Rake Race Analysis – Rakeback.com Rooms – June 2012

By Scott Carlson, Rakeback.com Content Manager

Ever wonder which poker networks offer the highest value rake races? No more guess work – we do the math for all major rake races across the industry every month. 

Black Chip Poker & Carbon Poker – $100k Race For Riches

The Merge Network ran the $100,000 Race For Riches promotion in June and have carried it over into July also. Players in this race earned from 2.1% – 46.2% extra rakeback. You’ll need to rake at least $350 per week to crack into this leaderboard. Aimed at high raking players, you’ll need to place in the top ten to earn over 10% extra rakeback.

Players playing 10 specially designated weekly tournaments earn a multiplier to their points, which has helped numerous people rocket up the leaderboard. Simply playing each of the 10 tournaments once each week will generate 114 leaderboard points (57 points from tournament fees multiplied by 2.0).

Since the $100k Race For Riches promotion runs through the end of July (and possibly August as well) there is still plenty of time to get involved.

• Rakeback.com Grade: B. 
• Participate in this Rake Race on  Black Chip Poker, Carbon Poker, Aced Poker or PDC Poker

Lock Poker – $1m Battle of the Ronin

The $1,000,000 Battle of the Ronin runs throughout July. This rake chase can award up to four players a prize of $45,142. There is a limit to the number of prizes to be given away at each level though, so time is of the essence. This race benefits those who rake quickly, so by playing early in the month you can score extra rakeback. Even casual players can benefit here.

It’s not too late to start the rake chase for July and aim for one of the low spots. Also keep a look out for this promotion to continue into the later months of the year.

• Rakeback.com Grade: A
• Participate in this Rake Race on Lock Poker

Americas Cardroom – $60k Points Race

The June Americas Cardroom $60,000 points race gave incredible value to players of all levels. The top prize received 99% rakeback and it only took $178 to place on the leaderboard. High and low volume players alike would do well to enter this race.

Additional points can be earned through specially designated tournaments throughout the month making rakeback percentages even higher than listed above. Notice that 125^th place raked almost twice as much as 10^th place but they did not play many of the tournaments, creating a dramatic difference in points earned.

• Rakeback.com Grade: A+
• Participate in this Rake Race on Americas Cardroom.

In July Americas Cardroom is running ‘The Beast’, the world’s first ever progressive rake race. As of July 12^th The Beast had a prizepool of over $100,000 and it is expected to reach near $300,000 by month-end making it one of the largest rake races in the history of poker.

As this race is new it is still hard to predict what percentage extra rakeback players could receive from this promotion. At the end of the month we will crunch the numbers for you and let you know the results.

Cake Poker – $60k Rake Race

In June and July Cake Poker is running a $60,000 rake race. The race consists of four $15,000 rake races each month. Sample prizes and rakeback equivalents for the completed races to date are noted below.

There are still two races to go in July so there’s plenty of time to grab a top prize of $1,250.

• Rakeback.com Grade: A-
• Participate in this Rake Race on Cake Poker

Coral Poker – $2.5k & $10k VIP Points Races

Every month Coral Poker runs a $10,000 VIP Points race for all players. The June results were as follows:

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Coral Poker and Rakeback.com team up to run an exclusive $2,500 points race every month for our players, with the top spot taking home $700. Using the results for the first half of the July race, we can estimate the value:

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Players beginning today could easily earn a rakeback boost by reaching the top 100 with moderate play. Playing with Rakeback.com’s additional exclusive race would raise our value grade below to a C.

• Rakeback.com Grade: D+
• Participate in this Rake Race on Coral Poker

Betfair Poker – $80k Natural Born Grinders Race

Betfair’s $80,000 Natural Born Grinders has proven to be a popular points race recently. The race lasts 8 weeks and each players’ best 4 weeks are counted towards the race.

It takes only a few hundred dollars in rake to get onto the leaderboard, so recreational players and high-volume players should see great value. Medium raking players, however, might see only 4-5% extra returns based on the payout structure. Doing some math we came up with the following estimated rakeback equivalents over a player’s four week average.

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The numbers noted above include the additional 25% payout for Rakeback.com players. There’s still time to compete in this race as the top four weeks results for each player are taken and we are currently in week 4 of 8.

• Rakeback.com Grade: B-
• Participate in this Rake Race on Betfair Poker

Ladbrokes Poker – €5k Omaha Rake Race

Throughout the month of July Ladbrokes is running a €5,000 Omaha rake race. They have never run one of these before so it’s hard to tell what the second half of July results will offer. Nothing huge, but 10-15% extra rakeback for playing Omaha only which is great if that’s your game.

If you take the first half of the race and do some projections, we get the following rakeback percentages from the race.

Please note the actual rakeback percentage will be slightly higher than the numbers noted above due to multipliers of player points over the weekends in July. With the multipliers there is still time to put in enough hands to earn points and reach the top 20.

• Rakeback.com Grade: C
• Participate in this Rake Race on Ladbrokes Poker

Poker Heaven – €5k Exclusive Rake Race

Poker Heaven and Rakeback.com have teamed up in June and July for a €5,000 exclusive rake race. The top spot takes away €800 from the race. June results and rakeback equivalents are noted below.

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There is still time to compete in the same race in July so get started today. There is little competition for the lower prize payouts, and low volume players can pick up an extra 20%+ rakeback easily.

• Rakeback.com Grade: B+
• Participate in this Rake Race on Poker Heaven

See the most recent month’s results here.