What is Rake?
Rake is how poker rooms make their money. That is the money that the poker rooms deduct from every pot. The rake is a couple of percent of each pot, with a cap at around $3 at the biggest limits. A poker room with more than 10,000 active players earns quite a lot of money to say the least.
What is Rakeback?
Poker Rakeback
Rakeback is a refund to the players. Poker players receive a percentage of the rake they pay to the poker room. A normal rakeback offer is between 25% and 40%, but sometimes players can get an even better offer. If you receive 35% rakeback, and rake $1000 one month, you will get $350 back. The more you rake, the more rakeback you get back.
How do I get rakeback?
If you want to get rakeback you have to sign up at a poker room through a special link on a dedicated poker rakeback site.
A referring rakeback site earns a couple of percent of your total rake back, but the major part of it goes back into your bankroll.
Some of the poker variations are better suitable for a rakeback deal. If you play shorthanded poker, you are involved in more pots, and therefore pay more rake (and can potentially earn more rakeback). If you multi-table you generate a LOT more rake.
There is no downside to rakeback - you will earn a lot of extra cash, or save cash depending on how you look at it. Just do it!
Resources:
Best Poker Rakeback Deals: Poker Rakeback Deals