There are several beneficial strategies that can be implemented to increase your Rakeback profits. One of these Rakeback strategies is playing heads-up for Rakeback. This common Rakeback strategy works well with all Rakeback deal methods – Contributed, Shared Rakeback and Dealt Rakeback.
By eliminating a large table of players, you are ensured to contribute a good portion of each pot. This works well for Contributed Rakeback. When averaging Shared Rakeback, the less contributing players there are the better. One of the reasons some players are put off by Dealt Rakeback is that all players dealt in get a portion of the rake. When there are only two players competing, this issue is solved as well.
Simply put, playing online poker heads-up, against a single opponent, guarantees that you’ll be earning higher Rakeback rewards per hand.
On the down side, you are going to be contributing to each and every pot by default. Remember that blind bets must be paid by two players. In heads-up action, both are forced to pay blinds.
In order to truly increase your profits with heads-up play, you’ll need to actually win some hands. A heads-up strategy is nothing like a normal, full table or tournament strategy. When poker players compete one-on-one, they are well aware that their hand strength has a 50% chance of being better than their opponent’s, no matter how strong that hand appears to be. You can find very good heads-up games with party poker rakeback.
For this reason, heads-up poker games tend to be played a lot looser than full table poker games. You may wish to stay in the pot with a hand like 10-K off-suit, or pocket 2’s, when you would normally fold this without a second thought.
While you are inclined to call, or even raise, with marginal hands, you must realize that your opponent is doing the same thing. It’s a lot harder to fold every hand that isn’t considered a premium starter. Since you are contributing blinds every hand, your chip stack will continuously drop while you are waiting for a better hand. You must call with marginal holdings before your stack fades away.
Also remember that if the hand does not go on to see a flop, you’re not going to earn Rakeback for that hand. As a Rakeback strategy, you want to stay in on as many hands as reasonably possible. Do not invest too much on a hand that has virtually no hope, but do move on if it’s cheap enough to do so.
You can expect to win about half of your hands, in terms of probabilities. The trick is to make sure you are claiming more chips on your winning hands, and handing over fewer chips on the losing hands. The ability to read your opponent comes in very handy here, but when loose game play is the standard, it can be harder to read an opponent’s betting habits. Be sure to watch for poker tells in these situations, as they will give you a lot more information.
If you can win more than you lose – as any experienced poker player with a decent strategy should – your Rakeback profits will simply add on to your already increasing bankroll so make sure you get the best rakeback. But even if you win as much as you lose, breaking even in the end, your Rakeback earnings become your profit.