Building a Bankroll With Rakeback

As I mentioned in a previous post. I will go into more detail on rakeback. I know that I have readers on this blog who are very new to poker. Some may already be playing without rakeback and are unaware of what it is. I can give you one piece of advice before we go any further. Do NOT open another online poker account until you finish reading this article. In this article we will review:

- What is the Rake
- What is Rakeback
- Why you should have it and how to get it

So let's assume you go open an online account over at Full Tilt. You sit down at a No Limit cash game. You start playing with the people at the table, you win a little they win a little. Have you ever wondered how the poker site makes there money? After all you are not playing against the site you are playing against other players all over the world. This is where the Rake comes in. The Rake is a small fee charged by the online poker rooms for hosting the games. How they charge this fee is really genius and most often goes unnoticed by you the player. This fee comes from every pot won. Usually it ranges from 3% up to 10% ( I would not recommend playing at a site that charges more than 5% ). The reason this fee is undetected is because it's so small and it is taken from the pots so the losers don't care because they didn't win the pot and the winners are usually focused on how much they won so they never detected that small rake being removed. It is a great model for the players and the casinos. We as players have a place to come together and play and the online poker room has an incentive to provide us a good place to play.

Now that we know what the Rake is let's discuss what Rackback is. Most new players have no clue what Rake is much less Rackback. If Rake is the money that you are giving to the online poker room from each pot that you are placing bets in. Then Rakeback is when the online poker rooms give you some of that money back. Of course they do not give you all of this money back they give you a precentage that usually ranges from 27% up to 35% of the money that you have paid in rake fees. Online poker rooms do not have to give you Rakeback. In fact if you are new to poker and you go straight to the online poker room and sign up for an account chances are good you will NOT get Rackback. How can you get Rackback? We will discuss more about that in a moment. First up, most people wonder why are the online poker rooms giving you a precentage of your money back? That is a great question the primary reason is because they are in competition with each other. Giving you part of your money back each week or each month is a great incentive for you to keep playing at their online poker site. Getting 30% back of your 5% that you have contributed to the racked pots may not sound like much. However, most online players play 2 up to 24 tables at a time. This quickly adds up to a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars a month. I know of a player playing $20NL 4 tables at a time about 20 hours a week and earns between $100 and $300 a month in Rakeback. There are even players who earn a living from their Rakeback. These players are known as Rakeback Pros. This is possible when a midstakes player is a breakeven player but at the end of the month has earned $2000+ in Rakeback alone. So basically Rakeback is just a rebate given back to your from the money the poker room has earned from you.

To get Rakeback you just have to sign up through a Rakeback site like www.PokerBankrollClub.com. Pokerbankrollclub, has specifically negotiated rakeback deals. Once you are signed up then you open a new online poker account start playing and you will be earning Rakeback as you play. Now there are a few things you want to look for when signing up with a Rakeback site. You want to make sure they have plenty of rakeback deals. Let's face it you will most likely play at more than one online poker room over the course of your poker career. If you move to another online poker room you want to make sure you can get Rakeback there as well. Something else to look for, see if they offer rake races. This is another great perk which can help you build you bankroll as well. A Rake Race is a competition among the players of a particular online poker room. Where the player who generated the most Rake thus earning the most Rakeback wins. It's not usually too difficult for small stakes players to at least get into the money on these races. This means you have the oppurtunity to win more money for doing what you already plan on doing playing poker. You prefer to find a rakeback site that offers weekly races instead of monthly races. This gives you more chances to win. Something else to consider when looking for a rakeback site. Be certain they offer good accurate statistics throughout the month. If they have a members area where you can view how much Rakeback you have earned throughout the month and at which sites that is a plus.

A final word, it does not make sense for someone looking to build an online poker bankroll not to have Rakeback. Rakeback, will help you leverage your bankroll if you are a winner and it will insulate it if you are a losing player.

Recommended Rakeback Poker sites: Full Tilt
Full Tilt is a good poker site to earn rakeback if you play $100NL and up. Their rake gets to be pretty expensive if you play below that level. Although they only offer 27% rakeback they have the best selection of higher stakes gaves over all of the other poker sites that pay rakeback.

Recommended Rakeback Poker sites: Cake Poker
Cake Poker is recommended for the player playing $10NL up to $100NL. They offer a great rakeback at 33%. They have plenty of games running most of the time at the lower stakes. The higher stakes don't have has many games to choose from.

PokerBankrollClub.com, is the recommended Rakeback site. This site has one of the largest selections of online poker sites that offer Rakeback. They also have weekly rake races you can participate in. They have accurate real time statistics in your very own members area where you can view how much Rakeback you have earned at all of the online poker sites you play at. They will even give you a bonus if you refer friends who earn Rakeback. PokerBankrollClub.com, will help you mazimize your bankroll growth.

Build your bankroll,
Brandon Mark