If you register with us and create a rakeback account in your poker room of choice, then you will still be eligible
for other bonuses. Whether or not these bonus funds are deducted from your rakeback varies from site to site,
so make sure to check the Terms & Conditions of the site in question to see how this may affect you. In many
cases, any bonuses that you have taken are deducted from rakeback amounts that you would otherwise qualify
for. For instance, if your rakeback is $200 and you took a $100 bonus, then your rakeback may be reduced to
$100.
There are some sites that do not have bonuses taken affect your rakeback at all, but it is up to you to determine
which combination of bonus terms and rakeback terms will offer the best value for you. If you are a winning
player, you might find it best to eschew bonuses altogether in favor of just getting a rakeback percentage.
Rake Races:
You might also find value in participating in, “Rake Races,” which are events in which a typically fixed prize pool
is offered for players who find themselves generating the most rake at a given website. The first thing that you
should know about rake races is that they have the most value for you if you tend to be a big player anyway as
your action will generally result in greater rakes which will see you leading the race more often.
Here’s an example from UniBet for the June 1-16th rake race
.
In this case, as you can see, Komarac-zg blew the competition away regarding overall rake totaling
2,486 with second place being Chipeska with 1,637. What is interesting is the fact that, in terms of
the prize vs. the percentage of rake, Chipeska actually did better on that basis.
For most players, rake races will not be of as much value if you tend to play the lowest stakes, especially if you
are a conservative player to begin with. The simple fact of the matter is that the players who benefit most from
rake races are those who generate a ton of rake. That’s not to say that they have no value, but many players
would do better to get a fixed percentage of rakeback rather than try to win a rake race.
However, you don’t necessarily have to play the biggest tables to have a chance in the rake race. They might
be beneficial to very aggressive players even if they usually stick to mid-stakes tables simply by virtue of how
many pots they find themselves involved in, same goes for calling stations.
If you play a profitable game at higher stakes to begin with, then these rake races are simply cash in your
pocket and the percentage may exceed any flat percentages that you may qualify for at other sites.
Conclusion:
Rakebacks are beneficial to all players, whether or not they are winning players, because it takes a portion of
the amount that the casinos rake and puts it back into your pocket as a player. Even if you are not necessarily
a winning poker player overall, getting a portion of the rakes back, whether it be a fixed amount or via a rake
race will keep you in the game longer.
If you are a winning poker player as it is, then any rakeback offers will add significantly to your overall positive
expectation. Let’s face it, while the rake is not daunting for you because you play such a strong game to begin
with, it does cut into your profits, so this gives you the opportunity to take a cut of it back.
The right type of rakeback for you and whether or not rake races are the way to go is going to vary greatly with
what other types of bonuses you may be interested in and your playing style. It is important to be willing to do
some basic math to determine the best combination of conditions for you as well as to conduct a realistic
appraisal of your skills and playing style. That is not something that anybody else can do for you, as you are
the only one who knows your game.
By using the tools available to you here and other sites to determine how to improve your poker game and the
right type of rakeback for you, you will be able to turn an already profitable poker game into a more profitable
one, a break even game into a winning one and somewhat mitigate your losses if you play a losing game and
are trying to improve. Good luck, and see you at the tables!
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Meta Sentence: This article explores the various forms of poker rakeback offers and determines which might
be the best for you based on your level of play and tendencies as a player.
Short Summary: Getting poker bonuses and rakeback offers is only half the battle, the other half is
understanding which ones will deliver the best value to you as a player. This article is designed to
help you determine the best combination of bonuses and rakeback terms in order to deliver the best
value to you regardless of whether or not you are a skilled poker player, working to develop your
game or play strictly for fun. Regardless of the type of player you are or your level of play, there is
never anything wrong with trying to put more money into your pocket and rakebacks are the best
way to do that.
How to Get Back What You Put In
The most unique aspect of poker, from the standpoint of both player and casino, is that it is not a house-banked game. What that means is that the, “House Edge,” as it were is both readily known and quantifiable consisting entirely of the rake of the game. The only real difference between casino poker and a bunch of friends sitting around the table in the dining room is that the casino facilitates the means of playing with other people and hosts the game, in exchange, all they want is a small cut of the total action.
This cut of the action is known as the, “Rake,” and without it, the casinos would be unable to operate. Our goal here at RakeRace.com is to get some of that rake back into your pocket and/or online poker account. By signing up for an Internet poker room via one of our links, you will be able to participate in different, “Rake Races,” as well as other means of getting rebates on the rake, which we will detail later in this article.
If you are already a winning poker player, this will give you the opportunity to make even more money. If you are on the fringe of being a winning poker player, (i.e. would break even but for the rake) then this will be a step
towards profitability for you. There are a number of different ways that you can get some of the rakes rebated to you, and we will explore them throughout this article.
The Need to Win:
The first thing you need to understand before going any further is that a rakeback, in and of itself, will not be enough to make you a winning poker player. If you want to profit from the game of poker, you need to put an immense amount of study into the game to understand both tactics and the math behind every decision you make throughout the course of a hand. While effectively paying less in rake helps, you still need to have a winning game to be a winning player.
If you’re playing for fun, then anything you can get back on the rake is a positive for you and will serve to keep you in the game longer. There’s certainly nothing wrong with being a recreational player, but being a recreational player is not an excuse to not choose the smartest places to play with the best overall value for YOU. Our goal here at Rakerace.com is to give added value to the player by way of multiple means of potentially getting the money that goes into the rake back to you.
Do Your Research!
The first thing that you are going to want to do is determine what site is going to give you the best overall deal on your level of play, and that takes research. You’re also going to want to know what sites are trustworthy, and for that, we recommend checking out the reviews that can be found here.
In addition to the reviews, the site also contains Member Feedback on the bottom of each Review, so you can get an idea of what the general poker playing population thinks of the site in question.
However, most online gamblers are not poker players, so you might notice that there might not be as many user comments on a particular site’s operations as you might like. For sites that offer forms of gambling besides poker (or sites in the same family), we recommend you hop on over to KeyToCasinos
Here you can search for the casino in question to get more information as to the timeliness of withdrawals, and things of that nature.
Playing at poker rooms run by companies with a solid reputation is of the utmost importance, the only gamble you should have to worry about is the one at the tables, so don’t leave getting paid in a timely fashion and whether or not you’re going to get good customer service up to chance.
Once you have narrowed down your list of potential poker rooms to those who have a solid reputation, the next step is understanding what effect the rakebacks will have on you as a player and how they affect your value.
The first thing that you have to worry about is how much is the rake in the first place, let’s compare two very simple theoretical casinos that rake from the pot as a percentage, with no minimums or maximums:
Casino A: 1% Rake, no rakeback.
Casino B: 2% Rake, 25% Rakeback, always.
In this case, the effective rake of Casino B is 1.5%, because they are going to give you 25% of the total amount raked back. However, you would be much better with Casino A and the flat rake amount of 1% because that is less than the effective rake of 1.5%. Most comparisons are not going to be as simple as this one, so we need to explore the totality of the values presented to you by different casinos to determine the best one for you.
How Do I Get Rakeback?
The first thing that you want to do is have a rakeback account through your poker room of choice, if you sign up for an account that doesn't have one, it is often unlikely that they will convert your account to one that is rakeback eligible. Some places will do it, but generally, the only (and easiest) way to receive rakeback is to sign up for a rakeback account in the first place.
Styles of Play:
The best type of rakeback account for you, from a value standpoint, is going to vary greatly depending on your style of play. The best players play something of a hybrid style based largely upon their position at the table and basing as much of their play as possible on the actions of other players. Most players, however, are not amongst the best and tend to play more aggressively or conservatively as a general rule rather than as a strategic means.
Understanding that if you play, “In a box,” which means always playing the same way, will generally result in you being a losing player is important. That doesn’t mean that you cannot eventually improve your game, and if you’re playing a style just because you think it is the most fun to play that way (and understand that you will not be a long-run winning player) that’s perfectly fine. However, being boxed into a particular style of play does not mean that you cannot select a poker room that offers rakeback terms most conducive to your style.
For example, there is a difference between Contributed Rakeback and Dealt Rakeback, and understanding that difference will help you select the rakeback terms that will result in the most added value.
Contributed v. Dealt:
The way dealt works is that every player who is dealt a starting hand will be considered equally responsible (even though they are not) for the rake. In other words, you can garner a significant amount simply by virtue of sitting through a bunch of hands whether or not you meaningfully contribute to the pot. This type of rakeback would be best for you if you are a conservative player, in fact, by itself might even be advantageous for you.
If a casino is offering 20%, for instance, assuming all players at the table qualify, consider all players as having contributed equally to the rake simply by virtue of being in the hand at the beginning. If the total pot, for example, ends up being $100 and the casino rakes 1.5% ($1.50) with five players at the table, then each player would be construed as accounting for $0.30 of the rake. If you have a 20% rakeback, then, you will ultimately receive $0.06 for that pot when the rakeback is paid out.
That may seem like an inconsequential amount, but it adds up over several hands. Perhaps most importantly, it gives you added value on unplayable hands that would otherwise not exist. Imagine it is a five-handed No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em game and, as first to act, you have a starting hand of 7-4 off-suit. Obviously, that’s a no-brainer fold right there, especially for you as a conservative player (you’re usually not going to try to get cute, especially not with slop pre-flop) but now you’re going to get $0.06 of that pot effectively without any risk whatsoever.
Dealt Rakeback Things to Look For:
If you’re a conservative player and you want to do well on dealt rakeback, then you’re going to want to seek out a table filled with aggressive players who all have pretty substantial chip stacks. You’re basically going to just kick back and watch the table battle it out while only playing the upper echelon of hands, which suits your personal playing style to begin with. Granted, you might not get much action when you shove at a pot, (you probably don’t anyway if people recognize you as a conservative player) but you are going to get actual money value for the hands you don’t play...which is most of them.
I would almost argue that a conservative player who is selectively aggressive could possibly play a Dealt Rakeback game to an advantage, especially if there are a ton of players in the pot giving a ton of action on most hands. Granted, it’s going to be a scary game for you in the sense that the table doesn’t make people with your playing style feel comfortable, AT ALL, but if you can dip a toe into enough pots you might be able to get action when you do pick up a monster hand.
In addition to large stacks (relative to Minimum/Maximum buy-in) another thing to look for is just aggressive players who see every pot as well as, “Call Stations.” In No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em, a “Call Station,” might be defined as someone who just likes to see a ton of flops and perhaps even turns and river cards. They’re often willing to call smallish bets with all except the most hopeless of drawing hands, and generally, just want to see a ton of hands to completion. Aggressive players are often caught by surprise by call stations showing down a monster hand that would have normally called for a raise if a more adept player was playing. It’s not unusual to see an aggressive player with a mid-pair lose to a call station showing trips with his inside cards already being a pair.
It’s important to recognize those players for who they are because, while call stations are definitely losing players in the long run, you never really know what they have until showdown. They tend not to fold unless there is absolutely no hope of winning the hand, so as a conservative player, you simply want to understand the mathematical rudiments to determine, “How many ways could they beat me in this hand, and how likely is it?” If you play the math against a call station, you’ll do fine in the long run, they really just exist to distribute money to better players.
If you’re a conservative player, then it is important to recognize yourself as such and understand that you will ALMOST ALWAYS get more value for a dealt rakeback than a contributed rakeback.
Contributed Rakebacks and Style of Play:
Do what they say on the box, the percentage of the rake allocated to you is proportional to your participation in the pot. In other words, if you see a pot that totals $100 to showdown (or until all but one player folds) and the rake is 1.5% and you contributed 45% to the pot, then you will get a rakeback accordingly.
In this case, if the percentage is, again, 20%, here is how it will break down if you contributed 45% to the pot.
Total Pot: $100
Pot Contribution: $45/$100 = 45%.
Total Rake: 1.5% ($1.50)
Player Contribution to Rake: $1.50 * .45 = $0.675
Player Rakeback: $0.675 * .2 = $0.135
In this case, you will receive 13.5 cents (depending on how they round it or if they round it) due to your proportional contribution to the pot and, therefore, the rake. If you’re a player who tends to be in a good number of pots, then this is the best type of rakeback for you, or alternatively, if you tend to get into pretty large pots. If you compare this to the Dealt Rakeback at 20%, you’re getting 13.5 cents of rakeback for this hand compared to the six cents you’d have otherwise received.
Contributed Rakeback is, perhaps, the most common kind of rakeback, but I would argue that the players who benefit most from it are either extremely aggressive players or call stations. Call stations benefit because they tend to call down all but the most hopeless hands provided the amounts bet (or raised) are not too high. The result of that is that call stations tend to see a lot of pots to the showdown, (compared to other players, anyway) so even at a table with several players, they might disproportionately contribute to pots.
If you see a lot of flops, then I would probably lump you in with calling stations.
The only difference with calling stations and those who see a lot of flops, in general, is that they might be better off with a dealt rakeback if there is a full nine-seat table, or perhaps even seven or eight total players. When that is the case, there’s a pretty fair chance that even these players are not contributing enough to pots that a dealt rakeback would not be preferable. Thus, if you are a calling station or someone who sees a ton of flops, base the kind of rakeback you want to play partially on how many other players you like to play with at a given table.
There is one type of player that contributed rakebacks will almost always be more valuable for: extremely aggressive players. The first thing that I will say is that, if you are an extremely aggressive player, don’t think that a contributed rakeback is automatically going to entail a winning game, it will help, but you don’t play a solid game to begin with.
Fortunately for aggressive players, you do have the one quality that all skilled poker players must have and that is that you, “Have some gamble in you!” When it comes to conservative players who read other players well and understand the rudimentary mathematics of the game, the one hump that they can’t get over that separates them from the lower tier of skilled players is that they often lack the ability to be aggressive with all but an absolute lock. No nuts, no shove, for those players.
Often, the trepidation one has on making a huge bet without a stone cold lock is the hardest hurdle for a player to leap on the way to becoming a skilled poker player, for you, this is not an issue at all. You crave action.
There are many things that you need to realize about yourself if you want to play a winning poker game, with or without a contributed rake. Fortunately, you’re reading this right now, so it is clear that you want to find value and improve your game. Here are a few simple statements that you need to understand:
1.) Being aggressive by itself doesn’t mean that you are good.
2.) You crave action.
3.) The results of individual hands, sessions, even months don’t matter.
4.) Rakeback or no, you will be a losing player if you do not change.
Let’s start with the first one, being aggressive does not make you good:
You have one of the traits of a skilled player, which is the ability to be aggressive. However, winning poker players are very deliberate with aggressiveness picking their spots when either the mathematics of the game or the traits of the players around them most benefit them. Furthermore, when a skilled player successfully bluffs, it’s because that skilled player gets respect for having shown down good hands in the past, a willingness to fold bad hands, and also for not over-bluffing.
If you’re a highly aggressive player, the two things that you do that are your worst traits are bluffing too frequently and overbetting your hand, you’re a, “Maniac.” You could very easily double up a few times and turn a deposit of $20 into a few hundred with relative ease, but eventually, you will generally ultimately lose all of it back. You’ll eventually play at stakes such that the other players have more skill than you, or when bluffing, you’ll get caught with your proverbial hand in the cookie jar sooner or later.
You crave action:
“Maniac,” is not an insult, but rather, a style of play. Some players need to be in the action as much as possible, and other maniacs still, ‘Get off,’ from getting away with a stone cold bluff. If that’s the only way you can have fun and you’re playing with money you can afford to lose, have at it, but you’ll never be a long term winner playing that way.
The results of individual hands, sessions or months do not matter:
While poker is predominantly a game of skill, the skill tends to pan out as you move up in stakes over time.
Long-term winning poker players are usually not playing penny or dime ante games, their bankrolls have
improved such that they could stop playing those games long ago.
Even if you are playing skilled players, that doesn’t prevent you from effectively getting lucky in small bursts. Imagine you’re holding 8-7, suited, and you get in the action pre-flop. You see a flop and it comes 7-K- 4 with no opportunity for a flush. One of the other players to stay in has a king, you lead, he raises, you shove, he calls. You catch a seven on the river.
Congratulations, you won, and you also suck at poker.
If you want to improve your game, here is what you need to do:
Giving the player 7-8, suited clubs, against a K-J off-suit with a flop of K-7- 4 with no possibility of a flush for the player with sevens yields a winning probability of 20%! Do you understand the pot odds you’d have to be getting to call that shove!? Granted, you didn’t know the shoving player had Kings, but even with another seven, he probably has you outkicked. In fact, you’re in even WORSE shape against another seven if he has a better kicker...did you know that?
The first step is to keep a log of how much is in the pot when you are making a bet, how much you are betting, when you are betting it and then what everyone has at showdown if there is one. You are going to then plug the scenario into the hand calculator above and determine whether or not you have the, “Best of it,” according to pot odds. Do that for every single pot in which you see the showdown, make that determination. If you’re getting your money in with the worst of it, in terms of pot odds, as opposed to the best of it on a $$$ basis, you’re playing a losing game, it’s that simple.
Granted, there are player tendencies and implied odds (which take into account the probability of drawing a fold-- the entire concept of bluffing-- to be taken into consideration), but for now, you just need to figure out whether you are generally getting your money in at a positive expectation. That is a huge step in the direction of focusing your aggressive tendencies towards developing a winning game.
Rakeback will prolong your game, but will not make you a winning player by itself:
Ultimately, it adds value to your game and a Contribution-Based rakeback is going to be the best for you if you tend to have money in the pot disproportionately as compared to other players, but that alone is not going to be enough to make you profitable. If you play a long-run losing game, but you enjoy yourself, that’s fine and a Contributed rakeback will give you less negative value, but it’s not going to turn you into a net winner unless you are at least playing an even or winning game to begin with.
How Do I Know Which Is Best For Me?
The good news is that this site keeps those stats for you if you register and create a player profile here. We will keep stats on how much rake you have generated and the amount you have accrued over all periods of time. If you are playing a Dealt Rakeback rebate, but contribute disproportionately to the pots, (i.e. the rake), then you will quickly learn you may be better off by playing a Contributed Rakeback game.
For you more conservative players, you will be able to see that a Dealt Rakeback may be better for you by separately keeping track of the final pots of all of the hands at the site you are playing and determining whether or not you contribute less to the rake than the average player. In other words, you get your money in less frequently than others. If that is the case, then you will want to play a Dealt Rakeback sort of rebate. It’s even possible that your overall rebates, with a Dealt Rakeback, will be MORE than you ever contribute to the rake in the first place! If you are otherwise playing a dead even game, just the rakeback will make you profitable!
Tournaments v. Cash Games:
In some cases, sites will take a cut of their tournament entry fees and distribute that to players via a rakeback mechanism. If you enjoy playing tournaments as opposed to cash games, then it will be important for you to seek out poker rooms that offer a rakeback of tournament action.
Does Rakeback Conflict with Other Bonuses?
If you register with us and create a rakeback account in your poker room of choice, then you will still be eligible for other bonuses. Whether or not these bonus funds are deducted from your rakeback varies from site to site, so make sure to check the Terms & Conditions of the site in question to see how this may affect you. In many cases, any bonuses that you have taken are deducted from rakeback amounts that you would otherwise qualify for. For instance, if your rakeback is $200 and you took a $100 bonus, then your rakeback may be reduced to $100.There are some sites that do not have bonuses taken affect your rakeback at all, but it is up to you to determine which combination of bonus terms and rakeback terms will offer the best value for you. If you are a winning player, you might find it best to eschew bonuses altogether in favor of just getting a rakeback percentage.
Rake Races:
You might also find value in participating in, “Rake Races,” which are events in which a typically fixed prize pool is offered for players who find themselves generating the most rake at a given website. The first thing that you should know about rake races is that they have the most value for you if you tend to be a big player anyway as your action will generally result in greater rakes which will see you leading the race more often.
Here’s an example from UniBet for the June 1-16th rake race
In this case, as you can see, Komarac-zg blew the competition away regarding overall rake totaling 2,486 with second place being Chipeska with 1,637. What is interesting is the fact that, in terms of the prize vs. the percentage of rake, Chipeska actually did better on that basis.
For most players, rake races will not be of as much value if you tend to play the lowest stakes, especially if you are a conservative player to begin with. The simple fact of the matter is that the players who benefit most from rake races are those who generate a ton of rake. That’s not to say that they have no value, but many players would do better to get a fixed percentage of rakeback rather than try to win a rake race.
However, you don’t necessarily have to play the biggest tables to have a chance in the rake race. They might be beneficial to very aggressive players even if they usually stick to mid-stakes tables simply by virtue of how many pots they find themselves involved in, same goes for calling stations.
If you play a profitable game at higher stakes to begin with, then these rake races are simply cash in your pocket and the percentage may exceed any flat percentages that you may qualify for at other sites.
Conclusion:
Rakebacks are beneficial to all players, whether or not they are winning players, because it takes a portion of the amount that the casinos rake and puts it back into your pocket as a player. Even if you are not necessarily a winning poker player overall, getting a portion of the rakes back, whether it be a fixed amount or via a rake race will keep you in the game longer.
If you are a winning poker player as it is, then any rakeback offers will add significantly to your overall positive expectation. Let’s face it, while the rake is not daunting for you because you play such a strong game to begin with, it does cut into your profits, so this gives you the opportunity to take a cut of it back.
The right type of rakeback for you and whether or not rake races are the way to go is going to vary greatly with
what other types of bonuses you may be interested in and your playing style. It is important to be willing to do
some basic math to determine the best combination of conditions for you as well as to conduct a realistic appraisal of your skills and playing style. That is not something that anybody else can do for you, as you are the only one who knows your game.
By using the tools available to you here and other sites to determine how to improve your poker game and the right type of rakeback for you, you will be able to turn an already profitable poker game into a more profitable one, a break even game into a winning one and somewhat mitigate your losses if you play a losing game and are trying to improve. Good luck, and see you at the tables!
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