Rakeback

Because of my recent surge in online playing, some people have asked me whether I'm enrolled in a rakeback program. The answer is yes. I mentioned it in passing here when I first signed up for it.

But the truth is that until the last 30 days, I played so little on Black Chip Poker that I never checked on whether the rakeback system was actually working. In fact, I didn't even know the mechanics of how it was supposed to work--would the affiliate send me a separate check, or what? I was not even sure that I was eligible for rakeback on tournament entry fees; for all I knew, it might have been only for the rake on cash games. (You can see that I was not exactly a careful shopper when I signed up.) Now that I've been putting in enough volume online that it matters, I looked into it.

I found that it is being credited to my BCP account every day, shortly after midnight, for play of the day before. To find it, open your Merge software, and under "account" click on "real money ledger."

I'm still a little confused on the percentages. The offer I signed up for was 41% rakeback in perpetuity. But look at how it is actually being credited (the "positive balance adjustment" entries):

By coincidence (not planning), on each of the past four days I have entered exactly $44 worth of tournaments, of which $4 has been the tournament fees. This is presumably the amount on which the rakeback is calculated. But the rakeback amount credited has been $1.40, $0.35, $2.45, and $1.40. This baffles me, first, because this works out to 35% rather than 41%, and, second, because of the variable amount each day. Maybe part of the second day's rakeback got delayed somehow and added in to the third day, which would even them out to $1.40 per day. But even if so, I don't understand why it's 35% and not 41%. I will have to look into this. At these levels it's not much of a difference, but if I start increasing the buy-ins and/or volume, the difference will start to add up.