Rakeback

I signed up for rakeback at UltimateBet (UB) a few days ago through PSO. Rakeback is where the poker room refunds you a percentage of the rake that you paid for the previous month. For UB, this percentage is 27.5% (edit 2006/06/01 - now 32%), and you are paid in PSO points (for some other rooms, you are paid in cash deposited to your poker account). So, for example, if the rake paid in all the hands that you played during the month totalled $450, and there was an average of 9 players at the tables you played, then the rake that you paid for the month would be $50, and you would get $50 x 27.5% = $13.75 (or 1375 PSO points) in rakeback for that month.

Rakeback is a good deal if you plan to play at a poker room for a long time. Compared to the regular PSO free gift promo which pays you a set amount after meeting the requirements, rakeback will continue to pay you indefinately as long as you continue to play at the site. I signed up for rakeback at UB so that I would have a place to play at when I'm not clearing a PSO promo, and also so that I have a way of earning more PSO points in case I am short some points to make a purchase.

I played some hands at UB just to get used to the software. UB is known to have a somewhat higher level of competition compared to other rooms, so I played fairly cautiously. I ended up more or less breaking even, taking the deposit bonus into account (which, BTW, gets paid out in small increments every time you leave a table).