Getting paid to play poker sounds like something that’s too good to be true, but with rakeback, it’s possible! Whether you’re a high-volume player or like to play poker for fun, you can be rewarded for playing at virtual poker tables with real money. If you’re interested in finding out more about rakeback, how it works, and how much rakeback you can get, take a look below.
What is Rakeback?
Whenever you play a hand of online poker or register for a tournament, a small percentage of these pot/tournament fees is taken by the casino as a charge for running the game. This is called the “rake”. Rakeback is a promotion offered by many poker rooms that refunds you a portion of the rake you pay when playing poker.
How Does Rakeback Work On Online Poker Sites?
As the name suggests, a poker site with a rakeback program will periodically give back some of the rake they collect from you. The amount you play in an online poker room within a specific time frame determines the amount that you will get back. Therefore, the more volume you put in, the more you’re rewarded.
The great thing about rakeback is that you don’t have to be pumping in tens of thousands of hands every week. Even if you play a small amount in a poker room, you’ll still often get a little something back in your poker account at the end of each week/month. Such frequent reload bonuses can be very beneficial!
Online Poker Rakeback Deals
Different sites like to give their rakeback to players in different ways. The one that’s best for players is a straight cashback deal. However, some poker networks like to give tournament tickets or casino bonuses as a form of rakeback, instead of just free money.
Tournament tickets and bonuses for casino games are all well and good. But if you like a bit of a gamble, nothing beats cold hard cash. Each site may have a different rakeback deal, so double-check which one your poker platform offers before you sign up.
Cash is king when looking for a good online poker rakeback deal. This is why the best sites often offer their players the chance to earn cashback as part of their rakeback promotions. The most common form of cashback you’ll see is a VIP program, with a higher rakeback percentage given the more you play and the more rake paid.
Online poker players love to put in volume. And if you play in poker rooms that have these programs, you can be rewarded for your hours of grinding.
Speaking of volume, another way online casino sites offer rakeback is through “rake races”. These events are usually held over a week. The aim is to rake as much as possible on the poker site to finish as high up on the leaderboard as you can. The higher you finish, the better your prize is, with some sites giving away thousands of dollars in prizes!
Why Is Rakeback Important?
Rakeback is important because the existence of rake makes it hard to profit in real money poker games.
Let’s look at an example where you were playing online cash games with a rake of 8BB/100 hands. If you beat the game at a rate of 6BB/100 hands, this meant you lost 2BB/100 hands to the rake. If you played 100,000 hands in a $0.05/$0.10 game, that would work out to $600 made from the poker game. However, you paid $800 in rake, which means a total loss of $200.
However, if you play on a site with a rakeback offer, you can get some extra money back. In the above example, if you got a 30% cashback offer from your online casino, you would receive $240. This would change your overall profit/loss at a virtual poker table from -$200 to +$40. You can see how rakeback could be the difference between being a losing or a profitable player.
Without rakeback, the poker ecosystem would have far fewer winning or break-even players. The best players and the poker sites would quickly suck up all the money, leaving lots of empty tables and empty wallets behind.
That would be very discouraging, so the casino providers use it to make up for the loss and as an incentive to visit their poker room again, similar to the practice of giving deposit bonuses in order to encourage people to upload funds to their accounts and start playing poker or other games on the platform.
Natural8 Cashback
We here at Natural8 understand the importance of these programs to our players, which is why we offer a fantastic Fish Buffet Loyalty Program to maximise rakeback on our platform. The Fish Buffet program gives players a chance to earn up to 60% cashback every week! You can play any poker or casino game to earn Fish Points (FP) on our platform.
As you earn more FP, you can also climb the ranks, earning more cashback with each rank you climb. As soon as you’ve hit the number of FP you need to reach the next rank, you can spin a wheel to determine your cash prize. It can be really exciting and profitable for you!
For those who like to keep their gambling on the table, Natural8 also offers the Platinum Ranks reward tiers. These tiers pay anywhere from 20% to 60% fixed cash back at the end of each week, depending on your level. For this reason, it is worth using our platform on a regular basis to reach a higher level sooner and get a more profitable cashback!
You’re automatically signed up for this program as soon as you join Natural8; no opt-in is necessary. Therefore, you don't have to waste your time filling in any data - all the data we need from you is already in our account.
In case of any questions or doubts associated with our rakeback program or anything else related to our gambling platform, you can contact us, and we will help you as soon as possible.
So what are you waiting for? Get playing and start earning those Fish Points!
