The Complete Guide to Rakeback Deals For Sit N Go Players
Rakeback started off as a way for poker sites to offer special deals to high volume and high value players. During the poker boom years, this expanded, with winning players and losing ones alike all after the return on their fees.
These days, very few sites offer the old ‘flat’ rakeback deals of old. Instead there is a mix of loyalty rewards, tiered bonuses and other extras. What is more, the sites which do offer a flat percentage deal are not always the most popular ones – you may have trouble getting the volume of games needed to really make this pay at many of them.
So it is time to rewrite the guidelines for players seeking those extra rewards for their time spent playing.
This guide to Sit N Go Rakeback takes in this new reality, compares loyalty rewards with flat rakeback deals and assesses which sites allow you to get the number of Sit n Goes you’ll need for this to make a meaningful difference to your profits.
Hand in hand with this information, you can use my Loyalty / Rakeback Calculator. Clicking the link or the picture below opens up a new tab for this.
One quick note before I continue with the guide. I can’t mention the names of many of the sites on a page which talks about rakeback… it’s the site rules. This might make this site sound odd in places. With ‘the world’s biggest site’ used instead of… well, you know!
The loyalty calculator page does not use the word rakeback at all, and all of the sites are named on that widget.
Sit N Go Rakeback Guide – Why Should You Care About Rakeback?
Whether you call in rakeback, loyalty rewards, VIP club points or anything else – any way to get a proportion of the fees charged by online poker sites will boost your profits.
Many players do not realize how big a boost this can be.
Let’s start with an example of a recreational player who enjoys a couple of sessions each week and the occasional weekend. Even with a modest 20 games in each of 3 weekly sessions of $11 Sit N Goes we are at $240 in fees per month to the average poker site. Just 25% return on that could add $720 per year back into this player’s account.
A pro or semi pro player could be putting 10 times this volume of games in. $7200 extra a year would not be enough in this case, since this player would be at a higher tier in many site’s schemes. This could easily mount up to $12,000 or $15,000 in yearly income.
If you are not shopping around for a good deal, this is money that you are simply leaving on the table.
Sit N Go Rakeback Guide – Are There Any Downsides To Rakeback?
Yes. This is something that I have been vocal about in my blog for many years. Rakeback tends to emphasize high volume of play. When many players start getting returns for their play, and see the relationship between the amount of games they play and the size of the weekly or monthly rebates – they go volume crazy.
Instead of improving, enjoying the games, studying your own leaks and taking shots at the next level. Poker becomes robotic – purely a quest for more and more games.
This is fine for a while, the rewards come in the form of both profits and rakeback.
Even if you think it will never happen to you, it kills people’s passion for the game very quickly. One day you’ll fire up those 12 tables and it just won’t feel like a fun game any more. From there it is downhill. I have personally seen people making a very good living by multi-tabling turn away from the game – it turned from something they loved into something they hated.
Now, this should not stop you retrieving some of the money offered by the poker sites from loyalty schemes. I want to make this page balanced, and show the danger of becoming too much of a robot too soon!
Rakeback v Loyalty Rewards – Which is better for Sit N Go Players?
The main difference between rakeback and loyalty (VIP) rewards used to be that rakeback was a flat percentage of your fees, and loyalty rewards were tiered. This is still mostly true in 2015, though you can now find tiered rakeback deals (at many MicroGaming sites) too.
- If you are a small volume and smaller value player, you are unlikely to hit the higher tiers of VIP loyalty schemes. In this case is makes more sense to go for the flat Rakeback offers.
- If you are a higher volume and value player, then you will climb to ‘VIP’ Status very quickly at sites offering loyalty schemes – so it makes better sense to decline those flat rakeback deals and go for the variable returns.
- In between these two extremes, then ‘it depends’ – this is exactly what my Loyalty Scheme Returns calculator will show you.
What Other Factors Besides The Overall Returns Do I Need To Consider?
Volume of games and the skill level of your opponents are the key ‘other’ factors you should consider. Some sites specialize in offering rakeback deals, and tend to attract players who are already winners (well, breakeven+ would be more accurate). You’ll often find the same faces in just about every game. With high volume they are probably playing mechanically, and can be beaten – though your returns are never going to be as good as from tables full of novices or recreational players.
This makes a big difference, don’t make the mistake of sitting at a table of grinders hoping that the odd fish will come along.
Volume of games has its own paradox. The sites with the biggest selection of games are the least likely to offer a flat deal! You will find some big loyalty reward deals, and the larger number of recreational players should keep your games profitable too.
If I had to weight these factors then I think that Volume + Easy Games should together make up 70% of your decision, with the difference between the rewards the other 30%.
Sit N Go Rakeback for US Players
My Loyalty Calculator does have an option for US players, which brings up the sites based offshore. Unfortunately, the biggest sites are not offering either loyalty or rake-back deals at the moment. With the Chico Network the biggest site to offer a deal via PayNoRake Poker. You can find a flat deal on the Winning Poker Network, though the volume of play is difficult to reach, especially during the daytime.
US Players have a bigger decision to make than those worldwide. BetOnline and ACR Poker, the two bigger sites, have very soft Sit N Goes and really do focus on the recreational side of poker. Their loyalty payments are small, with promotions the main way of rewarding their players. On the other hand the networks which do give flat deals are small, you’ll struggle to get the volume of games and will find a lot of other players ‘going for volume’ to get the flat rakeback deal.
My Sit N Goes for US Players article explains the options in more detail.
The Biggest International Sites and Network’s Rewards Compared
As I said in the intro, I can’t mention poker sites by name at the same time as the ‘R’ word. I am sure you’ll be able to read between the lines and see which sites I am talking about here though.
#1 – The World’s Biggest Poker Site
The VIP System here is amazing, especially once you get to the mid-tiers (Platinum and SuperNova) and the top tier is unbeatable (called SuperNova Elite). What you will find at this site is a never-ending supply of games. You will find a lot of pros here, combining their profits in the games with loyalty rewards, however there are so many recreational players it is hard for a competent player now to make a profit. For more information see the Supernova Elite Guide, or my review of Sit N Goes at the biggest online poker site.
#2 – A Fast Growing Site with a 3-Number Name
A big focus on recreational players has seen this very old poker brand move up the rankings, overtaking iPoker for 2nd place. Their loyalty scheme is decidedly average, though the other perks here more than make up for it. Very easy to beat Sit N Goes, lots of promotional offers and even $88 upfront to try out the games. You can find my review of this excellent site’s Sit N Goes here.
#3 – A Network of Big Sports Betting Brands
This network is famous for their fish. Their setup is a shared back-end for many major sports betting brands from the UK and Ireland. This network recently moved all their play over to Euros. What you get at our featured site on this network is the best of two different loyalty schemes. One is a standard point collection scheme, with different tiers giving you better rewards. The other is based on challenges and ‘gold coins’ which can be swapped for additional bonuses. Promotions like leader boards and one-off deals compliment these. With the best of both schemes + high volume of games + fish, this site is hard to beat. Again my Sit n Go Review can be found here, or you can check out the loyalty scheme calculator and see how they compare to other sites.