Heads-Up Rakeback

Online poker Rakeback is a globally beneficial program for any real-money online poker player, but if you want to earn the most Rakeback in the shortest time, there is a great Rakeback strategy specifically designed to achieve this goal - playing heads-up for Rakeback.

It really doesn't matter what type of online poker Rakeback deal you sign up for, whether it be Contributed Rakeback, Shared Rakeback or Dealt Rakeback. Playing heads-up for Rakeback will turn out about the same results.

Playing Heads-Up for Rakeback - Game Pace

When you are playing heads-up cash games, you are assured a lot more hands per hour than short-handed or full-table games. A slow-paced heads up game should average a minimum of one hand per minute, 60 hands per hour. If two players who are experienced enough to act quickly get together, just imagine how many hands could be played in a single hour?

We'll use a 100 hand per hour game pace as an example. Again, that's not an especially fast pace, but it's about average. Tight players have a tendency to loosen up in heads-up games, so you should see at least 50 Flops out of these 100 hands. A Flop is required for the pot to be raked, resulting in Rakeback payout.

Let's add up an average Rakeback profit in a single hour, using these averages (100 hands, 50 Flops). We'll need an average pot size, so let's say about $40 per raked pot. At the industry standard poker rake of 5%, the rake on a $40 pot would be $2.

By playing heads-up, you and your opponent would each be contributing about the same amount to the pot. The only difference would be the Small Blind and Big Blind bets. For convenience sake, we'll say you each dropped $20 into the pot. This eliminates the slight difference in Rakeback received for Contributed, Shared and Dealt Rakeback programs. Only contributed Rakeback would be affected by the slight difference.

One last factor we'll need is the Rakeback percentage you are earning. The average Rakeback deal pays 30%, so that's what we'll use here.

First, we divide the rake by 2, since there are two players. The rake was $2, so the average becomes $1. This is the amount your Rakeback percentage is taken from. 30% of $1 is $0.30, so you would earn $.30 per hand. At 50 raked hands per hour, that's $15 in online poker rake every hour.

Playing Heads-Up for Rakeback - Selecting an Opponent

We know at the average pace you can earn $15 per hour playing heads-up for Rakeback. However, that's at an average of 50% viewed Flops, playing a tight competitor. If you can find a loose poker player, the viewed-flop percentage should increase to as much as 80% or better. With 80% of your 100 hands raked per hour (with average $2 rake), your hourly profits would rise to about $72 per hour in Rakeback.

You should also be seeking out a relatively fast player. Playing heads-up at a faster than average rate could result in 150 or even 200 hands per hour. Playing a quick-to-act, loose player could increase your hourly Rakeback profits to as high as $108 to $144. That's pretty impressive!

Playing Heads-Up for Rakeback - Play for Profit

One of the most incredible aspects of online poker Rakeback is that you don't have to win in order to make a profit. Simply breaking even will result in a positive return when you ad the Rakeback to your bankroll. However, the ultimate goal is of course to profit both on the virtual felt, and in the Rakeback department.

The following poker strategy is recommended. Since you and your opponent are playing a loose game, you can put them on a wide range of hands. The best strategy is to draw as many chips as possible into the pot when you are fairly certain you can win it, and keep the chip count low when you're unsure. This will minimize chip loss and maximize profits.

Playing Heads-Up for Rakeback - Multi-Tabling

Multi-tabling heads-up cash games are an option to further increase the speed of Rakeback profits. However, heads-up and multi-tabling don't mix well for less experienced players. The game pace can be extremely fast, and requires very quick actions and a deep level of concentrations to keep your bankroll in the positives. Playing multi-table heads-up for Rakeback is only recommended for very experienced online poker players.