Rakeback in poker
Rakeback is a percentage of the rake you pay at a poker room, returned to you by the room itself or by an affiliate under a rewards deal. Rake is the fee taken from each cash-game pot, usually a percentage of the pot up to a fixed cap, or the fee inside a tournament buy-in. Rakeback does not change who wins a hand. It lowers what playing costs you, and how much it lowers it depends on terms that differ from one room to the next.
How rakeback is calculated
The formula is short: rake attributed to you multiplied by the rakeback percentage. If €200 of rake is credited to your account in a month on a 30% deal, you get €60 back.
The hard part is the first number, because rooms do not attribute rake the same way.
Under the dealt method, every player dealt into a hand shares the rake equally, even after folding preflop. Under the contributed method, only players who put money into the pot are credited, either split evenly among them or weighted by what each one put in. Take a €60 pot raked €3 at six-handed: dealt, each seat is credited €0.50; weighted contributed, a player who put in half the pot is credited €1.50. The same 30% therefore pays €0.15 or €0.45 on that hand. That is why what I read first in any deal is the attribution clause, not the headline percentage.
Rakeback versus cashback and VIP points
Rakeback is often mixed up with casino cashback, but the base is different. Cashback is usually worked out on net losses, while rakeback follows fees you paid whether you won or lost.
You will often meet it dressed as VIP points or a loyalty tier rather than a plain percentage. In that case, convert the points to euro per €100 of rake before comparing two rooms, and check whether the return arrives as cash or as bonus money carrying wagering.
Bonus money with wagering attached is worth less than the same sum paid as cash.
