I Want My Rakeback

Is a Poker rakeback reality or myth? To explore this phenomenon we will start from the very beginning by explaining what poker rakebacks are all about.

When a player gambles, online casinos typically take a 'rake,' or a commission operators collect for hosting the game. The amount is typically 5% of the generated pot with a maximum limit of $3. Although these amounts sound rather minimal for a single played game, they tend to add up very quickly at the end of the month, especially taking into consideration the fact that full-time Internet poker players can now play at several tables at once and there are hundreds of thousands of players on at any given time.

A rakeback, somtimes known as a rakebreak or rakeback bonus something that affiliates created to help get players to use their services. Essentially, an affiliate, which generates revenue through player sign ups, give the player back a small percentage of the rake, back.

Crooked Rakeback Affiliates

Getting a poker rakeback is actually pretty simple. Currently, there is a wide selection of online websites willing to offer you such services. Nevertheless, you must be careful. Some of them are less reliable and secure than others. What you need to know is that many Internet poker destinations disallow their affiliates to offer a rakeback bonus for their services. However, there are plenty of them that don't mind violating this agreement. If you happen to sign up with one of such dishonest affiliates, the poker room might close your account and void your winnings. So if you do find a rakeback affiliate with a clean reputation, you better stick to it.

Why Should Poker Rooms Offer Rakebacks?

This is an excellent question. Why should poker rooms, whether virtual or brick & mortar, give up as much as a third of their profit? Online poker rooms are indeed sometimes willing to pay players a part of their rakeback for the purpose of attracting new players, or as a bonus for VIPs. However, since most online poker rooms offer very generous first-time deposit bonuses and promotions to draw newcomers, they mostly do not advertise the fact that they feature rakeback programs. In addition, the term 'rakeback' simply does not exist in the traditional poker venue vocabulary. This is because online poker operators have a much lower overhead cost per each poker hand played than land-based poker rooms, due mainly to the fact that online operators don't have to cover the expenses of employing dealers and maintaining a building.

How Do You Get Your Rakeback?

Rakeback affiliate payment procedures work as follows: Online poker rooms pay rakeback service providers (the affiliates) anywhere between 25%-35% of the rake you generate on a monthly basis. In turn, such providers a percentage of that amount back to you, so you get a cut of the cut. Payments are usually electronically deposited into a player's poker account.

One Last Note- 'Props'

The term 'prop' (which is short for "proposition") refers to a player hired by an online card room to keep the game going. This is different from a rakeback. A prop player plays the games with his own money. The card room treats a prop like a promotional expense and pays him a sort of hourly wage. Usually only new poker rooms with low traffic rates hire props or the props are allowed to play only short-handed games. Some gaming industry insiders, however, would tell you that joining a rakeback program is much more profitable than propping.

Back to Rakeback Affiliates

Poker rakebacks are real and the possibility of getting some of your online poker investment back is truly seducing. As we have already mentioned before, nowadays, the Internet is full of poker room affiliates providing players with rakeback bonuses. If you are interested in getting a list of online poker rooms featuring such programs then all you need to do is search for the term 'rakeback.' Just be sure you check everything out before signing up.