money
Rakeback.
Rakeback is one multiplication that most players never do. What you paid in rake, times the share you get back. This page does that multiplication, converts the answer into big blinds per hundred hands so it sits next to your win rate, and names no poker room, because a percentage we have not checked at the source is worth nothing to you.
the formula
Rake paid, times the percentage.
That is the whole calculation, and the reason it feels harder than it is comes from the first number. Rake is the cut a poker room takes from pots and tournament fees. The rake you personally paid is not the rake taken from the pots you played in: rooms attribute it per player, usually in proportion to what each player contributed. So the number you want is on your own statement, not in the pot.
rake paid = hands x rake attributed to you per hand
rakeback = rake paid x rakeback percentage
rakeback per 100 hands = 100 x rake per hand x percentage
rakeback in bb/100 = rakeback per 100 hands / big blind
The last line is the one that changes how the number feels. Money per month tells you nothing, because it depends on how much you played. Big blinds per hundred hands is the same unit your win rate is measured in, so once rakeback is expressed that way you can add it to your win rate and see what you are actually earning at the table.
worked through
One cent a hand, and what it becomes.
Take a six handed game at 0.05 and 0.10, so the big blind is 0.10, and suppose the rake attributed to you averages one cent per hand. Over a hundred hands that is 100 times 0.01, which is $1.00 of rake, or ten big blinds per hundred hands. That figure is worth pausing on by itself: before any rakeback, the room is taking a bigger share than most winning players earn.
Now apply a percentage. Thirty percent of $1.00 is $0.30 per hundred hands, and $0.30 divided by a $0.10 big blind is 3 big blinds per hundred. The full range looks like this, and every row is the same two operations.
$1.00 of rake per 100 hands, big blind $0.10
| Rakeback | Back per 100 hands | Next to your win rate |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0.10 | 1.0 bb/100 |
| 20% | $0.20 | 2.0 bb/100 |
| 30% | $0.30 | 3.0 bb/100 |
| 40% | $0.40 | 4.0 bb/100 |
| 50% | $0.50 | 5.0 bb/100 |
Money per month is the other way to look at it, and it is the one that gets quoted. At the same cent a hand and the same 30 percent, the total scales straight with volume, because rakeback has no variance in it at all.
at 30 percent, one cent of rake per hand
| Volume | Rake paid | Rakeback |
|---|---|---|
| 5,000 hands | $50.00 | $15.00 |
| 10,000 hands | $100.00 | $30.00 |
| 20,000 hands | $200.00 | $60.00 |
| 50,000 hands | $500.00 | $150.00 |
Every row is hands divided by a hundred, times $1.00, times 0.30. Change any of your own three inputs and the table changes with it, which is the only reason to look at it.
what it does not mean
Three big blinds is a subsidy, not a skill.
Run the numbers above against a losing player and something uncomfortable happens. Someone losing 2 big blinds per hundred hands is losing $0.20 per hundred at this stake. Add $0.30 of rakeback and they are up $0.10 per hundred, which is a win rate of 1 big blind per hundred. On the statement they are a winning player. At the table they are still losing, and the moment the volume drops or the scheme changes, so does the answer.
That is the real risk in the number. Rakeback rewards volume, and volume is the one thing a player can increase without getting better. It also invites the trade nobody should take: a tougher table with a better deal, over a softer table without one. Three big blinds per hundred is a fixed amount. The difference between a good table and a bad one is not, and it is usually larger.
The way to keep it honest is to measure your own game with the rakeback taken out, and then add it back as a separate line. Your win rate before rewards is the number that says whether you are improving. Importing your own hand histories gives you that figure from your real hands rather than from memory, and it is also where the rake attributed to you actually shows up.
finding your own number
Divide what you received by what you paid.
Take one real month. Find the rake you paid and the rewards you received, both from your own account records, and divide the second by the first. That is your rakeback percentage, and it is frequently not the advertised one, because loyalty schemes convert points at rates that depend on how much you play and what you spend them on.
This page names no poker room and quotes no operator's percentage on purpose. Those numbers change, and the sites that collect and rank them are usually paid by the rooms being ranked. Pokiq takes nothing from any operator and links to none, so we have no reason to point you anywhere. What we can tell you is which arithmetic to run when you get there, and the vocabulary is all in the poker glossary if a term on your statement is unfamiliar.
Two things sit next to this one and are worth reading once each, because both change what a reward is actually worth to you. How a tax authority treats poker winnings differs completely by country, and whether you can play for money at all depends on where you are sitting. Pokiq itself is a training platform where nobody plays for money, so neither question is about using this site. The rest of the money side is collected on the money and rules hub.
next step
Now put that win rate against your bankroll.
A few big blinds per hundred hands changes how much swing you can survive at a given stake. The bankroll calculator turns your win rate and your standard deviation into a risk of ruin and the roll a 5 or 1 percent risk actually needs.
rakeback questions
What is rakeback?
A share of the rake you paid, returned to you. Rake is the cut a poker room takes out of pots and tournament fees, and rakeback is a percentage of that cut coming back, either as cash or as a loyalty scheme that converts to cash. It is not a bonus and not free money: you can only get back a fraction of what you already paid.
How is rakeback calculated?
Rake you paid times the rakeback percentage. Everything else is detail. If you paid 200 in rake over a month and your deal returns 30 percent, that is 60. The hard part is never the multiplication, it is knowing the first number, because the rake you personally paid is not the rake taken from the pots you were in.
How much is rakeback worth per 100 hands?
Take the rake you pay per hundred hands, multiply by your percentage, and divide by the big blind. At a stake where you pay about ten big blinds of rake per hundred hands, a 30 percent deal is worth 3 big blinds per hundred. That is the size of a decent win rate at small stakes, which is why the number matters more than most players think.
Is rakeback worth it?
It is worth exactly what the arithmetic says and not a penny more, which is the point. The mistake is treating it as a reason to play a game you would otherwise avoid. A softer table without rakeback usually beats a harder table with it, because the rakeback is a fixed few big blinds per hundred and the difference in opponents is not.
Does rakeback make a losing player a winner?
Sometimes on paper, and that is worth understanding rather than celebrating. A player losing 2 big blinds per hundred hands who receives 3 big blinds per hundred in rakeback is nominally ahead. That result depends entirely on maintaining the volume, and it disappears the moment the deal or the stake changes. It is a subsidy, not a skill.
How do I find out what rakeback I actually get?
From your own account statement, not from a review site. Poker rooms publish their own reward schemes and change them, and the third party pages that rank those schemes are usually paid by the rooms they rank. Take your rake paid and your rewards received over a real month from your own records, divide the second by the first, and you have your real percentage rather than the advertised one.