give you the option to receive a cash payment (possibly through PayPal or another online wallet) or a gift card or poker merchandise. Whatever the case may be, it’s all a matter personal preference. As a casual player, I personally like using my rakeback to buy goodies, as I consider my rakeback a bonus with which I can have some fun. I don’t want it to be part of my poker bankroll that I might lose in one hand. That’s just me – most players probably love having their rakeback put right into their poker accounts.
Frequency of Payment
Rakeback payments can be made into your poker account or affiliate account daily, weekly, or monthly. It all depends on the poker room’s policy. I wouldn’t use this to determine which poker room to go with, but it’s not a bad tiebreaker if you do have a frequency preference, but are torn between two rooms.
Rakeback Calculation
There are two methods of rakeback calculation, dealt and contributed. Poker rooms that use the dealt method will credit you with rakeback whenever you are dealt cards in a hand that is raked or meets some pre-established rake minimum. The total rake for a hand is divided by the number of players who were dealt cards and that result is multiplied by your rakeback percentage to determine how much you are paid. For example, if you are getting 30% rakeback and are one of 10 players dealt cards in a hand that is raked $1, you will receive $0.03 in rakeback for that hand.
In the other method, the contributed method, you only receive rakeback in hands where you actually put money into the pot (blinds almost always count) and the hand is raked. Using a similar example to the one above, if you have 30% rakeback and are one of five players who contributed money to the pot in a hand with $1 taken in rake, you would get $0.06 back.
Most players prefer the dealt method, as there is no pressure to contribute to the pot. They can feel free to play as tight or loose as they want. The contributed method can be very good for loose players, though, who get involved in many pots, as their slice of the pie will be higher per hand.
What Games Count
Cash games will always count for rakeback, but the rules vary for tournaments. Some poker rooms will give you rakeback for your tournament fees, but some will not. If you are primarily a tournament player, be sure to check to see if tournaments count.
Subtractions from Rakeback
Many sites will discount your rakeback for any expenses they incur because of your play. For example, if you earned a deposit bonus, the value of that bonus may be subtracted from the total rake you contributed in a given time period and then your rakeback is calculated off that new, smaller number. Other things that may be subtracted are loyalty store purchases or deposit fees paid for by the poker room. These things are often unavoidable, but be sure to understand the rules so you aren’t blindsided by them when your rakeback payment is smaller than you expected.
