What Is Rakeback in Poker? How to Calculate What You Get Each Month in 3 Steps

Updated on October 15, 2026.

Rakeback is the part of the rake, the fee charged by the poker room, that comes back to you. The math is simple: the rake you generated in the month times your deal’s percentage. With $200 in rake and 30% rakeback, you get $60.

Quick summary

• Rake is the room’s fee: it comes out of every cash game pot and is baked into tournament buy-ins.
• Rakeback is the return of part of that fee, as a fixed percentage, in points, or as bonus money.
• The formula: rake generated in the period × your deal’s percentage = rakeback.
• Rooms can split the rake from each pot three different ways (dealt, contributed, or shared), and that changes how much you get.
• Rakeback lowers the cost of playing, but it doesn’t turn a losing player into a winning one.

What rake is and where rakeback comes from

Every poker room makes money through a fee, the rake. In cash games, it comes out of each pot. According to the Wikipedia entry on the topic, the fee usually sits between 2.5% and 10% of the pot, up to a maximum amount called the cap. Many rooms follow the “no flop, no drop” rule: if the hand ends before the flop, there’s no charge.

In tournaments, the rake is built into the buy-in. In a $10 + $1 tournament, the $10 goes to the prize pool and the $1 stays with the room.

Rakeback is the return of part of that fee. The room shares revenue with the affiliate or agent who brought the player in, and the partner passes a slice of it on to you. That’s why the deal almost always depends on how the account was created.

The three most common formats

• Fixed percentage: you get a percentage of the rake you generated, paid weekly or monthly.
• Loyalty program: the room awards points based on rake and you exchange them for cash, bonuses, or tournament tickets. The return goes up with your VIP level, like in Ocean Rewards, GGPoker’s in-house program.
• Bonus released in stages: part of the rake comes back as a bonus that’s released to your balance little by little as you play.

How to calculate rakeback in 3 steps

1. Find out how much rake you generated. Your account history shows this figure. Tracking software like PokerTracker 4 and Hold’em Manager 3 also adds up the rake from every hand.
2. Check your deal’s percentage and method. The method (dealt, contributed, or shared) is explained in the next section.
3. Multiply. Rake generated × percentage = rakeback for the period.

Here’s the math with sample figures:

Scenario (example)	Rake generated per month	With 30% rakeback	With 50% rakeback
Cash game, few tables	$100	$30	$50
Cash game, high volume	$600	$180	$300
100 tournaments at $10 + $1	$100	$30	$50
40 tournaments at $50 + $5	$200	$60	$100

These figures are only meant to show the math. Your actual rake depends on the stakes, the number of tables, the game type, and your own style. For the terms used here, check out our poker glossary and calculator guide.

Dealt, contributed, or shared: the method changes the payout

According to The Poker Bank, a poker strategy site, rooms use three methods to split the rake from each pot among players:

• Dealt: the rake from the pot is split equally among everyone who was dealt cards, even if they folded before the flop.
• Contributed: you only get a share of the rake that came from your own money. If you put $25 into a $60 pot, only the portion of the rake tied to that $25 counts.
• Shared: the rake is split equally among everyone who put money into the pot. Anyone who folded is left out.

In practice, dealt favors tight players who play few hands. Contributed favors loose, aggressive players who play more pots and bigger pots. That’s why two deals with the same percentage can pay you different amounts.

Who benefits most from rakeback

Rakeback matters most for high-volume players and for those playing at low stakes, where rake takes a bigger bite out of winnings. If you finish the month at break-even at the tables, after rake, only rakeback puts you ahead.

Wikipedia notes that professional players use rakeback to boost profit or reduce losses. That’s exactly what it does: it lowers the cost of playing. If you lose more at the tables than you get back, you’re still in the red.

Before agreeing to a deal, check:

• whether payment comes as cash or as bonus money;
• how often it’s paid and whether there’s a minimum payout;
• which calculation method the room uses;
• whether there’s a minimum monthly rake requirement to keep the percentage.

How to get rakeback playing from your country

In general, the deal only applies to a new account opened through the partner’s link. At most rooms, you can’t add an existing account to a new deal. So choose your room and deal before signing up.

• Compare current percentages across rooms in our ranking of the best online poker rooms.
• If you prefer crypto, check out the poker rooms that accept Bitcoin.
• Every room has its own rules. See how rakeback works at WPT Global and in PPPoker and PokerBros clubs, where the agent is the one who pays.
• To withdraw what you earn, make sure you have a payment method that works in your country, such as crypto, cards, or e-wallets.

Be wary of unusually high percentages with no written terms, especially in app-based clubs.

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Frequently asked questions

Sources

• The Poker Bank: the types of rakeback (dealt, contributed, and shared)
• The Poker Bank: frequently asked questions about rakeback
• Wikipedia: Rake (poker)

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