Rake can be the difference between winning or losing. When playing poker the edge (even very good) players have over the opposition is often slight – think 4 big blinds per hundred hands for decent players. 5% rake is roughly industry standard – this doesn’t seem like a lot but with only a slight edge this can have a huge impact on your winnings.

Getting a proportion of your rake paid back to you can make all the difference. Click on the graph below to enlarge it. Without rakeback this micro-stakes player would be break even for 300 sessions – with rakeback they are up nearly $100.

Rakeback Offers…

Not all poker networks allow rakeback – however, we provide rakeback for those that do. We make sure to chose the best sites on the network when offering rakeback. For the full list of networks and whether rakeback is allowed or not see poker networks compared.

V.C. Poker (Entraction Network) – Get 30% Rakeback, €1000 bonus (or €250 unlimited time period bonus) & More. Total value back = 50%

24h Poker (Entraction Network) – Get 30% Rakeback, €500 first deposit bonus & More Total Value Back = 50%. Players must rake a minimum of €67 in a two week period to qualify.

Devilfish Poker (Entraction Network) – Get 30% Rakeback, €1000 first deposit bonus & More. Total Value Back = 50%. Players must rake a minimum of €67 in a two week period to qualify.

Minted Poker (Everleaf Network) – Get 40% Rakeback, choice of bonus & 4 free tourney entries. Total Value Back = 54-65%.

Cake Poker (Cake Network) – Get 33% Rakeback, $600 bonus & freeroll entry. Total Value Back = 39%

PKR Poker (Independent) – Get 30% Rakeback, a choice of bonus & 6 Free Tourney Entries. Total Value Back = 60%

One of the best deals is from a poker site that offers a a minimum 50% flat rate rakeback to every player directly through the poker site. High volume players can get a higher rate of rakeback than this. In fact it is possible to get 100% rakeback for high stakes/volume players, although most of the action is at 100NL and below so it would be hard to achieve the volume required for the top levels of rakeback.

One poker site offers a great deal in that it doesn’t charge rake – instead they make their money by charging a small fee when a player cashes out their winnings. This is a great deal because it works out massively cheaper than paying rake on every hand. Traffic at the site is very low but hopefully it will get more popular as people sign up.

How Rakeback Works

Poker sites offer a reward to affiliates if players sign up to their site through the affiliate. This reward usually takes one of two forms – either a lump sum or a percentage of the player’s rake is paid to the affiliate.

To encourage players to sign up with them, as opposed to going directly to the poker site or somewhere else, some affiliates offer players a percentage of their rake to be paid back to them: i.e. rakeback. When an affiliate provides rakeback the reward that the affiliate receives is usually reduced by the amount of rakeback that the player receives.

The poker site has control over how much rakeback can be offered by affiliates – rakeback is capped at a certain amount for each site or network, usually around 30%. An affiliate can offer less rakeback than this but never more. If the affiliate provides maximum rakeback then the player’s rakeback is always much greater than the affiliate’s reward. However, if an affiliate offers no rakeback then they will receive a much larger reward.

At Poker Blog X we always offer maximum rakeback – ensuring that players who sign up with us get the best deal.

Poker sites that are set up for rakeback will usually pay the rakeback directly into the player’s poker account (normally monthly or weekly).

What’s the difference between rakeback and VIP programmes?

When you sign up to a poker site with a rakeback deal you get rakeback regardless of how much you pay in rake – there are no minimums to meet. With VIP schemes you have to accrue points in order to gain rewards – if you don’t accrue enough points you get nothing. Therefore rakeback is obviously better for low stakes players or for players that don’t play huge volume.

For high stakes players (or mid-stakes grinders) VIP programmes may actually be the better option because they have big rewards for players that build a lot of rake. When I spoke to the affiliate manager from one of our poker sites he informed me that their VIP scheme is better if a player rakes more than €2500 per month. However, if a player rakes less than €2500 per month then the rakeback deal is better. Poker sites all have unique VIP schemes but we feel that as a rule of thumb this is a good one to follow when deciding between a VIP scheme and rakeback.

Why Get Rakeback at Poker Blog X?

We always offer maximum rakeback at Poker Blog X. You know that you are getting the best deal available. If you see any web-sites offering higher rakeback rates than ours they are most likely offering a ‘rake race’ or a ‘SNG leaderboard’ rather than pure rakeback at the rate they advertise. You are eligible for extra bonuses such as these if you sign up here too but we haven’t included them in our rakeback percentage because… they aren’t rakeback. You’ll have to play a large amount at decent stakes and ‘clear points’ to make ‘rake race’ and ‘leaderboard’ deals work.

PBX is always clear about what we offer. What you see is what you get. Rakeback = flat rakeback… there are no points to clear or targets to meet. With bonuses we tell you when the bonus is ‘play through’ and we make it clear how much you’ll need to play to receive your bonus. If you ave any questions about rakeback drop us an e-mail or use the contact form.

We’re here. You’ll get a reply from the same person every time you e-mail us at info@pokerblogx.com. Better than that – you’ll get a reply from someone who understands online poker, not a ‘sales assistant’. We have contacts in each of the poker sites that we are affiliates for.

We only offer rakeback for poker sites that we’d be happy to play at ourselves. We feel that each of the sites on our list has something special to offer its players – that might be the rakeback deal itself, that the games are unique in some way or that the site is available to players that can’t play elsewhere.

We chose the best skins when we offer rakeback for sites that are on a poker network. We judge this on the size of the site, its reputation, the stability of the company that owns the site and other factors that make the site unique.

Why haven’t I heard of rakeback before?

Providing rakeback to players means reduced income for a poker site. Therefore it doesn’t publicise the fact that rakeback is available. That way only players that search for the best deals will get rakeback while many others will just sign up for the standard poker account.

Is rakeback available at all poker sites?

Not all poker sites and networks offer rakeback deals. Some networks actively discourage their member sites from competing on price and part of this is refusing to let affiliates provide rakeback. Often it is the small and mid-sized networks that offer rakeback deals as they are hungry for more players while the largest sites would rather take the maximum profit from their players.

Consequently you won’t get rakeback at any of these sites/networks: Bodog Poker, Cassava Network (888, Pacific Poker etc.), Everest Poker, iPoker Network (Titan, William Hill etc.), Merge Network (RPM Poker, Carbon Poker etc.), Ongame Network (BWin, Betfair etc.), Party Poker, PokerStars.

Other sites occasionally offer rakeback deals that are available for a limited time only – for example Prima Poker Network (formerly Microgaming). These are effectively promotions that run out after time. We recommend going for a site that offers rakeback as it can dramatically increase your winnings.

If I’m Already a Member of a Site, can I sign up for Rakeback with that site?

This depends on the poker site but unfortunately the answer is usually no. However, if you have signed up but haven’t deposited yet then it may be possible. If this applies to you then the best thing to do is get in touch with us and we’ll check with the site.