Rakeback is one of the most intriguing incentives proposed by online poker rooms. In this Rakeback Basics article, we’ll discuss what Rake and Rakeback are, and why it has become such a valuable part of playing online poker.
‘Rakeback’ is the term used to define when an online poker room gives a player back a percentage of the Rake that he or she has contributed during online poker play.
When playing online poker ring games for real money, every online poker room takes a Rake from each pot. The Rake is a percentage-based commission taken by the online poker room to fund the operation. In online poker, players play against one another, unlike online casinos where the player is going up against the ‘House’. Therefore, in order to make any money to sustain the online poker room, it must take a small percentage of each pot. The industry standard is 5% of the pot, capped at $3.00.
Please note that a rake is only taken in ‘Ring Games’ (also known as Cash Games). Tournaments rely on buy-ins to create the prize pool to be awarded to the winners, therefore collect no rake. Tournaments will collect a ‘Fee’, tacked onto the buy-in, the purpose of which is the same - to fund the online poker room - but is not considered a Rake. However, please note that our SunPoker Rakeback offer give you a percentage back from “rake” AND “tournament fees”.
Let’s say you’re playing online poker and you play 10 hands, contributing $.50 to the rake of each hand. That’s a total of $5.00 contributed to the rake. Now let’s say the online poker room offers a 20% Rakeback. The player would receive $1.00 (20% of $5.00) deposited back into his/her real money account.
Rakeback offers vary at different online poker rooms. Some will provide a 15% Rakeback, some as high as 30%. To receive the highest Rakeback percentage, usually the player must collect a certain number of ‘poker points’ within a given time period, essentially becoming a top-tier VIP member. Lower status will award a lower Rakeback percentage.
SunPoker offers a Rakeback deal of 30%, without fees. For more information on this, check the page: SunPoker Rakeback Details.
Remember that not all online poker rooms are alike when it comes to Rakeback deals. Most don’t offer rakeback at all; others give a small percentage. SunPoker not only offers the highest percentages in the market, but they consider tournament fees when calculating your rakeback, not a common practice between online poker softwares.
Suffice to say that it is well worth a player’s dollar to join SunPoker’s Rakeback deal. You can’t win every online poker game - might as well take the extra cash where you can get it!
No tag for this post.