Poker rakebacks, reality or myth? To explore this phenomenon let's start from the very beginning. We should first explain what the term 'rake' means. A 'rake' is actually the commission or fee traditional and online poker room operators collect for hosting the game. And, typically it is 5% of the generated pot with a maximum limit of $3. Although these amounts sound rather unimportant 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. So, a 'rakeback,' also called a 'rakebreak,' is a sort of a refund offered to players on some of the rake they pay the house.

Crooked Rakeback Websites

Getting your rake back is actually pretty simple. Currently, there is a wide selection of online websites willing to offer you rakeback 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 (the sites providing the rakeback) to offer rakeback. 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 annul all your winnings. So once you do find a rakeback provider 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. 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 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 pay up to 95% of that amount back every month. 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. A prop player plays the games with his own money. On its part, the card room treats a prop like a promotional expense and pays him a sort of hourly wage. You are probably asking yourself what a 'prop' has to do with rakebacks. The answer is simple; it is just an extra way to make a quick buck. However, propping has downsides as well. For instance, 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 Rakebacks

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 services. If you are interested in getting a list of online poker rooms featuring such programs then all you need to do is Google the term 'rakeback.' We wish you the best of luck and hope that you put this information to your use.