Poker Rakeback Deals

What is Rakeback?

To understand what rakeback is, we first need to understand what “the rake” is.

OK, What is “The Rake” in Poker?

Online poker rooms make their money by automatically taking a cut of each pot played. This is called the 'rake'. The House takes a rake to cover its costs of providing you with the software and game and of course to make a profit too. Now you know about it, you’ll notice it disappearing from pots (usually only when a flop is seen). Typically, the rake is 5% of every pot. Often this is capped at $3/€3/£3 but some sites offer no cap. So even playing just a couple of hours a day can soon accumulate and become a large amount of rake paid. And you could be paying tens of thousands of $$$ a year in rake!

How is rake calculated?

There are a few methods of rake calculation

Dealt Cards

If you are dealt cards in a hand then you are deemed to have contributed to the pot and therefore you are allocated an equal share of the rake taken. This is regardless of whether you fold straight away or not. If for example the rake taken on a particular table is $3 and there are six of you playing, then your rake consideration is $0.50.

Examples: Party, PokerStars

Weighted Contributed

You simply get allocated the weighted proportion of the pot that you contributed. If for example the pot was $60, the rake taken is $3. If you put in $2 to the pot then your rake consideration is (2/60 * $3) or $0.10.

Examples: Unibet Poker

Real Player Value = Combination of Gross Rake and Source Based Rake

RPV is a method of calculating player value based on the amount of net deposits that a player makes, in addition to the rake and fee generated at cash tables and tournaments. Usually RPV is made up of 50% Gross Rake and 50% Source Based Rake. There is no exact equation to calculate this. It is works out directly by the rooms using various algorithms and some smoke and mirrors too probably!

Examples: Winner Poker

So What is Poker Rakeback Then?

Rakeback is when you, the player, get a percentage of the rake that you have paid given back to you as cashback. Note this is nothing to do with your winnings of losses. It’s purely dependent on the rake you have contributed to the table. Sometimes you can get that rakeback directly from the room and sometimes it can some from an affiliate like us who refer players to the poker room. The room pay us a commission for bringing in new players and we pass the lion’s share of that on to the player. Players can get up to 80% of their rake money back through a rakeback affiliate like RakeTheRake.

Why is Rakeback Important?

Firstly, rakeback online is free money and no one should refuse free money. Naturally when you play online poker you want to be winning. But what about those days when you don’t win? Rather you breakeven or even lose a little? Well when you breakeven, the rakeback you have earned means you’ve actually had a profitable day and when you lose, the rakeback can offset some or all of that loss and possibly mean you breakeven or lose less that you thought! So you should be able to see straight away that it’s a no brainer to make sure you are always playing with a rakeback deal!

How to Maximise your Rakeback

OK this is where it can become super sexy. Whether you play SnGs (Sit n Gos) or cash games the amount of rakeback you can earn each week or month can depend on what sort of system you have set up and how many games you can cope with playing at once. A lot of players have a dual screen set up, i.e. they have two computer monitors side by side in order to play more than one table simultaneously. In fact, depending on which room they are playing at, they could have up to 24 games running at once. We might call those sort of players Rakeback Pros! If you’re going to try, perhaps start with 2 tables at once and then expand as you get used to it.

Can I get rakeback on an existing account?

Absolutely! In most cases you can by applying to have your account retagged to RakeTheRake. Some rooms don’t allow it or have particular criteria before permitting it, but if you apply we’ll let you know what is and isn’t possible and what the alternatives might be. You can apply for retagging here

Try retagging your poker account

Why doesn't every poker site have rakeback?

The truth is they all do in one form or another. Rakeback is merely a retention tool. Every poker room wants you to stay around so they might offer you cashback, a bonus, a gadget or even a ticket to a live poker event like the WSOP. All of these are just another form of rakeback.

Lastly and we mean this seriously

All gambling should be for FUN and done with money you can afford to lose. Never chase a losing bet and never bet when angry or drunk. Remember when the FUN stops, STOP!