The way that a poker room makes money is by taking a percentage of the money in each pot. This money is called the ‘rake’ and is normally around 5% of the pot. So what is rakeback? As you might have guessed, rakeback is exactly what it sounds like: it is a way to get back a portion of the rake that you pay while you play.
There are two types of rakeback, dealt and contributed. With dealt rakeback you get credit for a portion of the rake for every hand you are dealt, regardless of if you are involved in the pot at all. With the contributed method you receive a proportional credit based on the percentage of the pot that you contributed. For example if there is a $100 pot that is raked the typical maximum of $3 and there are 10 people dealt into the hand, you would receive $.30 ($3/10) towards your Monthly Gross Revenue (MGR) if you are receiving dealt rakeback. If you were getting contributed rakeback and had folded pre-flop in that hand you would get $0.00 towards your MGR since you contributed 0% of the total pot. If you were heads up with one person in the pot after the flop you would receive roughly $1.50 ($3 x 50%) towards your MGR since you contributed roughly 50% of the pot. Dealt rakeback is better for tight players whereas contributed rakeback rewards looser and aggressive players who are often involved in large pots.
If you are playing regularly, then you will be paying a lot of money in rake so getting rakeback is a great way to help build your bankroll. In most situations you are paid out a percentage of your overall MGR for the month as some point the following month. Let’s say that at the end of April you have an overall MGR of $1,000. If you have signed up for a 30% rakeback program at that particular site you would receive $300 ($1,000 x 30%)! Some poker rooms deduct deposit fees and bonuses from your MGR, so if it looks a little low make sure you are taking possible deductions into consideration. For players still learning the game, rakeback is an excellent way to keep your bankroll growing and can act as a cushion for months where you are running cold. Rakeback is also great for high volume players as well, since as it can really add up to be a significant amount of money that you are getting back each month. The bottom line is that if you are going to be playing poker online, then getting rakeback through an affiliate is a must.