Rakeback: Poker Rakeback Deals Explained
What is Rake?
Rake is how poker rooms make their money. That is the money that the poker rooms deduct from every pot. Usually the rake is a couple of percent with a cap at around $3 at the highest limits. There is also rake on tournaments, where the large portion of the buy in goes to the prize pool, and a little fee goes to the poker site. The poker rooms make huge money from the rake the players contribute with. It is not unusual that a single player pay $3000 to the poker room every month, and that’s just one player. A poker room with more than 10,000 active players earns quite a lot of money to say the least.
What is Rakeback?
Rakeback is a refund to the poker player.. Poker players receive a percentage of the rake they pay to the poker room. A normal rakeback offer is between 25% and 40%, but sometimes players can get an even better offer. If you receive 35% rakeback, and rake $1000 one month, you will get $350 back. The more you rake, the more you get back. Some sites offer what they call a “poker VIP Bonus“, which to the player is equivalent to rakeback.
How do I get rakeback
If you want to get rakeback you have to sign up at a poker room through a special link (which lets the poker room know that they must give you rakeback (as normal players do not automatically get rakeback). Some sites offer multiple rakeback deals (e.g. Poker Rakeback Deals. All of the poker site links on this page entitle you to rakeback when you join the poker room.
A referring rakeback site earns a couple of percent of your total rake back, but the major part of it goes back into your bankroll.
Some of the poker variations are better suitable for a rakeback deal. If you play shorthanded poker, you are involved in more pots, and therefore pay more rake (and can potentially earn more rakeback). If you play at more than one table at the time you also play more hands, and pay more rake. When you are involved in a lot of pots you should definitely play with rakeback – otherwise you are really throwing away a LOT of money unnecessarily.
There is no downside to rakeback – you will earn a lot of extra cash, or save cash depending on how you look at it. Just do it!
Rake Races
A rake race is a competition to rake more money than anyone else on a particular poker site in a given timeframe. Rake Races either count the number of hands you rake, or the value of the rake from the hands which you have played.
Rake race leaderboards pay out 20-50 people usually, sometimes even the top 100 raking players are paid.. so there is plenty of incentive to play (however just like a tournament payout structure, the bulk of the money to be won is at the top of the ladder). The prizes are lucrative, with some rake races paying up to €30,000 to the winner!
Top Rakeback
| Site | % | Deposit Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| BOSS / IPN | ||
| PokerHeaven Rakeback | 30% | €1000 |
| Paradise Poker Rakeback | 30% | €1000 |
| Fortune Poker Rakeback | 30% | €1000 |
| A Winning Hand Rakeback | 30% | €1000 |
| Virgin Poker Rakeback | 30% | €500 |
| CEREUS NETWORK | ||
| UltimateBet Rakeback | 30% | $1100 |
| Absolute Poker Rakeback | 30% | $1100 |
| CAKE NETWORK | ||
| Cake Poker Rakeback | 33% | $500 |
| PowerPoker Rakeback | 33% | $600 |
| INDEPENDENT | ||
| PayNoRake Rakeback | 50-100% | $1000 |
| Betfair Rakeback | 40% | $600 |
| Full Tilt Rakeback | 27% | $600 |
| PKR | 30% | $250 |
| PokerStars | Tiered | $600 |
| EVERLEAF NETWORK | ||
| Meteor Poker Rakeback | 40% | $600 |
| PokerUtd Rakeback | 40% | $600 |
| ENTRACTION NETWORK | ||
| 5BetPoker Rakeback | 30% | €1000 |
| Devilfish Poker Rakeback | 30% | €1000 |
| MERGE NETWORK | ||
| PokerNordica Rakeback | 30% | $500 |
| Reefer Poker Rakeback | 30% | $420 |
| Spin32Poker | 30% | $200 |
| POKERNEXUS NETWORK | ||
| FatBet Rakeback | 50% | €1000 |
