Ultimate Bet Poker Room Changes Method of Rakeback

The Ultimate Bet poker room has switched the method they use to calculate their players’ rakeback earned. On April 1, 2007, the change was made from the dealt hand method to contributed rake method. Whereas the dealt hand rakeback method allows you to earn rake as long as you are dealt cards, the contributed rake method is based on the percentage of money you contribute to the pot. Whether it is a small blind or an all-in, the amount you put into the pot is the determining factor to how much rakeback you receive from that particular pot. Most rooms use the dealt hand method while just a handful of poker rooms use the contributed rake method for determining rakeback.

This has a couple of important implications for players who participate in rakeback with Ultimate Bet. It is usually a good strategy when playing online to use a more tight aggressive style at the tables. Add to that the rakeback being earned using the dealt hand method for every single hand you receive cards and it becomes even more savvy to bide your time and pick your spots since you are earning money while you wait! This changes a lot now for Ultimate Bet poker room players. While it still is generally a sound strategy to play tight, a case can now be made to change gears a little when playing. A player who can effectively control the action at a table and get a piece of a lot of pots will not only pick up more than their fair share of those pots, but will get way the best of a considerable amount of rakeback. If you are not comfortable stabbing at a lot of pots at a full ring table, the six-handed tables are a great place to loosen up and with the new contributed rake method at Ultimate Bet, there is a lot of rakeback money sitting there waiting to get scooped up.

In  order to test out the tangible difference in rakeback earnings with the change at Ultimate Bet, Rakeback Monitor ponied up a few hundred bones to play with for a month. From April 1^st when the news of the switch was announced until the April 30^th, we played the $1-$2 NL full ring game with two pre-determined sets of rules for opening hands. The first style was a very restrictive on opening hands, limiting playable openers to pockets pairs 88’s and higher, blackjack hands (K10, AJ, QJ, etc.), and high suited connectors (summing over 17). Using these rules we played 40 hours for the month at 30% rakeback and earned $52 in rakeback for the month. The second set of openers we played with were all of the above with the addition of any pocket pair, and suited connectors, any reasonable high cards (Q9, K8, J9, etc.), and some unsuited connectors such as 10-8 and 10-9. Using this method we played 40 hours again at the same rakeback percentage and earned a whopping $163 in rakeback!

Generally, we feel the dealt hand method is the best way to get rakeback as it rewards tight players, but if you love moving the chips around the table, then Ultimate Bet and their new contributed rake method would be a great place for the online poker player to make a lot of extra cash.