Rakeback Comparisons

 Prior to 2004, poker bonus codes were the best choice for increasing a winning player's bottom line, over and above his average BB/100 win rate.  The advent of rakeback programs changed all that.  High volume and high limit players will get back literally thousands of dollars per month in rakeback deals.  Even if they played break even poker, they could pay most of their bills by getting some of the house's cut back into their bankrolls at the end of the month.  Pretty amazing!

 

So which rakeback deal is best?  Let's look at the maximum rakeback offers at two of the most popular sites that accept USA players and allow rakeback.

 

Full Tilt Rakeback - 27% is the highest rakeback allowed at Full Tilt.  The rakeback system used is "dealt" method.  Every player who is dealt cards in a particular raked hand will get an equal share of rake credit.  Dealt method is great for tight aggressive players who only play around 20% of their dealt hands.  Full Tilt's biggest drawback is their deductions.  Everything from bonuses cleared to points used for merchandise will have an effect on your rakeback earnings.

 

Cake Poker Rakeback - 33% is the maximum offer.  Cake Poker uses the dealt method like Full Tilt.  This is by far the best method for tight aggressive players who fold most hands!  Cake Poker has the reputation of being the biggest gathering place of bad players, still open to USA residents.  Their offer is 6% higher than FTP!  What's not to love?  Their population is small, but they are growing very quickly, but they're still going to be much smaller than Full Tilt .  Unless you are playing very high limits, you shouldn't have problems finding a game though, and at the rate they are growing, Cake will be a top tier room soon enough.

 

So that lays out the rakeback pros and cons for two of the most popular USA facing sites.  When everything is considered, none stands head and shoulders above the rest, in my opinion.That leaves us with the software functionality and attractiveness as one of the last ways to pick the 'best'.  That's an easy one - Poker Stars....  Oh that's right, they don't offer rakeback !

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