If you play online poker and keep up on the latest online poker news, you.re probably already aware of poker rakeback programs. A rakeback program is a promotion offered to you, the player, to get you to play on a particular online poker site. All you have to do is sign-up, and a percentage of the rake, the fee the online poker room charges you to play there, is returned to your account. If you.re trying to decide whether you should sign-up with a rakeback program, here are the pros and cons.

Cons

You have to sign-up with a new online poker site. Rakeback programs are designed to drive new traffic to various online poker skins. If you.re already a member of a certain site, they already have you. You won.t be able to sign-up again with a rakeback program. Look for another site that has features similar to the one you.re playing on now.

There are no sign-up bonuses. Similarly, since you are being offered the rakeback program in order to get you to play on the site, you cannot also collect a sign-up bonus. You.ll have to make a choice, either a sign-up bonus or rakeback.

There is no online bonuses and rakeback at the same time. Although most sites do allow you to collect types of online poker bonuses other than sign-up bonuses even if you are in a rakeback program, the pokerroom bonus will count against your rake credit, so you have to earn the amount of the bonus in rake before you can start getting rakeback again.

Pros

There is extra money in your account. This is clearly the main advantage of a rakeback program. For every raked hand you play, you.re going to get money back. For this reason, it.s usually preferable to take a rakeback program even if it interferes with your poker bonuses. If you play long enough, the amount you get in rakeback will exceed the amount of any bonus. Then, unlike with other bonuses, it will just keep coming.

This will improve your Win Rate. Your win rate is essentially how much you win in total pots, minus how much you lose in pots per hour. Rake is lost money from the pots you win that you have no control over, artificially suppressing your win rate. When you are enrolled in a rakeback program, some of that rake is coming back to you, resulting in a much truer win rate.

You can try a new site. A rakeback program is a great opportunity to try a new poker room. You may have been playing in the same room for the last five years, and it may have suited you just fine, but there are a whole lot of options out there. Signing up for rakeback gives you an excuse to check out a completely new room that you just might love.

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