Poker Rake Back Math

How is RakeBack Calculated: Mathematics

Many online poker websites take a cut from each game to fund their site. As there are no house players to make the website any money from its players, the rake is necessary to keep the site running. However, many websites offer something called Rakeback. On these websites, you will receive an amount of money equal to a percentage of the rake back into your bankroll once each month ends.

If you are not involved with a website that offers rakeback, quit and join one that does. The amount that you lose in rake can come out to thousands of dollars per year depending on how often you play. By joining a website that offers rakeback, you are ensuring that a sizable chunk is taken out of these losses and returned to you. This article explains how to calculate rakeback based on each hand that you play.

Determining Rake

Each website employs a different percentage for rake. Your website must disclose the percentage clearly (usually found within the game or in the FAQ section of the site). Determining how much your website takes from you in rake is the first step to calculating your rakeback. There are two types of rake that can be deducted. This rake is determined by the type of game in which you are participating.

Tournament: Usually the rake for tournament games is deducted from each player’s entry fee. In these cases, rakeback is usually not offered. However, if rake is deducted from your entry fee, rake will typically not be deducted from each hand. However, some websites will deduct rake from both the entry fee and each hand on the table. If this is the case, you will receive rakeback taken from each hand.

Ring Games: These games are non-tournament games and rake is almost always taken from each hand. In these games, you will get rakeback at the end of each month as long as your website offers such a program. However, rake is only taken from a hand if there is a flop. If everyone folds to a betting player before the first flop, no rake is taken.

The common amount of rake taken from each hand in lower level games is about 5 cents. In addition, websites always have a limit of rake that they can remove from a hand. This limit is typically set at anywhere from $3-5. The limit can be your best friend in high winning hands. Otherwise, a hand that won you $1,000 would be $50 less rather than $5.

Determining Rakeback

Once you have determined what the site charges as rake, you can find out what the site offers as the rakeback percentage and find out how much you will earn each month. The only way to do this is to determine your rakeback at the end of each game (or hand if you really want to be that specific). You will need the following information for the formula to work:

Number of players at the table (at the start of the hand or game).
The total rake taken from the hand (or game).
The website’s rakeback percentage.

To perform the calculation assume these variables:

Rake: $3.00
Number of players: 9
Website Rakeback: 27%

You may replace each number with your own to perform the math, but the following example will use the above variables:

Divide the rake for the hand ($3) by the number of players ($3/9 = $0.33)
Multiply the result of above ($0.33) by the website rakeback ($0.33 x 27% = $0.09)
The rakeback that you will receive for a $3 rake with 9 players and a rakeback percentage of 27% is 9 cents.