Raking it in

OK…OK…..Lets get the damn thing out of the way right here and now….lost $96 in the 100K Challenge and bankroll now stands at $882!

There said it, what are my chances of doing this???…….Slim.

Anyway, dont want to dwell on that too much because it is depressing me. A few people have asked me over the past few weeks about rakeback and the importance of it. Well, it all depends on what levels you are playing at for a start. A medium to high limit player must pay close consideration to what games they are playing in first and foremost as a good game in a 10-20 NL for instance with no or poor rakeback will easily be superior to a very tough game with good rakeback.

BUT……Rakeback is critical for the vast majority of players online for several reasons. Firstly, novice players run the risk (very high risk) of being blown out and doing their money in very quickly. This leads to frustration, loss of hope and resignment about online poker.

So in this sense, rakeback helps them to keep alive and active for longer and this means that it helps buy them time, time to build up their much needed skills in which to survive. This is closely linked to another reason regarding online poker and that it is getting tougher as the average skill level of the players is increasing and the new laws in the USA last year did absolutely nothing to help this situation whatsoever.

The third reason is that online sites really cripple players with the rake and this is very substantial in low stakes games and low stakes limit can be very tough if not impossible to overcome. So take whatever is offered to you online by way of rakeback, bonuses, re-load bonuses etc.

Your survival will depend on it.

The Dean