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Every
online poker room offers you a sign-up or first deposit bonus. Most
of these bonuses need to be unlocked before players can actually use
them at the tables, but some of them are upfront money which needs to
be played through like an online casino bonus. Rakeback is by far the best bonus-like incentive you’ll ever receive in
online poker. Rakeback is like a never expiring sign-up bonus that
keeps on adding money to your stack at the end of each month or each
week (if your poker room transfers your rakeback on a weekly basis).
In order to understand why it’s so important to get a part of your
rake back, you first need to understand how poker rooms calculate
rake contribution for their players.
Most
beginners (and even some more experienced players) believe that the
rake is paid by the winner of the pot. After all, it is he who gets
less money on account of the rake. The truth is however that the pot
is a distinct entity at the table, as it doesn’t belong to anyone
until it’s been raked and awarded to the winner. The rake is taken
off the pot before it becomes the winner’s possession.
This
way, it is easier to comprehend that the people who pay the rake are
those who helped build the pot by actively contributing. If you put
money into the pot but fold, or lose the showdown, you’ll still
generate rake contribution, and therefore you will be entitled to
receive rakeback.
You
will make money in the form of rake rebate on hands that you lose
money on in the game itself.
The
software that the poker room uses automatically calculates rake
contribution for each of the players at the table. The “contributed
rake” method is the best and most accurate way to determine the
rake contribution of each individual player and implicitly the amount
of rakeback due to each of them. The software calculates the
contributed rake as a direct function of the amount of money
contributed to the pot. Playing in a poker room which uses the
contributed rake method to determine rake rebate gives an advantage
to loose aggressive players, who will not end up generating revenue
for the other players around the table who do not risk their stacks.
Other
poker rooms feature the dealt rake method. In a poker room like this,
the rake contribution is evenly distributed among those who are dealt
into the hand.
This
means tight-passive rocks will get a chance to generate some nice
rake and rake return on the money the loose aggressive guys stuff
into the pot.
Before
you sign up to a rakeback deal, make sure you know which method the
room uses to calculate rake rebate as it could mean a nice advantage
for you if it suits your playing style.
As
you can see, the rakeback percentage is not the only factor you
should take into consideration when choosing a rakeback deal.
The
“industry standard” rakeback percentage is around 30%. The
rakeback Full Tilt Poker gives you for instance is 27%. Some poker
rooms will give you 33% or even as much as 50%. Make sure you check
the monthly promotion section of a well-established rakeback site for
additional offers which can significantly boost the rakeback you get
for a limited time or for good.
Some
rakeback deals can yield as much a 100% rebate on your rake. These
special deals are called prop deals and are offered to players who
are basically “hired” by the poker site in question to create
tables and to provide action for the regular customers.
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