Rake back vs Bonus

After a playing a little bit of poker many players ask themselves if they should find a new poker room with a rake back deal or a nice bonus deal. (If you would like to know more about rake back please read our article here). To choose between a bonus or a rake back deal is not always that easy and definitely something to think about. For a poker player a bonus or a rake back deal can be the difference between making a profit and just breaking even.

So what should you choose? Well to make things easier we have made a list of things to consider before choosing a bonus or rakeback deal. Hopefully, after analyzing these you will be able to choose. At the end of the article we also give you a couple of mathematical examples which should also help you in your choice.

Remember to consider everything below before you sign up. Once you have registered it is hard to change any bonus or rake back deal.

First of all you should consider how long and how often you play.

How long an how often do you play?

How long sessions you play will have great impact on your decision. If you play long session and play often you will find that the rake back will be profitable for you.  If you do not play poker for several hours each month you would probably be better of chasing a bonus. It usually takes playing a lot of hands before a rake back deal beats a bonus.

Level

Usually a bonus is cleared after finishing a certain amount of raked hands (hands played where rake are paid to the house). If you play your poker on a low level (i.e low blinds) it is usually better to go for a decent bonus instead of the rake back. The reason is simply that the bonus will give you more money than the rake back deal will.

If you play at higher levels you will probably feel that you may want to find a nice rake back deal as soon as possible. If you play at levels where the average pot exceeds $60 you will find that you and your opponents are paying the maximum rake which usually are about $3. This will give you considerable rake back earnings (since the rake is high) and makes it hard to find any matching bonus offers.

Number of hands

The actuall number of hands you play during a specific time-period are also important. Some bonuses require that you play a certain number of hands in a certain amount of time before the bonus is credited to your account. If you do not reach the amount of hands that qualify you for a bonus you will get nothing. If you are worried that you might not be able to reach the requested amount of raked hands you should instead go for the rake back. Of course your rake back might not be much, but it will be more than the lost bonus.

If you play a lot of hands, you will (most of the time depending on the level) get more using a rake back deal than only getting one bonus.

As you might already have expected the choice of a bonus is best when you believe that the number of hands required are close to the number of hands you expect to play.

Short intense gambling periods

If you play short and intense periods you probably are best of taking a bonus offer.  You will not play enough to benefit from the rakeback.

Your ability to change

Some poker players will never change the poker room they are playing at. They want the security of always knowing how everything works at the place they play at. If you are one of these players you should probably try to find a rakeback deal before you sign up. You will not get enough bonus offers from one and the same poker room to justify chasing bonuses.

If you do not fear playing at new pokersites and try new rooms you will have a great possibility to go for bonuses instead. You can first get deposit bonuses from several poker rooms and then later after you collected your bonus only go back when they want to offer you another bonus.

Mathematical example 1

Imagine that the poker player Phil wants to play poker. He knows that he can only play 1000 raked hands at medium levels. Each hand will rake about 1 dollar and in avarage he plays a 8 handed game (sometimes 6 and sometimes 10 handed). So what should he go for?

His hands will rake 1000 dollar in total. His share of this is 1/8. He have contributed with 125 dollar in rake and most rakeback deals offers 30% back. If he goes for a rakeback deal at the end of the month he will be rewarded with a nice 37,5 dollar.

But for a 1000 raked hands you will a lot of times be able to get a $100 deposit bonus. Phil will defenitly be better of chosing a bonus offer.

Mathematical example 2

Phils friend Howard is a more dedicated player. He usually plays 7 card stud and those pots usually get a bit bigger and therefore the rake is higher. He will play 2000 hands this month and wants to get the best out of them. The hands will rake 2 dollars on average and Howard plays a 7 handed game (sometimes a shorthanded and sometimes full game of 7 card stud).  So what should he do?

The bonus offer is the same as Phils: He will get $100 as a bonus for clearing a 1000 raked hands.

When it comes to the rake back he would get 2000*2/7*0,3= 171 dollars. So Howard should chose to sign up with the rake back offer.

The dramatic twist: Rake back and Bonus

As we have strugled to get decent bonuses and some rakeback deals ourselves we have found out that you can have your cake and eat it to! Read more under the article bonus and rake back!

Pokerbeginner your pokerguide.

Looking for a great bonus to a great poker room? Then check out the PartyPoker or Bet365 Poker page. Here you will find the current PartyPoker bonus and Bet365 Poker bonus.

© 2007 copyright pokerbeginner.org text on Rake vs Bonus
   

ENGLISH

SWEDISH