What Is Poker Rakeback?

Online poker sites do not "comp" meals or offer weekend getaways in order to solicit your business. They actually offer something better -- rakeback. The rake is money that online poker sites charge for the privilege of enjoying their services. Like a levied tax, the rake is taken from each pot and kept by the poker room. Rake is usually between five and ten percent and tends to come out to three or four dollars a pot. Poker sites offer special incentives like rakeback to encourage new players to join. If you are going to be playing online poker, you should have an understanding of rakeback in order to take advantage of these online offers.

The Rakeback Return

Rakeback is when a poker site returns a percentage of the money it collects from the rake back to the players, for example Noiq rakeback. A percentage of the rake from every hand is credited to each player individually and placed back in that player's account at the end of each month. Different poker sites offer different percentages of rakeback, and some even offer more than 30 percent. If you are already a member of a poker site that drew you in with a sign up bonus, you will have to find a new site in order to enjoy rakeback. Before you go online and look for a rakeback site, you should first consider the different types of rakeback. Naturally you want as high rake back as possible and you should pick the type that suits your game style the best.

Two Ways to Collect

The two forms of rakeback are dealt rakeback and contributed rakeback. Dealt rakeback treats all players equally regardless of their contribution to the rake. This means that players who only participated in throwing the blinds are given an equal share of the rakeback with the players who contributed the most to the pot. Contributed rakeback rewards players according to their contributions to the rake. In this case, the player who ups the pot receives rakeback congruent with their contribution and the player who adds nothing to the pot does not receive rakeback.

Continuous Return on the Rake

Some online poker sites only offer sign up bonuses, and once the bonus is gone, the free money train stops. Rakeback is rewarded to players on a monthly basis, indefinitely, so poker sites that offer rakeback keep the free money train rolling. The return that you will enjoy with rakeback improves your win rate without extra effort or skill. Thus, strong players benefit extra for being strong, and weak players are thrown a bone as well.