Responsible gambling

Rakeback lowers a cost. It does not create an edge.

This site exists to get you better terms. It is worth being straight about what better terms can and cannot do, because that is the part the rest of the industry tends to leave out.

Last updated 22 August 2026

The arithmetic, honestly

Rakeback returns part of the fee the room charges you. It reduces one of your costs. It does not change how well you play, how good your opponents are, or whether your game is profitable in the first place.

If you are a break-even player, rakeback can be the thing that puts you in profit. That is a real and meaningful effect and it is why this site exists.

If you are a losing player, rakeback makes you lose more slowly. It does not make you a winner.Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something. A percentage back on a losing game is still a losing game.

Poker is also not the same as other gambling: over enough hands, skill decides more than luck. That is what makes it worth studying — and it is also what makes it dangerous to assume you are on the right side of it. Most players who believe they are winning have not tracked enough hands to know.

Set the limits before you need them

Every licensed room has these tools built in, and almost nobody uses them until it is too late to matter. They take two minutes to set up when you are calm and are very hard to set up when you are not:

  • Deposit limits — a cap per day, week or month. The single most useful one
  • Loss limits — stop the session automatically at a number you chose in advance
  • Session time limits — decisions get worse with fatigue long before they feel worse
  • Time-out — lock yourself out for a day, a week, a month. No explanation required
  • Self-exclusion — a longer lock that cannot be reversed on a whim, which is the point

Look for them under Responsible Gaming or Account Settings. If you cannot find them, ask me and I will point you at them for that specific room.

Signs worth taking seriously

These are the standard ones, and they are standard because they are common:

  • Playing with money set aside for something else
  • Chasing losses — moving up in stakes to win back what you dropped
  • Playing longer or more often than you meant to, repeatedly
  • Hiding how much you play, or how much you are down, from people close to you
  • Borrowing to play, or selling things to play
  • Feeling you cannot stop, or feeling anxious when you are not playing

If several of those are familiar, the services below exist for exactly that and they are free.

Where to get help

All of these are free and independent. None of them are connected to me or to any poker room, and I get nothing from linking them.

If you are in immediate crisis, contact your local emergency services rather than a gambling helpline.

What I can and cannot do

I can tell you how a room's limits work, help you set them, and stop sending you deals if you ask me to. If you tell me you are taking a break, I will not follow up about signups.

I am not a counsellor and I am not qualified to be one. If you need support, the services above are staffed by people who are. Reaching one of them is a better use of your time than talking to me.

18+

Gambling is for adults — 18 or older, and higher in some places. Nothing on this site is aimed at anyone younger, and no deal on it is available to anyone younger.

Rooms are licensed differently where you live

Not every room here is legal or available in every market, and that is your responsibility to check before you open an account. If you are not sure, ask me and I will find out for your country.