Learn Texas Holdem

If you're considering joining a rakeback program, you're not alone. A great many online poker players are discovering the next great way to increase their win rate is through rakeback. Rakeback is essentially a discount the online poker site offers you for playing there. You pay a rake as a fee to the site hosting the game, and rakeback returns some of that fee to you, the player.

The rake is obtained by taking a percentage out of each pot. The amount taken out varies from site to site, but it is usually no more than five percent. Furthermore, the amount raked is usually capped at $4. In a tournament situation, the entry fee for the tournament takes the place of the rake.

When you sign-up with an online poker site through a rakeback program, you get some of that rake returned to your account, usually around 30 percent. However, you wouldn't get 30 percent of the full $4, since you are not the only one who contributes to the pot and hence you are not responsible for the entire rake, even if you happen to win that particular pot. Therefore, online poker sites with rakeback programs have had to figure out other methods to calculate rakeback.

There are two most common methods used for calculating rakeback. One is the contributed method and the other is the dealt, or shared method. Which method is used for you will depend on which rakeback site you sign-up through and which online poker site you sign-up with. The distinctions between the two methods are as follows.

In the contributed method, you are credited with rake according to your contributions to the pot. If you contribute $20 to a $100 pot, you have contributed 20 percent to the pot, and are therefore credited as having contributed 20 percent of the rake, which in this case would be 80 cents. This is true whether you win the pot or not.

In the dealt, or shared method, all players who are dealt into the hand are considered to share the rake equally. This is the case, whether you participate in the pot or not. As long as you received cards, you are credited with having paid rake. Therefore, in a full ten-handed game, you would be credited with ten percent of what is raked out of each pot.