What Is Rakeback?

If you are totally new to poker you may not know what the term "rakeback" is all about.

Basically it means that you will get paid a % of the money you paid to the poker room back.

When you enter a sit & go (6 or 10 person tournament) or when you sit down to play regular cash games you will pay rake to the poker room, as a fee to host the games.

In a sit & go its a fixed amount ($10+€$1) - it means that you pay $1 to the poker room by entering this tournament. When you play cash games you pay a whole lot more in rake. The largest amount of rake that can be taken from a single pot, is normally $3 which goes directly to the poker room.

There is several different ways of calculating the rake. Some poker rooms use calculated rake and other poker rooms use dealt rake.

• Dealt rake - Rake per person is total rake in hand divided by number of players involved in hand
• Contributed rake - Rake per person is determined by your actual contribution to the pot

If you sit down at for example a $0,25/$0.50 table at at poker room and play tight and aggresive, you can actually collect a decent amount in rake. This is the same when you have activated a bonus at a poker room, then you will have to collect a number of points, depending on the bonus.

To make it easier for players to see the progress of their bonus (when is it cleared), players are earning points instead of seeing what they actually put down in rake. The points are directly related to how much you paid in rake.

Please be aware, that not all poker rooms are offering both a deposit bonus and rakeback, though some do.

If you have activated a rakeback deal on a poker room, it opens up for a whole new playing style. You actually dont have to win money, you just have to break even.

So what does this mean?

You can sit tight and wait for the big hands (you have to be patient) - Lets say you have KK and calls a $5 bet. On the flop a ace is hitting. Your opponent bets $15. Then just lay down your hand, no need to take any chances and call your opponent down. You already put money in the pot and some of these money will be returned to you at the end of the month. The next time you have KK, a K will hit on the flop and then you know what to do! Be patient, dont take any chances on your draws or call any over bets.

The best thing is to play on several tables - you can for example start with 2 tables. Why you ask? So you dont get bored while sitting 15 minutes at a table and get dealt crap cards and eventually calls with a minor hand "just to see if I hit anything". So play on several tables. When you get experienced you should be able to play 3 or 4 tables at the same time. After all, the majority of the hands you are dealt is going to be folded.

Of course it helps on your bankroll to win some big hands, but in the long run your result will be positive when the rakeback comes rolling into your account in the beginning of each month.

Some rooms have fixed rakeback (for example 30% no matter what), other rooms has cashback programs, which can give you up to 60% in rakeback. But then you REALLY need to rake a lot. Some rooms have even both options, like rooms on the Entraction network. For example Nordicbookmakers.com are offering both rakeback options.

Want to try rakeback? Go here for all our rakeback deals