Online Casino, Gambling News, Sports News

Archive for March 12th, 2010

The general answer is probably yes. Every player pays some rake no matter which version of poker is played and no matter how the game is played. But the choice is individual. The majority of people in the online poker rooms only play the game for fun. They are just looking to get the maximum enjoyment out of their gambling dollars. Most will not know about the rake and have no immediate interest in claiming some of it back. These players tend to be steady losers. Be grateful to them for supplying your winnings. If you only play for a few hours a week to clear the bonus, there is a short-term argument for saying the rake is irrelevant to you. But circumstances can change. What would you do if the bonuses were to dry up? Equally, if you find you are winning more often and start thinking about playing with a more professional approach, not having an agreement about the rake could leave you with a problem. Then look at your playing style. If you like to get involved in the action, you will tend to see more pots and this will increase the rake paid. If you are a tight player preferring to pick the hand to play, you will be involved in fewer pots and pay a smaller rake. The number of pots also increases if you play short-handed. In a full ring, it is less necessary to defend blinds and so there are fewer pots. Players pay the maximum rake on low to medium sized pots. No limit players pay less, often because the poker rooms operate a “no flop, no drop” policy, i.e. no rake is charged when a player with a good hand raises pre-flop and the others fold. This limits the number of big pots per hour as against limit games where playing the odds usually results in a draw.

Even though claiming back some of the rake is usually favorable, move with care. Always read the terms and conditions of the rooms where you play before you act. Often, these schemes are not offered directly, but made available through affiliate sites to attract new players to the online casinos. Most poker rooms have rules preventing you from having more than one account. If you are caught with multiple accounts, your winnings may disappear. You could also be banned. Similarly, just as you check out the poker rooms before signing up, you should also check out the reputation of the affiliate before signing up. If the affiliate crashes and you lose your accounts, many dollars may have disappeared. With proper research, you can get good deals when you sign for new casinos and poker rooms. Check out the rules before you try to add this to your existing rooms.

Because rakeback is effectively free money, it’s usually a good idea to get signed up. Even if you only make a few dollars out of it every month, you might want to turn professional next month. For now, look for the highest rakeback percentages from reputable affiliates and open new accounts within the service terms of the best poker rooms.

The rake is that drip, drip of fees deducted from every pot you play (and, sometimes, from the entry fees you pay for tournaments or other “special events”). All the regular players who get into the action in the small to medium sized pots have already signed up for a rebate. To add extra excitement to those players, some sites run races – usually over a calendar month – awarding points for the rake paid and the number of raked hands played. To let everyone see how well (or badly) they are doing, there’s a real-time leaderboard with the top one hundred (or more) being paid out at the end of the playing period. How many get paid depends on each competition and you should take time to read all the terms and conditions before you sign up. Some of the top players may be grinding through fifteen or sixteen hours of play per day – i.e. only stopping to sleep (and for other necessary functions). They will tend to sign up for the races where the prize money is high. If you are a more casual player, look for low volume competitions in smaller poker rooms. Obviously, this means the prize money is also significantly lower, but you can usually find the right competition for you when you balance out the potential for some race winnings alongside the additional loyalty and VIP bonuses and privileges you will earn if your volume of play increases. Always look at the bigger picture when choosing the race – the sites through which you signed up for a rake rebate will usually have a newsletter service to keep you up-to-date on the latest races being offered.

If you are serious about trying to win, what should you do? The first step is a warning. Always make sure you keep a limit on any losses. There is no point in continuing to play for the sake of winning a race only to find you are bankrupt at the end of the month. Similarly, always stay healthy. Get enough sleep and eat regular meals. Where the race is to find those who play more hands than anyone else, you have to play on multiple tables. If the winning line is solely the amount raked, you may have to play multiple tables – it depends on the value of the pots you play for and the rake percentages and caps. If the rake you pay only rarely exceeds the cap, you will have to play multiple tables.

To give yourself the best chances of winning a rakeback race, play on multiple tables, always trying to find loose tables where people play more marginal hands. This also gives you the best chance of winning the game because you will see more flops and can play the odds better to take the pots away from the weaker players. However, this makes remembering every player’s style more challenging so, when playing multiple tables, using a heads-up display of stats and hand results gives you essential information. So, with these strategies in place, watch the leaderboard and avoid burning out. Even if you do not win the race, you will still get several hundred (or thousand) dollars of rakeback to add to your winnings.