What is Rake?
In order to understand what rake back is, we need to first understand what rake is. Rake is the way that an online poker room makes money. When you play a game of online poker, you are playing against the other players – not the house. The way that an online poker room makes its money is through the rake. The rake that an online poker room charges can be viewed as a small cost for playing in a ring game at the site. The rake that an online poker room charges will vary in amount, but it is typically 5% – 10% of the size of the pot, increasing in increments of $0.25, up to a maximum of $3.
Understanding Rake Back
Rake back is a way for you to save on the costs of poker rake. Online poker rooms offer rake back deals as a type of promotion to attract players to their site. The rake back is a percentage of the rake that you spend at the poker room and it is credited to your account at certain periods over the month.
Calculating your Rake
Most online poker rooms do not display your individual rake; however this information is kept by the poker room and it is used to calculate your rake for the purposes of calculating your rake back. There are two ways that an online poker room might calculate the individual rake for a player. If the room uses the shared method of calculating rakes, it will divide the rake evenly between the number of players that were dealt cards in the game. This means that if the total rake collected was $3 and there were ten players who were dealt cards, the rake for each individual will be 30 cents. If the contributed method is used to calculate the individual’s rake, then it is taken from their contribution to the pot. The rake of the individual is proportionate to the amount that he contributed to the pot. In other words, if you contributed $50 to a pot of $150 and the total rake collected was $3, then your individual rake would be $1.
Your Rake Back
You can typically find deals that offer 30% rake back on your individual rake. The rake that you pay as you play does not seem like a large amount as you pay it; however receiving the rake back is an added bonus that can add to your bankroll. Players may need to sign up for the rake back deal at an online poker room that offers rake back. Not all poker rooms offer a rake back deal, but may pay a share of the rake through poker bonuses.