What is Poker Rakeback?

A rebate or repayment to a player of a portion of the rake paid by that player, normally from a non-cardroom, third-party source such as an affiliate. Rakeback is paid in many ways by online poker rooms, affiliates or brick and mortar rooms. Many use direct money payments for online poker play. Player transfers and Paypal are other alternatives to direct payments. Brick and Mortar rooms usually use comp cards to track and pay their rakeback.

Rake is the amount a poker site takes out of the pot for using their poker service, commonly known as the house commission. It is well known that this is the way the online poker sites make money. However, few players realize how much they are giving away to the house every month. Most players are unaware that they can get a portion of this rake money refunded to them. Receiving a rakeback deal is completely FREE. We earn our money by taking a cut of the rakeback you generate, in return for providing you this service. It benefits both players and affiliates to sign up for these offers. If you play more than a few hours per week and multiple tables, getting some of your rake back could mean hundreds or even thousands of extra dollars in your pocket every month. Sign up for one of our rakeback offers and start receiving part of your rake back every month!

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Avoiding Tilt in Poker

Over your hopefully long and prosperous poker career you will be the victim of some terribly bad runs of cards. You will get in with the best of it and your opponent will hit the miracle river to take down the pot. In playing the game of poker you must realize that bad beats will happen, its what keeps the fish coming back for more. The most difficult part of enduring hideous beats is your state of play right after. Will your play be unaffected, will you buckle down and play better, or will you choose the wreck-less path of throwing caution to the wind? If you choose the last option, you will not only stand to lose large sums of money, but you will also be falling victim to the dreaded “tilt”.

Tilting means that you have been overcome with emotion – enough so that you are unable to make sensible and rational decisions at the poker table. The feeling of tilt is also accompanied with a sense of frustration, confusion and unrelenting aggression. The meaning of the word tilt likely comes from pinball machine games. When a person attempts to physically tilt the machine to get the pinball to move toward the flippers a message appears on the game, “TILT”. This causes the flippers to freeze and the person to lose the game. Other synonyms for tilting are steaming, spewing, blowing and cooking. While it is never a good idea to go on tilt, inducing tilt on your opponents can be very profitable.

In the video above an amateur online player, Tony “Tuff Fish” Sandstrom goes on tilt and loses several cash game buyins. Although this is quite comical, you must realize that your own play could be reflected in this video. Do you yell at the computer, criticize your opponents, curse and become angry while playing? I’m sure each of us at some point in our playing career has been in this position. So how do we avoid what “tuff_fish” does in his poker session on video?

The best way to fight against tilt is recognizing you are on it. Once you do this, you can walk away from the game for a few minutes and regain your composure. You should sit out a few hands or quit for that session all together. Often you will see well known pros “take a walk” during live events like the world series of poker. They are walking away from the table to absorb all that has happened and to “cool down” so they can continue playing optimally. Battling tilt is one of the most difficult things to do at the poker tables since humans have strong emotions. If you can learn to control your thoughts and emotions at the table and play each hand for itself, you will be a lot better player. Be mentally tough and play one hand at a time.

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Managing Poker Stress

Stress is usually a detrimental thing to have at the poker table since it often leads to negativity and sub-optimal play – TILT. We are all subject to feelings of stress and anxiety at one time or another – it is simply a force of nature. The ways we deal with stress determine our long term success at the table and in life. Being well educated on the game of poker and having the necessary skill-set to win might not be enough if you don’t recognize and deal with stress appropriately. Properly identifying and coping with stress could drastically improve your poker game and your life.

Identification
Identification and symptoms of stress are intertwined. If you can identify the signs of stress, you are also experiencing its harmful effects. While small amounts of stress are actually helpful, the vast majority of people experience elevated levels of stress – especially at the poker table. Quick identification of stress symptoms may save your poker session or even your career. Here some likely symptoms of stress you may experience at the poker table:

* Rapid Heart Rate
* Loss of Breath
* Chest Tightness
* Headache
* Anger

Causes
The causes of stress in poker are unique to each individual and widespread. Some situations produce high levels of stress in some people while show no effect on others. In nature animals that deal with stress better than others tend to live longer, a component of Darwinism. Survival of the fittest occurs in poker as well. The good players keep playing while bad players wash out. Stress is a consequence of our inability to deal with a threats on an emotional or physical level. Our inability to deal with threats is negatively impacted by the following factors:

* Inadequate Rest
* Long sessions
* Drugs & Alcohol
* Unhealthy Food
* High Stakes Games
* Inexperienced at Game Type

Career Risks
Stress may only cause short term discomfort, but over the longer term it poses serious health risks. Winning the battle against stress on a daily basis is key over the long term. If you find yourself getting angry or experiencing symptoms of stress listed above on a regular basis you could be putting your health at risk. While long term symptoms of moderate stress are minimal, elevated stress levels over the long term can cause the following:

* Weakened Immune System
* Ulcers
* Loss of Sleep
* Heart Attack
* Stroke
* Addictive Disorders
* Losing at Poker

Coping
How successfully we deal with stress and our emotions will ultimately determine how far we go in poker. You can have top level odds knowledge and card reading skills, but if you can’t deal with stress you are doomed. Poker is a game of dealing with failure – bad beats and variance torture even the most seasoned players. Developing skills and techniques to deal with poker stress is crucial to your success. Here are a few common methods of dealing with stress while playing poker:

* Massage Service
* Walk Away
* Communication
* Understand Poker Odds

Stress can not only cause long term health risks, but also destroy your love for the game of poker. Eliminating sources of stress that could negatively affect your well-being is the most important thing you can do for yourself. If your known sources of stress can’t be eliminated attempt to deal with your emotions in a healthier manner. Utilize the methods provided above and develop your own mechanisms for stress reduction. Understand the reality of poker and the affects of stress on your poker play – either good or bad. The inability to properly cope with stress in poker could be the one thing separating you from a long and prosperous career.

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Using the Poker Room Chat Box

To enable social interaction among players, poker rooms have created chat boxes at each table. This allows players to communicate with one another in the likeness of brick and mortar poker rooms. Communication varies on a wide spectrum since the vast majority of players abuse chat privileges every time they play. Whether they are giving advice to other players, swearing or going on tilt few players use the chat for its real purpose. Participating in the listed methods of chat-box abuse is very detrimental to your bottom line. The following paragraphs will discuss the various methods in which chat boxes are abused.

Phishing
It doesn’t happen vary often since poker rooms monitor chat, but account theft still occurs. A user will spam a contest winning line with a fake link in it. It will go something like this, “The first people to fill out this poker survey win $1000 transfer to their account. Go to http://scamsite.com.” Poker players visit the site which is a near exact replica of the poker room’s website they are currently playing at. The only thing different will be the address bar domain name, which will obviously not be the same as the poker room’s domain name. Scammed players use their poker room login information to fill out the survey as fast as they can. The moment they login to the phishing site their login details are sent to an account. The scammer logs into their account and cashes out their money or transfers it without them knowing. By the time they contact support their money has been laundered on the poker site. Don’t let this type of situation occur – only use your login on the poker room’s software on your computer.

Tilt
The most common method of chat abuse is people “tilting” after a bad beat. Profanity and name calling almost always occurs after someone has received a bad beat. This is especially the case at lower stakes tables where new poker players are active. Tilting through the chat box is a good thing for your opponents and bad for you since you are letting them you the unfortunate luck got to you. This also lets opponents know that you are no longer playing optimally and are prone to over-aggressiveness. Players who use the chat box to vent or steam are almost always losing players.

poker chat box

Education
Giving other players advice on how to play is arguably the worst thing you can do at a poker table. Why would you ever want to help someone get better at poker who you want to compete against? Giving advice improves the skill and knowledge level of your opponents and reveals that you are a good player. When this happens people will tend to play cautious and tight against you. It’s hard to win money off opponents who are wary of you. A skilled poker player ideally wants a loose aggressive image to get action at the table. Keep your words of advice to yourself to avoid improving the collective strength of your opposition.

Bragging
Talking about how good you are at the table is another bad idea. This falls into the same category as education at the table. Knowledge is poker at the poker table so why give it away for free. Bragging about stats or big wins is a brutal idea since it alerts your opponents that you might be a good player. Its much more difficult to win big pots off cautious opponents. Instead of bragging, say nothing at all or portray a newbie poker profile. Make people think you are either a new player or that you are a maniac. Bragging isn’t a good idea in everyday life so eliminate it from your poker chat as well.

Tells
Professional players use communication at live poker events to extract information out of their opponents. Visual cues are huge in live events where you are face to face with opponents. Obviously poker on the internet lacks this quality, but chat tells actually exist. When someone makes a big bet or raise and then starts talking while you are time-banking, this could be a sign of weakness. Find clues about your opponents when they type. If they have been talking non-stop at the table and then suddenly stop conversation and make a raise or bet they usually have a big hand. Tiny clues revealed by opponents over their hand strength will pay off big for you long term. Pay attention to the chat of your opponents and monitor your own chat activity to avoid giving tells.

Common Chat Abbreviations

NH = Nice Hand
VNH = Very Nice Hand
NB = Nice Bet
NC = Nice Call
NF = Nice Fold
GG = Good Game
WP = Well Played
BRB = Be Right Back
WTF = What the Fu**
TY = Thank You
Woot = Happiness or Excitement
CYA = See You

The chat box feature can be a positive or negative aspect for you as a poker player. Do you use the chat in the right way or use it for abuse? Giving education, bragging, tilting or swearing at other players will not only get your chat banned, but will also hurt you financially. Poker is a game of such small edges that typing on emotion will do nothing but hurt you. Not only will everyone at the table know you are immature, but they will also know how and when to attack you. Abusive chat exhibits poor self control and a lack of discipline. Basically, you are broadcasting to everyone at the table how weak you are – sort of like a wounded fish among sharks. Next time you are playing poker take notice of your chat habits and those of your opponents.

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RAKEBACK

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