rake
To play poker is not really for free. At tournaments this is very easy to see as the entrance fee is shown divided into buy-in and buy-in fee, e.g. $10 / $1. The fee is not added to the prizepool. It is the prize for using the offering to take part in this tournament. It is obvious which amount is paid to the pokerroom.More difficult is to see the fee at ring game tables. Here the pokerroom takes a part of the pot accordingly to the pot size. This part of the pot is called rake and is calculated procentually out of the potsize. Normally there exists a maximum rake for each played hand. If the pot reaches a certain size the rake raises no more for this game. Some pokerrooms do not take any rake if there is no flop shown what is called no flop - no drop policy. Further the rake differs between the poker variants limit and pot limit / no limit as well as between the different stakes.
Example:
The pot is $100 and was won by player 1.
Player 1, player 2 and player 3 betted each $30. Player 4 betted $10.
The paid rake is 5% ($5) and is deducted from the pot. So player 1 only wins $95.
It seems that the full rake amount was paid by player 1. But this is wrong. In reality player 1, player 2 and player 3 paid each 30% of the rake amount (each $1.50) and player 4 paid 10% ($0.50).
Rakeback
Some poker rooms offer special promotions called rakeback. Here you get a certain percentage of your paid rake back. This percentage ranges between 10% and 60%. Usually it is about 20% and is fixed. But sometimes it depends on the generated rake within the actual month. The higher your rake, the higher is your rakeback percentage. Rakeback is no discount on your payable rake. You get some percentages of your paid money back (we are only talking about the rakes and not about your bettings). The frequency of payouts differs between once a week and once a month and depends the pokerroom. If you pay $100 rake per month, you get $20 back if you have a 20% rakeback deal.To calculate your paid rake it is not important what your winnings are (here it is obviously how much rake is paid). Your paid rake is generated from all pots you are involved in and depends on the percentage of how much you are involved into the pot. Also, if you fold during the game or lose a showdown. So you get a part of the rake back if you lose as well as if you win.
Example:
You generated $500 rake this month.
- fixed rake percentage
Your rakeback deal gives you 20% of your rake back.
So you get $100 back at the end of the month. - increasing rake percentage
Your rakeback deal shows as following: up to $200 generated rake you get 20%, between $200 and $600 generated rake you get 30% and for an amount higher than this you get 40% back.
You generated $500 rake and you get 30% back, which is $150
SOMETIMES YOU SAVE MORE MONEY BY PLAYING IN ANOTHER POKERROOM INSTEAD OF BY JUST USING RAKEBACK DEALS - rakeback is only another form of advertising