What is rakeback in poker and how does it work

What is rakeback in poker?

Rake is the money a poker room keeps from each cash game pot and from each tournament buy-in to pay for running the games. Rakeback is the share of that rake the room gives back to the players who paid it. If a poker room promises 20% rakeback and you pay $100 in rake, you receive $20.

The percentage always applies to the rake, never to the pot. Take a $100 pot with 5% rake: the room collects $5. On a 30% rakeback deal, $1.50 of that $5 comes back to you and the room keeps $3.50. A higher rakeback percentage means more money returned to you, not more taken from you.

Players never pay rakeback as a separate charge, and it does not depend on winning. A losing player and a winning player who pay the same rake at the same room get the same return. That is why rakeback can turn a small losing result into break-even, or add a steady extra amount to a winning one.

Rooms describe the same idea with different names: rakeback, cashback, loyalty rewards or VIP rewards. The label matters less than three facts: the percentage, how the room measures your share of the rake, and what form the payment takes.

How a poker room takes rake

In cash games the room takes a percentage of each pot, usually up to a fixed maximum called the rake cap. A pot with a 5% rake and a $3 cap pays $1 on a $20 pot and $3 on any pot of $60 or more. Many rooms also take no rake when a hand ends before the flop. In tournaments and Sit and Go games the rake is a fee added to the buy-in, so a $10 plus $1 tournament charges $1 per entry.

To pay rakeback, the room first has to decide how much of each pot's rake belongs to you. Two methods are common.

• Contributed rake gives you a share in proportion to the money you put into the pot. If the pot is $20, the rake is $1 and you put in $8, your share is $8 divided by $20 times $1, or $0.40.
• Dealt rake splits the rake equally among every player dealt into the hand. With four players dealt in and $1 of rake, each player is credited with $0.25, including anyone who folded before putting money in.

Contributed rake favors tight players who enter fewer pots, while aggressive players who play many hands pay a larger share. Dealt rake spreads the cost evenly, so tight players are credited with rake on pots they barely touched. The method changes your effective rakeback even when two rooms advertise the same percentage.

Types of poker rakeback deals

Poker rakeback deals fall into four broad models. Each one answers the same question, how much of your rake comes back, in a different way.

• A fixed deal pays one rate on all your rake, whatever your volume. Global Poker publishes a fixed rate of 30% for its cash games.
• A VIP program pays a rate that rises with your level, and the level depends on points you earn from rake over a month, a quarter or a calendar year.
• A cashback promotion pays a weekly percentage once you reach a points target, and the target resets every week.
• A hybrid model combines two of these, such as a VIP program with a separate weekly rakeback promotion, or a choice between a loyalty program and a flat rate.

Fixed deals are easy to predict. VIP programs usually start lower and end higher, so the same room can be a weak deal at low volume and a strong one at high volume.

Rakeback vs cashback vs rake race

Rakeback and cashback both return a share of the rake you paid, and many rooms use the words interchangeably. When a room calls its program cashback, it often means a weekly payout with a minimum points target, as with Weekly Cashback at partypoker, where points accrue in proportion to the rake you pay.

A rake race is a different thing. It is a leaderboard where players compete for a fixed prize pool over a day, a week or a month, ranked by rake or points. Only the top finishers get paid, so your return depends on how much other players rake. BetOnline Poker, for example, runs a daily cash race alongside its VIP rakeback.

For planning, rakeback and cashback are predictable because you can multiply your rake by a known rate. Rake race prizes are an extra you cannot count on in advance.

How much rakeback would you get? A worked example

The formula is your rake times the rate. As a plain illustration, a 30% rate on $400 of rake returns $120, and a 10% rate on the same rake returns $40. Real deals add conditions, so here is the same input at three rooms.

Say you play NL25 (No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10/$0.25 blinds) and pay $400 in rake in a month.

• Global Poker applies its fixed 30% rate, so $400 of rake returns 120 SC a month, or 1,440 SC over a year.
• Weekly Cashback at partypoker starts at 8% and is capped at 20%, and the rate for a given week depends on the points that week collected.
• Stake Poker pays 3.5% once you hold Bronze VIP status, which turns $400 of rake into $14 a month.

The same play earns very different amounts depending on the deal. If your rake doubles to $800, the return from a fixed rate doubles too, and in a VIP program the higher volume can also move you to a level with a higher rate. You can run your own numbers in the poker rakeback calculator.

How rakeback models differ between poker rooms

GGPoker pays through Ocean Rewards, a program with eight levels from Fish to Shark. You earn 100 Tide Points for each $1 of rake, your level depends on points earned in the calendar year, and rewards arrive as GEMs that you exchange for cash in the rewards store. GGPoker estimates the top level at ≈80% and labels these figures Estimated Cashback. See GGPoker rakeback for the full program.

888poker runs a hybrid model. Its Weekly Rakeback promotion for cash games pays between 5% and 50% depending on your rake that week, and pays it in cash. The separate 888poker Club rewards challenges with Gold Tokens.

Guts Poker uses a monthly loyalty program with four levels. You earn 10 Loyalty Points for each €1 of rake, the level sets your rate between 10% and 30%, and you convert Reward Points to cash yourself in the My Account section of the client.

Stake Poker pays 3.5% of your rake once you reach the Bronze VIP level, and you can claim the balance at any time from the Rakeback tab of the VIP page. The poker rakeback comparison lines up every room side by side.

Which rooms have the lowest rakeback?

Among the rooms we track, the lowest published starting rates are 3.5% at Stake Poker, 4% at Unibet Poker and 5% at 888poker. A low starting rate does not tell the whole story. Unibet Poker and 888poker both raise the rate with volume, so a regular player may earn several times the starting figure.

The opposite also applies. A high maximum rate helps only if you can reach the level that pays it. Compare the rate you will realistically reach at your monthly rake, and look at the rake itself: a room with a lower rake cap and a smaller rakeback rate can leave you with more money than a room with a higher rake and a higher rate.

Who gains the most from rakeback

Rakeback grows with the rake you pay, so it adds up fastest for players who put in many hands each month. Multi-tabling cash game players at small and middle stakes pay the most rake relative to their winnings, and for them rakeback is often a large part of their income from poker.

Tournament players earn rakeback on entry fees. A player who enters many low buy-in tournaments generates steady fees, and a room that counts tournament fees toward its program returns part of them.

A player who plays a few hours a week pays little rake, so even a high percentage returns small amounts. For that player a fixed or cashback model with a low entry target usually pays more than a VIP program built around annual volume.

Is rakeback taxable?

How rakeback is taxed depends on the country where you live and on how that country treats poker income in general. Some tax systems treat it as part of gambling results, others may treat it differently. This guide does not give tax or legal advice. If the amounts matter to you, check the rules that apply where you live or ask a tax adviser there.

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