Can you get rakeback at PokerStars?

As soon as poker players find out about the joys of rakeback, one of the first things that they search for is information on whether or not PokerStars offers rakeback. So then, does PokerStars offer rakeback?

I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m afraid that they do not. You can search around the Internet and across poker forums as much as you like, but you are not going to find a more positive answer to the old PokerStars rakeback question.

However, all is not lost. Although PokerStars do not offer a flat rakeback deal of say, 27% or 30%, it is possible to earn some of the rake you pay back to your account. So I guess in a way you could call that “rakeback” too. So without further ado, how do you go about getting some your rake back at PokerStars?

All you have to do is trade your FPPs for cash rewards in the PokerStars VIP store.

I’m sure that you’re aware that PokerStars runs a VIP program where you can collect FPPs (Frequent Player Points) for playing in real money cash games and tournaments. The more you play, the points you collect.

Sign up for PokerStars and get a 100%  Bonus up to $600

If you head over to the PokerStars store, you will find that amongst other things (like t-shirts, poker books, electrical good and other stuff), you can trade your FPPs for cash bonuses.

This is basically how you turn those FPPs in to rakeback, because you had to pay a certain amount of rake to PokerStars to earn those FPPs in the first place, and now you can trade them in for cash bonuses.

So let’s talk figures. How much effective rakeback can you get from PokerStars by trading points for cash?

Well, that all depends on how often you play and what stakes you play for, as the more frequently you play the higher the rate at which you will be able to collect FPPs. So as a result, the rough PokerStars rakeback %s work on a sliding scale. But to give you a rough idea of the percentages…

Low stakes players up to about $50NL can expect to receive around 10% rakeback if they play frequently enough. Mid and higher stakes players up to the $400NL stakes can expect to earn up to 16% rakeback. Super high-stakes players or super-frequent players can expect to receive between 25% and 40% rakeback depending on how often they play.

As you can see, as a lower stakes player the amount of rakeback that you earn from PokerStars is far less than that of standard rakeback deals, but at the end of the day you are still getting some of your money back to your account! Failing that, you can always trade your points for a nice PokerStars hoodie or something.

On the other hand, if you are a higher stakes player that intends on playing at PokerStars for an extended period of time, the rakeback % rewards are better than those of standard rakeback poker rooms.

All in all, although the principal of trading FPPs for cash rewards is not going to be as ideal or profitable as a standard rakeback deal, at least we always have the option of getting compensated for our real money play at PokerStars in one way or another.

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