What Is Rakeback?

By Author: Tom Kearns
Total Articles: 10
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If you are playing poker online and not getting rakeback, or don't know what rakeback is, than this article can save you a lot of money. Rakeback can make a losing poker player into a break even player, a break even player into a modest winner, and a winner into a poker superstar. So rises the question..."What is Rakeback and is it right for me?". Read on.
Rakeback is basically a refund on a percentage of the rake that you pay. Nearly every hand that you play will have a small piece taken out for the house. This small piece is called the rake. Generally the house takes $1-$5 out of the pot for themselves and that is how the casino or cardroom makes money to pay their employees and turn a profit on poker since you are not playing against the house. At the time the rake can seem insignificant as it happens only a few bucks at a time. But if you look at the big picture, you'll see that the house is taking an incredible amount of money off of the table over a long period of time. Now you can get some of your share back. So how does it work?
Rakeback providers will track your online play and the ...
... amount of rake that you pay. Your rake is generally calculated by dividing the amount paid in rake by the number of players at the table. So if a pot is raked $3 and there are 6 players at the table, you would be credited with $0.50 worth of rake. The rakeback provider will then pay you a percentage of that $0.50 back at the end of the month/week/day. Generally the payout is between 25% and 50% of your total rake generated. Still this seems insignificant if you look at one hand with a $3 rake, 6 players at the table, and %50 rakeback. This is a rebate of $0.25 only. But again if you look at the big picture you will see that over a thousand such hands you could make $250.00. What if you play 10,000 or even 30,000 hands a month. Rakeback starts to add up quickly especially if you play multiple table at a time online. Some players are currently getting over $5000 every month in just rakeback. This is on top of any money you win at the tables.
Rakeback is beneficial even for casual players who play only a few hundred hands a month. There is no minimum number of hands that you need to play, and you can start earning rakeback at even the lowest limits available. This is extra money that the house normally keeps, You can play at your normal online poker room with nothing changing. If you don't care about a few hundred dollars here and there, why not wait and cash out all of your rakeback at the end of the year and have all of your christmas shopping paid for. It is free to sign up for a rakeback account and there are no fees associated with rakeback.
Its you're money, so why let the poker room keep it. If you play online poker at all you should definitely look into getting a rakeback account set up.

The author is a successful limit cash game player and has played poker full time since 2005. He currently plays poker and recieves Rakeback at Full Tilt Poker.