Is living from only rakeback possible?

[BlackLava]

Hi all,

I'm new here (nice forum by the way, full of very good players I bet) and have a first question : Which % of the online semi-pro and online pro are living from only rakeback?
(I've heard it's possible to use the bankroll only as a weapon to create rakeback and only cash out funds from rakeback)
I bet it's a rare setup and most pros are withdrawing their winnings too and making a living at first from that, right?
I bet on 10% using mostly rakeback to live

Thanks for your time

'Lava

[allthatremains]

Rakeback is only a return of your own fees you paid to play!

In order for anyone to "make a living" from rakeback only, you would have to pay an enormous amount of rake AND be very close to break even, after rake.

The far better approach would be to play as much as you're comfortable with and work on your game to make it profitable. The rakeback will just be a "bonus" on top of your regular winnings.

[BlackLava]

Thanks for your fast answer, sure I understand the rakeback is only a bonus and my personnal point is the game and winnings are the only thing to hit but I heard a few players are using the bankroll only as a weapon to score rake and are living only from rakeback, is that a legend or is there really a small % of pros doing so?

[liladypokerpro]

I would venture to say that is a myth because someone would have to be spending massive amounts of money only to live off rake...I don't see why anyone in their right mind would go after the rake when it is drastically less than their bankroll.

[BlackLava]

That's my point too in fact
I don't think it's possible to live only from rakeback or even 50% from rakeback, even if it's a huge bonus it still a bonus.
Could someone else confirm such point : That no single player worldwide is living from Rakeback only?

sorry to ask again, I wonder if the myth is a real full one
(And I'm not saying rakeback is bullshit, it's a must! )

[liladypokerpro]

You might have better luck looking it up on Google or Ask.com or something...I'm not sure anybody here can give you the solid confirmation you are looking for...

[Fictive]

I guess some real high stakes players could theoretically live on rakeback, they probably receive several thousand a month on rakeback alone. That being said, I'm sure that those players take a nice little chunk out of their winnings each month to boot. If they ended up on a losing streak, the rakeback needs to be put on the poker account before they end up playing at a whole lot lower limits.

As an example, I've got a great rakeback deal (won't go into details about it), and I usually get around 2-3 times the max buy-in on the level I play and I don't play insane amounts each day. Basically it's possible to get thousands of dollars in rakeback and leave the winnings in one's account, but still... don't see that happening. Highly theoretical.

[iceveins0901]

There are people who get reportedly get thousands a month in rakeback, which is enough to live on, but believe me, these people make more in poker than they do in rakeback.

[mollila]

Many higher stakes players get thousands of rakeback per month. The Rakeback.com record one month rakeback for one player is $11,502.

But you have to be playing the bigger stakes to generate thousands of rake, and to do that consistently you'll have to be a winning player anyways. So it would be strange to say to live off rakeback only. That said, rakeback can bail you out of bad beat months going in the red.

Check out the What is your highest rakeback? poll on our forums to see other users voting what their highest rakeback payment has been.

[BlackLava]

Thanks for all those additionnal details confirming my point
So if no one is taking rakeback as something else than a monthly bonus or additionnal security I bet no one would play a different poker in goal to take less risks and score rakeback, right?
My point is it's a non sense to play different and rake is only something forcing you to win more, never a math to include in your play due to rakeback!

( Now that rakeback is starting to be famous a few average players think that's why they are losing and that pros are playing for rakeback only. "Even on a bad day they earn money!", heard so on my own site and that's the reason of all those questions : Definitely saying them there is no rakeback church and adepts )