What are Rakeback Deductions and How Do They Apply to Me?

Online Poker Rakeback Deductions

Deductions are costs that poker sites charge against your rake for that month. The main thing to remember about deductions is that they don’t actually cost you anything. They are only offset against your rake for that month.

If you were to somehow go negative due to deductions, you wouldn’t owe the poker site any money. You would simply not receive rakeback for that month and then you would start over with a clean slate the next month.

Also know that not all poker sites charge all of these deductions. Some poker sites don’t charge any deductions at all and other poker sites charge all of these deductions. It all depends on where you play. You can find our how it works for each site by visiting our individual poker site pages.

The most common deductions include:

Bonuses

If you get a deposit bonus at a poker site, the amount of that bonus will be subtracted from your total rake before calculating your rakeback payment. For example, if you generate $1,000 in rake at Full Tilt Poker but also get a $100 bonus, your calculated rakeback amount will be 27% of $900.

Even though bonuses are deducted from your rakeback payment, it’s still worth getting bonuses. Deposit bonuses are worth face value whereas rakeback is worth only a percentage of that money. Even though bonuses deduct from your rakeback, you are still getting more money than you would have had you skipped out on the bonus. Using the above example, your rakeback payment would be short $27 but you would instead have earned a $100 bonus. Easy choice if you ask me.

Processor Fees

You may not realize it, but there’s a fee associated with moving your money to an online poker site. In order to make depositing more attractive to prospective players, poker sites cover these fees and the players never know the difference.

When you have a rakeback account, you are considered to be in a sort of working partnership with that site. Any processor fees you incur while depositing are charged against your rake. These fees are usually minimal so this deduction isn’t a big deal.

Overlays

Any time a guaranteed prize pool tournament doesn’t meet its guarantee, the poker site has to add money to the tournament. That tournament is then said to have an overlay. Any time you participate in a tournament with an overlay, the amount of that overlay is equally divided among you and all the other rakeback players in that tournament. That amount is then charged against your rake.

Freerolls

Freerolls are charged against your rake in much the same way as overlays. Any time a poker site holds a freeroll, the prize pool is divided up among all the rakeback players in that tournament and charged against their rake.

FPPs Spent

When you spend frequent player points at the player store, the value of those points is charged against your rake for that month. It’s a little different for each site but to give you an example, Full Tilt Poker deducts $5.00 from your rake for every 1,000 points you redeem. This lowers your final rakeback payment by $1.35 per 1,000 points spent.

Note About Deductions

Don’t let these deductions scare you away from getting a rakeback deal. First of all, these deductions aren’t charged against your rakeback, they are charged against your rake. There’s a big difference there and it works in your favor.

Secondly, even though there are certain deductions, you will still usually get nice fat rakeback payments every month. Even if you do get hit with a few deductions in one month, you still have that rakeback deal waiting for you for the life of your poker account. This is all money that you wouldn’t have gotten had you decided to avoid getting rakeback.