A Posting for Ray

A few days ago I said I would send Ray an email about getting rakeback on poker sites other than Betfair, instead of posting on the Betfair forum. It occurs to me that as this is my blog, I can promote other sites on here if I want, so here it is.

Firstly, even if you don't turn over a huge amount of rake, you can get reasonable deals from a number of rake aggregation sites. They don't really care how much you bring in, they just add it all up at the end of the month and send a bill to the networks. I signed up in Dec-07 with http://www.thisisthenuts.com after a conversation with Smart Money - this was the site he used. It gives you access to about 15 poker rooms including Betfair, with rakeback ranging from 27% (Full Tilt) through to 37% (Betfair, volume dependent). Most sites seem to be offering 30%, and although the Full Tilt is the lowest %, I did some research and it seems to be their standard rate.

They also have bonuses on offer, if you play Full Tilt and earn 500 FT points in a month, you get entry to a $20k freeroll. I have managed to qualify for this once and from 600 runners I got a top 50 finish and $60. Rake more than $500 in a month and you get a 1 month subscription to the Stoxpoker training site.

Until this week, my rake was paid back to TITN from Full Tilt, with cash out options back to Full Tilt, Absolute, Ultimate or Cake poker networks. As of Monday, the Full Tilt rake will be paid weekly direct into my Full Tilt account. Rake from other sites can still go back to TITN and then be cashed out to one of the sites.

If you do sign up through here, putting in my referral code (miltonb) will get me a bonus and a guaranteed couple of beers for you if we meet up at any time. A lot of the sites offer sign up bonuses, including FT, which will pay out up to $600 incrementally on a 1:1 basis depending on rake earned. When you do earn this sign up bonus, your rake back will be reduced by 27% as they would otherwise be paying you twice.

I like Full Tilt, it is generally easy to find a game whenever I want one. The tables are easy to move around and resize, plus whatever poker tool is your favourite, it will work with it. I mostly play low stakes HiLo STTs from $6 to $22 and if you want to find me, look up "electric chair" in the players list. I have found that for me, the $5 rebuys are profitable, having cashed (and won a couple) at Holdem, PLO and HiLo. Whatever your game though, there are so many more options than Betfair. However, because it is not linked to a betting site or Exchange, the players are probably a slightly better standard. It did take me a month or two to get used to the feel of the games and the players (see the Sharkscope graph for evidence of this), but have now found my feet and can play games without fear of being the worst on the table.