What’s the rake and how does it work.

To put it in few words, the rake is the commission in a poker room charged for hosting the game (both online and offline). In a Las Vegas the rake can be as much as 10% of each hand. Online poker rooms generally charge up to half of that, only a 5%.

When you think about it, it makes sense that poker rooms have implemented the rake. Unlike many other casino games, Poker is a player versus player game and the house does not wager against its players (unlike blackjack or roulette) so this fee is the principal mechanism to generate revenues.

It is primarily levied by an establishment which supplies the necessary services for the game to take place. In online poker it covers the various costs of operation such as support, software and personnel. In traditional brick and mortar casinos it is also used to cover the costs involved with providing a dealer for the game and the physical building in which the game takes place.

To win when playing in poker games where the house takes a cut, a player must not only beat opponents, but also the financial drain of the rake.

The "rake" can be an even larger factor in many games. The casino "rakes" a determinate amount of money out of each pot. Three predominant types of rake are applied depending upon the format of poker game being played. During ring games the percentage rake is taken by the dealer based on the amount of money being wagered by the players, in a live casino, the dealer manually removes chips from the pot while the hand is being played and sets them aside to be dropped into a secure box after completion of the hand. Online, the rake is taken automatically by the game software. Some software shows the rake amount next to a graphical representation of the dealer and takes it incrementally between the rounds of betting, whereas other software programs wait until the entire hand is over and then takes it from the pot total before giving the rest to the winner of the hand. The second type of rake is "time collection", or "table charge", where each player pays a set fee for playing in a ring game, typically every half hour, but another method could be a monthly subscription fee at an online site. The third type of rake is an entrance fee taken when entering a poker tournament.

Some online poker websites have done away with the rake altogether. These "rake free" poker rooms generate revenue by increasing traffic to the company's other profitable businesses, such as sports betting.

What’s the rakeback?

Since sites take the rake automatically many people don’t even know they are being charged. What most players never realize is how much of an effect the rake has on their play. Not only must you beat the other players at the table, you must beat the rake as well. A player who would win money if there were no rake ends up being a losing player after factoring in the house fee. When you introduce rakeback into the equation many players who were once losers are instantly transformed into profitable winning poker players. If you are winning rakeback then you get a reimbursement every month or so. In fact, getting rakeback is probably the most important lesson a poker player can learn.  A poker player must learn to optimize his profits, and if you’re without rakeback you’re making a huge mistake, when you sit down at the poker table, you are gambling with money you may never see again.  All the skills you can wield in poker don’t mean anything if you blow all the money as soon as you win it

Since the amount you get paid is a percentage of the money the house charged you in rake, the stakes you play and number of hands affect the size of your payment.

The rakeback can be paid in many ways by online poker rooms, affiliates or brick and mortar rooms.  If you are a frequent online poker player you probably pay hundreds or perhaps even thousands of dollars in rake each month.  In order to track referral rakeback and allow players to cash out, your poker affiliate service must include good tracking software.  This rakeback can be paid by one of several methods including the direct deposit into the poker account.

Rakeback Calculation

There are several methods a poker room can use to give part of the rake back to players. The amount of online poker rakeback someone can earn depends on the monthly poker rake a casino makes from a player. Once you know how this poker rake is calculated, you can easily calculate rakeback, as the latter is usually a percentage of the former. For instance, if a casino makes a profit of $500 and the above-mentioned percentage is 28, the player will receive $140 back. If you study several rakeback offers and rakeback deals, you will be able to choose the most advantageous, to make sure you get as much rake back as possible.

Being able to get a percentage of the rake back means a poker player will be able to keep more of their winnings each month. For winning players, not covering the poker rake used to mean they lost a lot of the amount they could have won. With the numerous rakeback deals and rakeback offers available, this is no longer the case. No matter if a player wins or loses, they can earn back a percentage of the poker rake charged by the casino, and they can calculate rakeback depending on the monthly gross revenue they generate for the casino. This means that being able to earn online poker rakeback will have only positive effects for any player.

Normally there’re two different methods that poker rooms use to calculate the rake back. First of all, it is vital to understand that the rake back is based on another important element: the monthly gross rake. The ‘dealt method’ consists in the following; the rake is taken from the pot, then the MGR (monthly gross rake) is earned and finally the rake back.

Another method is the one called ‘average contributed method’; the difference is that the MGR and hence the rake back is figured in direct proportion to the amount of money a player puts in the pot. The most important thing to realize when it comes to calculating the rake back is that each method has its benefits as well as its drawbacks. Most poker rooms find an effective method and usually stick with it in order to properly calculating the rake back.

There are two different types of rake back you can get. Automatic Rake Back and Affiliate Rake Back
When you sign up for a poker room that offers automatic rake back, they'll directly pay you, instead of having to go through a middle man. Some rake back sites even let you track your rake back, and cash it out whenever you like.
Not every site offers automatic rakeback though, so when doing it the old fashioned way, it's important to get rake back through someone you trust. You should look for a site with quick customer service and a good reputation.