You probably remember that back when you were a beginner at online poker, you found it extremely difficult to move from the play-money tables to the real-money tables.  Sure, the opposition was much more focused and play was generally much tighter.  But there was something else that made the task of getting money out of the setup much more difficult; the rake.  Regardless of how you twisted and squirmed, you just couldn’t get rid of the rake which ate into your meager winnings… ruthlessly, hand after hand.  If you were a marginally losing player, chances are it was because of the rake.  This is why signing up for rakeback is such a great idea, but more on that later.

What exactly is the rake though, how is it calculated and who pays it?  The rake is a small fee you pay on every real money hand that you play in a poker room.  The poker room itself incurs a series of operating costs, since all the features offered – the action, money transfer procedures and other such services do not come for free.  On top of that, the online poker room is also a business, one that needs to generate a profit.

Although the rake on every hand is a minute amount, at the end of the day, when you add up all the raked hands that players have played, you’ll be amazed by the result.  Likewise, you’ll also be amazed by the quantity of money you personally pay out in the form of rake, over any significant period of time, especially if you are an active player.

Some rookies may think – since the rake is a percentage of the pot – it is only the winner who pays it, but that is wrong.  Every player who contributes money to the pot pays some rake.   Why?  Because the pot is an independent entity at the table, it doesn’t belong to the winner until after it’s been raked.  Every player who put money into it has equity in this independent entity, therefore, they will also have an equity in the rake which is paid.

A relatively simple example to illustrate how it is in fact not the winner who pays the rake alone, is to consider two tight players who have a poker session every evening.  They pay a certain amount of rake, which the floor-master collects at the end of the day.   One day, a third player joins them who is a beginner and is a loose-aggressive type.  This guy loses all his roll to the two seasoned veterans, and at the end of the day when the floor-master collects the rake he is surprised that there’s much more money than usual.

The loose-aggressive style of the third player gave the rake a huge boost, even though he failed to win a single hand.   The amount of generated rake does not depend on who generates it, it depends on the style of play, and more precisely on the amount of money that goes into the pot.

In conclusion: rest assured, if you play real money poker, you pay rake and you need a rakeback deal.   A good rakeback deal (like full tilt rakeback) gives you a high percentage of your rake back, thus taking a bite out of the biggest enemy of the beginner real-money player.

Sign up for a rakeback deal today, regardless of whether you’re a small-stakes beginner or a high-stakes pro and redirect your rake cash flow towards your own bankroll.