The
Poker Room "Table Rake" and
Rakeback Programs
Poker rooms don't care if you, as one of the players, win or lose.
They all make their money from the "table rake" that
is a small percentage of each pot accumulated in the games and
paid out to the winner(s). . . . . A "Rakeback" is simply
a refund of part of the rake. Rakeback programs are player incentives
that pay back participating players a percentage (usually 20 to
30%) of their part of all the rake revenue contributed.
Tournament
pots are not raked so the poker rooms normally charge a modest
add-on to the tournament entry fees. The cumulative entry fees
themselves are used to pay the tournament winners while the
add-ons go to the house. Part of the add-ons are used to compensate
the program players for the tournaments that they play. For
example: in a $4.50 entry fee, sit-and-go tournament, the house
pays the winners all the $4.00 collected and gets all the $.50
add-ons.
Table
Rake Charges to the Players
Both
regular and online poker rooms generally consider
5% of the pot to be a fair and reasonable rake.
. . .
As a way
to be player friendly, just about all the real and online
poker rooms don't rake the unusually small pots like those
that don't get much action past the first bet. Also they
put a cap on the rake of pots that exceed the average of
the type and wagering levels of the particular games being
played. The very low limit games might be capped at $1.00
while the $100.00 and so limit games are usually capped out
at $4.00 or $5.00.
Poker players
generally do not resent these charges. Without a fair profit
for the poker rooms there would be no poker rooms like we have
in the casinos and on the net.
What
Advantages to Expect From Rakebacks
Poker rooms
have different pay periods for rakebacks. They vary from daily
to weekly and monthly. Their rakeback percentage payments are
usually between 20% to 30%. Estimating how much return you
can expect is very difficult at best but assuming that you
play about ten hours a week on a 25% rakeback. Then assuming
that most of your play is in the $1 - $2 range. The rakeback
in this example would probably be about $12.00 a week. Now
on the other hand, if you put in ten hours of $50 - $100 high
end play, you can probably look for about $50.00 a week rakeback
return. These estimates are based on a 25% rakeback. Naturally
a higher percentage rakeback program will yield higher returns.
The advantages
of rakebacks to the players are strong. Nearly immediate cash
added to player accounts has become a very popular player incentive
(maybe the most). However, when evaluating poker rooms it is
important to consider all these things:
> How
much 24/7 table action is there in the games and wagering levels
you enjoy?
> What
are the rakeback percentages and opening bet bonuses?
> Are
VIP and frequent-player incentives offered and how do they
work?
> Also
consider the other incentives like freeroll tournaments, open
tournaments with fancy car prizes, satelite
tournaments where you can win entries into big time tournaments
like the WSOP and the like,
and other goodies that the poker rooms always seem to come
up with ::
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