What is Rakeback?

Wouldn’t it be nice if, every time you sat down for dinner at a classy restaurant, you got a little bit of the sales tax on the bill returned to you? That extra cash could be used for dessert or an extra beer…

Or have you ever been sitting around the poker table at your local card room, missing each and every draw all night long while watching the dealer constantly push the chips to your opponents – after a few of them get put aside for the house, of course. Your losing night may feel a bit better if you could dip into that chunk of chips going to the card room and return home with a wallet that’s a little less light.

Rakeback is the solution and, often in the context of poker, it’s as important to a player’s bottom line as knowing when to fold pocket rockets on the River when you know you’re behind. Many poker players have heard the term ‘rakeback’ but there are many questions about this sometimes confusing source of extra income. But before we come to that, we need to understand what ‘rake’ is. Essentially, rake is a portion of any money you bring to the poker tables that ends up going to the poker room. Whether it’s online poker or live at the casino, because there is no ‘edge’ for the House (like in Blackjack or Craps, for example), it is through the rake that the House makes a profit and is thus able to provide the games and keep them going.

How the card rooms generate rake varies based on the format of play. When playing cash games, rake is pulled off any pot that reaches a Flop and is generally based on the amount each player contributes to the pot. For example, at $0.50/$1, if it’s folded round to the Button, whose raise to $4.50 gets a call from the Small Blind but a fold from the Big Blind, the pot would be $10. Even though the Big Blind didn’t make it to the Flop, they still contributed 10% of the (current) pot so ended up paying 10% of the rake despite having folded. The Button and Small Blind, meanwhile, are in for a higher amount, so would be paying a higher portion of the rake to the House.

In a Sit & Go or Multi-Table Tournament the rake is generally a portion of the buy-in – either included in the total or, in live poker rooms, frequently shown as part of the buy-in (A $100+$15 tournament would have $100 going to the player prize pool and $15 to the casino). So, no matter which format is your preferred choice, “the House always wins” effectively applies to poker as well, and with online poker you are generally paying between 4% and 10% in rake, depending on the poker room. Micro and lower limits tend to have a higher percentage rake compared with the higher stakes, but be sure to check out our reviews of each site to help determine what is best for you.

Rakeback, then, is the secret to dipping your hands into the casino’s money and getting a portion of all that rake you paid at the tables. It’s a monetary ‘thank you’ from the poker room and allows a percentage of your generated rake to go right back in your account. Poker rooms generally calculate rakeback using one of three methods:

• Contributed Rakeback: With this method your rake is based on the percentage of money you contribute to the pot. For example, if you bet $10 in a cash game and the rake at that poker room is 10%, you would contribute $1 in rake for this hand. On a rakeback offer of 25%, a player then gets $0.25 back for this one hand.
• Dealt Rakeback: Here what matters is who was dealt into the hand versus how much each player contributed. Rakeback is awarded to all of the players. Here’s an example: if you are sitting at a cash game with four other players and the casino is charging a 10% rake, if the pot hits $100 the House will take $10 rake. Under a 25% rakeback deal that $10 then gets split evenly between all the players who were dealt in the hand, so you would receive $0.50 rakeback. This is not the best if you were the aggressor putting in a chunk of the money, but a great solution for the tight player who wants to hold back and wait for a nice premium hand.
• Progressive Rakeback: A hybrid of both of the above, the rakeback percentage depends on the number of hands played or rake paid. If a player is very active and is involved in a large number of hands, then their percentage rakeback increases. The more rake a player generates, the higher the percentage they get back. This is often the best option for regular grinders and multi-tablers who put in the volume to reach the targeted levels.

YourPokerDream affords you the opportunity to receive special VIP Rakeback Deals which will put more money in your poker bankroll for both regular grinders and the occasional recreational player. These deals are available exclusively through YourPokerDream when you sign-up through us on our many partner poker sites.

Volume is the secret when it comes to earning as much rakeback as possible. Naturally, the more hands you play, the more rake you generate and, in turn, the more rakeback you earn. Turbo or Hyper Sit & Go (SNG) tournaments are great options to generate a high amount of rakeback. In reality, one of the most important decisions a Turbo or Hyper SNG regular can make is which site to play on and what kind of rakeback offers are available. Since variance can be so high in this format, the steady income of rakeback is what sets most serious players and professionals apart from the less informed, and keeps them afloat when a downswing (inevitably) arises.

We offer exclusive VIP flat rakeback deals for players who want to increase their earning power. Don’t forget that we will offer you the best possible rakeback deals as well as the most exclusive promotions you can find online!

Our recommendation: This would definitely be GGPoker from the GGNetwork. Not only does YourPokerDream have a great VIP offer with this site, but it is also home to many recreational players from around the world who ensure there’s traffic 24/7, and at all limits. With super modern, player-friendly software, ongoing promotions and a fantastic rakeback deal, playing poker here can be quite profitable as well as very enjoyable.

Also highly recommended is our fantastic exclusive 50-65% Flat Rakeback Deal at JackPoker.

Our other rakeback deals are also very juicy, of course!

Just click the “Visit…” button (below) and you will be redirected to the operator to sign up. Please do not forget to register also an account at YPD and include there your poker room nickname so that we can check your account and activate our VIP rakeback deals.

Overview: Rakeback Poker Rooms 2023

YourPokerDream recommends the following YPD deals to help maximize rakeback:

If you have any questions, or you’re looking for a very special high roller rakeback deal, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

Email: info@yourpokerdream.com
Skype: vip-yourpokerdream
Telegram Messenger: https://t.me/Yourpokerdream
Discord: https://discord.gg/G2A5B3a76q

How many times have you clicked delete on that piece of spam offering you ‘easy money working from home’ or ‘Earn money on stocks’ and so on? Well, rakeback is different from all those get rich quick schemes and is instead a steady, sure-fire way to supplement your poker winnings or offset losses when the poker gods fail to shine on you.

Even for the recreational poker fan who plays once or twice a week in an online home game with friends, for instance, rakeback will make a marked difference. That two or three dollars in tourney fees here and there might seem insignificant, with a proper rakeback deal even occasional players will find that the money they accumulate over time via rakeback makes a difference.

However, for the regular and serious players and those professionals and semi-pro grinders who invest considerable time and effort at the poker tables with a view to maximizing profit, ensuring you have the best rakeback deal is an imperative and a crucial contributor to successful bankroll management. While rakeback can help transform a downswing month to a profitable one, it also makes those big wins even bigger. A good rakeback deal, then, is a must for any regular poker player.

Affiliates like YourPokerDream receive commissions from each poker site they send a player to, enabling us to provide incredible value to online poker fans by offering industry-leading rakeback deals.

It’s definitely a stretch for any casual player to live entirely from money generated by rakeback. However, it is quite common among medium stakes grinders to survive on rakeback alone. Of course, factors such as where you live, what limits you play, your ability and so on need to be considered, but grinding away full-time on the virtual felt is certainly a feasible option for some. For example, it’s not unusual for poker players from the USA to move to Thailand, where they can play on most major online poker sites and still maintain a good lifestyle thanks to the favourable exchange rate (USD in Baht) and the comparatively low cost of living. These players tend not to live on rakeback alone, but it is nonetheless an important part of their earnings. But there are poker players who live only from rakeback!

Imagine you can cover your living expenses on $1,000 per month, you’re a break even player at $10+1 Turbo Sit & Go tournaments and you have a YourPokerDream VIP 50% rakeback deal. Here’s how you could make enough from rakeback alone.

$1,000 rakeback on a 50% offer means you need to generate a total of $2,000 rake.
$2,000 rake at $1 rake per SNG equals 2,000 SNGs per month.
With a little experience, time management and a good mindset, this is completely realistic. A conventional job usually involves an average of around 160 hours per month, so if you were to spend the same amount of time playing poker you would need to play 12.5 SNGs each working hour to manage 2000 – quite achievable for many grinders!

With this in mind, many players finance their studies or add to their existing income, for example, by focusing on rakeback, while others even turn the poker side into a full-time occupation. And remember that we’re looking at these figures in the context of merely breaking even here! Most experienced players have a higher win rate than just breaking even. Even an ostensibly tiny 1% overall win rate would have a significant impact on earnings. And, of course, using the numbers in this example, there are many players who play more than 2,000 such games per month by simply investing more hours should they wish or, alternatively, playing more than one game at the same time.

The simple fact is that making sure you get as much rakeback as possible is as essential a part of your poker regime as bankroll management and studying strategy. Choosing which affiliate to sign on with ends up being one of the most important decisions from a long-term profit perspective for all poker players, whether they’re recreational poker fans or have serious ambitions and expectations from the game. Without rakeback, you’re effectively giving up potentially hundreds (perhaps even thousands) of dollars every month that you play! Poker is about making the correct long-term profitable play with each decision, and this doesn’t preclude those made away from the tables – choosing YourPokerDream for rakeback is definitely a winning move.