What Rakeback Sites Don’t Tell You

Posted by icemonkey9 on May 31, 2009 in rakeback | 1 comment

After going through several rakeback sites as well as the rakeback threads on 2p2 I've discovered quite a bit about the rakeback providers, with much of the information in pieces that never see the light of day together to form a whole picture. Most of this information is something that a person doesn't discover until they're already "sucked in" and signed up. The good news is that these hidden fees and stuff are all pretty universal so it's not just me getting jipped (in my opinion) but overall a shady industry practice.

First, all sites who offer rakeback have hidden deductions. Did you know this? Chances are if you do you learned the same way I did, by wondering how the hell your MGR (monthly gross rake) was so small. Then you email in support for your rakeback site, and they let you know that the poker room deducted 10% of your deposits from your MGR as a "deposit fee" which of course is shown nowhere on the rakeback site. WTF!?

Second, all bonuses made during the month are also deducted from your MGR. Some sites have it at 100%, while others will be instituting 50% (Cereus in June+). So if you get any bonuses that too will be deducted from your MGR, and thus, your rakeback bonus at the end of the month.

Third, the way contributed rake accumulates is a real crappy joke. If you put in anything into the pot (small blind on up) you are entitled to a share of the rake, otherwise, nothing (so you can't be a nit). What this number exactly is, unfortunately, you'll never know since HEM or PT3 can't calculate contributed rake and most rakeback providers only give you your MGR figure after these fees are taken out.

What this means is that a scenario exists where:

1. You do a reload deposit during the month for $500.
2. You unlock $400 of that deposit reload bonus.
3. You accumulated $400 in MGR (gross rake)

Therefore:

$400 in "Raw" MGR
-$50 for a deposit fee
-$200 for 50% bonus deduction fee
--------
$150 in "Counted" MGR

$150 * 30% (typical rakeback number) = $45

So the good news in this scenario is between your bonus ($400) and your rakeback ($45) you've brought in $445 for the month after paying $400 in Raw MGR contributed rake. That's a great number, but this is assuming that there's a reload bonus. What if there is no reload bonus? Let's use the same figures above.

$400 in Raw MGR
$0 Reload Deposit
$0 Bonuses Earned

Then life is easy (we assume) since $400 * 30% = $120

What you have to do then is weigh the bonus systems between the sites... let's compare the #2 and #3 poker rooms for USA players.

Full Tilt Poker = 27% rakeback (dealt), barely ever reload bonuses, every 6 months ironman shit

Cereus = 30% rakeback (contributed), weekly reload bonuses

Basically if you can take advantage of the weekly reload bonuses it'll come out a lot more per month in return to play at Cereus (btw the bonuses are unlocked at about $5 per 225 hands at 100nl 6max). However you have to weigh the difference in traffic, software (one is bad, the other is worse), trust and game selection. The tune seems to change if there is no reload bonus in the equation (BIG time since it's dealt vs contributed rake). Anyways, that's a big giant jumble of what I've been thinking about in terms of rakeback, hopefully there's some gleanings of wisdom in there for you.