More about Rake Back
Poker room affiliates find it more economical to chase the large volume players who are bound to earn more rakeback than the casual player. The poker rakeback offers thus have limits on them. You must contribute a certain rake per month and depending on how much is accumulated will you be eligible to get a certain percentage of the rake back. The only danger here is of the affiliate signing you up to start playing and then stopping your payment. They know that once a player gets comfortable at a poker room they will stick around a while. They also know that their income through the rake is ensured, whether they keep giving you the rake-back promised or not.
Rakeback offers will rarely include the sign up bonuses that are seen everywhere else and never the reload bonuses. The reason for this is that the rakebacks are really substitutes for the bonuses disguised under a different deal. What the affiliates want are the players and they don't care how they get them while the players just want the best deal possible. Truly speaking, only those players playing thousands of hands per month will benefit from a rake back program in any serious way. For the rest, the signup and reload bonuses are a much better deal. And for those that use them, the rake-back benefits will not make up for the bonus losses right away. It will happen, but takes time.
Another issue that needs to be considered in rakeback offers is that all poker rooms have rules about having only one poker account. The player will have to decide if it is worth the risk of losing their account at a room they like playing in if they wish to start a duplicate account using another name just to get the latest rake back offer.
It is also important to remember that players can lose money with rakeback programs. For instance say a player contributes $50 in rake per month to a poker room. This amount is higher that the average poker player's contribution. Now, say that there is a 20% rake back offered on their $50 a month rake contribution while the current sign up bonus is of $ 350. The $50 of rake contribution nets a $10 rate back rebate that leads to $350 vs. $10. It would take the $50/month rake contributor 35 months - almost 3 years - to make up for the sign up bonus lost. Even the smallest sign up bonus of $25 would take 2 1/2 months to equal in rake back. And this doesn't even factor in the re-load bonuses that are offered every month to regular players.
Thus, if a player is hoping to get some of the rake back fees rebated without the risk of losing a valued player account, then he must go to a legitimate poker room that offers rakebacks or avail of the bonuses offered as a substitute. You deside whether to choose online poker bonus or Rakeback. Only if a player is spending thousands of dollars every month, will the rakebacks be more profitable, else bonuses are a better option.