As online poker becomes more popular and online players become more aggressive, it becomes increasingly important to find ways to keep ahead of the pack and still make more profits from poker than your opponents. With the introduction of Rakeback on most poker rooms. Rakeback can be one of the easiest and best ways to increase your poker profits.
As the competition for poker players increases, poker rooms try new promotions and also look for ways to attract new poker players to their poker room. As online poker has become more mainstream, and the number of online players increases, the number of available poker rooms has also dramatically increased. So most poker rooms now offer rakeback to there players, trying to entice players to use their poker room.
What is rakeback?
When you play poker the poker room you play on will charge you for playing on there site. This is usually called rake. Over a short period of time, you probably won’t even notice this as it’s usually only a small fee. Usually 5% of every hand, or 10% of your tournament entry fee. However, over time rake can build up. The more you play the more rake you will generate and the higher stakes you play the more rake you will also pay. So over time rake can quickly build up, with some top players generating thousands of dollars worth of rake a year. Rakeback is when the selected poker room refunds a percentage of the rake you have already paid. For example, if you have a 40% rakeback deal and over a month you raked up $100 in rake. You would get $40 back in rakeback.
How much rakeback can I expect?
If you play poker regularly at any level, rakeback will increase your profits. If you prefer to play micro levels, say cash tables at 5c/10c. You will still generate rake. In a hour playing on one table you will generate about 60c in rake. So if you had been playing at Full Tilt Poker with 27% rakeback you would be entitled to 27% of the rake back. That would work out at a little over 16c.
Now 16c rakeback doesn’t sound much, but if you consider it as a free small blind and free big blind for every hour of play. Where as, the average player who usually multi tables with 4 tables and plays blinds of 50c/$1. Over an hour they would generate about $24. With the 27% Full Tilt rakeback deal they would receive over $6 in rakeback for that hour of play. So if you take into consideration what stakes you play, and how many hours you put in, you can quickly build up a lot of free money from rakeback.
Now you can see the benefits of playing poker with rakeback. I have just used hour to hour examples so you can see how much rakeback effects you short term. However if you where to look at rakeback over your playing career or even just a year, you will see how much playing poker with rakeback increases your profits and your bankroll.
Long term effects of rakeback
If you sign up to Full Tilt Poker with 27% rakeback, and are an average profitable poker player, who plays 10 hours of poker a week, 4 tables at a time at 50c/$1. You would average $230 in rake a week. So over a year would generate about $12,000 in rake a year. However with your 27% rakeback deal at Full Tilt Poker you would get $3,240 back in rakeback a year.
How important it is for a poker player to have rakeback?
I have used the average winning poker player as my example, but even small stakes players will benefit over a long term. Then when you have praticed enough and have moved up levels, and start playing 50c/$1 cash tables, you will have an extra $3000 in your bankroll every year, compared to playing without rakeback. Rakeback is the easiest way to increase your bankroll and profits. Thats why its highly recommended that you look for the best rakeback deal before signing up to a room.
We recommend checking out our Poker Rakeback site for the best rakeback deals.