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Who Needs Shared Rakeback

February 24, 2009

A Shared Rakeback Deal is one that grants an equal portion of the rake to all participants in a raked poker hand.

For example, 6 players contribute to the pot, raking a total of $3. Divide $3 by 6 players, and the average contribution is $0.50 per player. So 30% Rakeback would be paid according to a $0.50 contribution (30% of $0.50 = $0.15 Rakeback).

Because of the design, some players would benefit more from a Shared Rakeback Strategy than others.

So who needs Shared Rakeback? In general, relatively Tight / Passive players would stand to gain the most from a Shared Rakeback Strategy. The reason for this theory is that tight / passive players do not put as much money into the pot as their opponents unless they have a very good hand.

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However, extremely tight players would benefit more from a Dealt Rakeback deal. It is necessary to at least put a minimum amount of chips into the pot in order to earn a Rakeback. Like Contributed Rakeback, Shared Rakeback only awards a Rakeback if the player contributes to the pot, and the hand goes on to see the Flop.

In the same token, Aggressive bettors would benefit more from a Contributed Rakeback deal, since they are, on average, depositing more chips into the pot than the median amount (the full rake divided by number of participating players).

Because only participants are counted among those divvying up the rake, it is often best to play against a mixed group of players, including both Loose and Tight competitors. The Loose opposition will ensure most hands see a Flop, while the Tight players will Fold more often than not without contributing to the pot. This increases your chance of earning Rakeback, while decreasing the number of players who share in the Rakeback wealth.

Let’s go over a quick example to see how Shared Rakeback can be more beneficial than Contributed Rakeback for relatively tight / passive poker players.

We’ll say you’re playing $2/$4 NL Hold’em with 6 competitors. Player 1 opens the betting with a $6 bet, the next player Calls, two others Fold, you, in the Small Blind, Fold (having posted $2), and the Big Blind makes the call. The pot would now have $20 in it.

The Flop comes down – Player 1 bets $20, the next player Calls and the Big Blind Folds. The pot now has $60 in it. After the Turn, Player 1 bets another $20, and the last remaining player Folds, giving up the pot to Player 1.

Now, most online poker rooms do not recalculate the pot until the end of each betting round, so when the other player Folded, the pot actually ended at $60, not $80. Since the standard online poker rake is 5% of the pot, capped at $3, we can calculate the rake as being $3. ($60 x 0.05 = $3)

Next, we divide the amount raked – $3 – by the number of participating players. Player 1, the guy who Called, and the two Blind position (including you) all contributed, so that’s 4 players in the pot. $3 divided by 4 players comes to a median of $0.75 a piece.

Using this, we can calculate the amount of Rakeback you will receive. The average online poker Rakeback is 30%, so let’s calculate…

$0.75 x 0.3 = .225

For convenience sake, we’ll round that up to $0.23 you’ll be getting in online poker Rakeback. Note that the online poker room will likely keep the .225 and add all per-hand Rakeback amounts together before rounding and paying your total Rakeback amount.

So, by this example, you would earn $0.23 in Rakeback. Now let’s see what a Contributed Rakeback would have delivered.

Out of a $60 pot, you only contributed $2 to the pot, which is about 3.33%. So we take the total rake of $3 and find 3.33% of that amount.

$3 x .0333 = .0999

Rounding that up, you get $0.10. Now, to find your Rakeback amount, we have to divide that once more by the average 30% Rakeback deal.

$0.10 x 0.3 = $.03

As you can see, this kind of player would benefit much more from a Shared Rakeback deal, earning about $0.23 for this single hand, than a Contributed Rakeback deal, worth only $0.03. If this example fits your style of play, you should be earning taking advantage of this Shared Rakeback Strategy.

Written by Rob · Filed Under Rakeback Guides 

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