Hey guys, I just made a few calculations for the different US-based sites out there. I hope players find this helpful in some way and this thread can generate some discussion about the best bargains in online US poker.
If you have some idea of better situations than what I've created here, or want to correct my calculations, feel free to do so.
Pokerstars:
The rakeback for PS has been posted in different charts recently on 2+2 and you can find it on sites as well. I tend to use a baseline of about 300k VPP since that's my volume.
Stars has BotPlanets, MTT leaderboard, reloads, and weekly/quarterly VIP tournaments that add a lot of value to the base 37-41% rb.
Stars is a great site (probably the best) for high volume because it doesn't suffer diminishing returns like the below sites do.
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FTP:
I calculated the result from just achieving the minimum iron, gold, or silver man status each month. This is without any bonuses.
Iron: 5075 pts/month (203 pts x 25)
29 dollars in rake a day (SNG/MTT) gets you 203 pts/day.
725 dollars of rake/month (25x29)
8700 total rake for the year (725x12)
You get back:
2349 (27% rb)
1200 (two year end bonuses for Iron is 12x100)
1990 medals (worth .1875 c each max so 373.125)
60900 ftp (5075x12, worth 213.15 at 3.5/1000)
You also get 12 months of free stox poker, 12x 30k iron man freerolls (worth about $50bi each so 600) and 12x 5k rakeback affiliate freerolls (about $20bi so 240).
Pure cash Ironman rakeback assuming you just rake the minimum a year: 47.5%
additional bonuses (freerolls, stox at 10/month):
58.5%
I won't write out for Gold/Silver but according to my calcs you get and more if you calculate stox and freerolls. Ironman is very, very difficult to maintain but it's rb should jump even more if you keep it for longer than a year.
Gold: 45.8%
Silver: 43.7%
I realize it may be a bit unrealistic to just use the minimum rake generated by FTP (your rakeback lowers if you play more than the absolute minimum). But I calculate it that way because I'm first focusing on Stars and looking at the other sites for the absolute minimum investment possible.
The other sites is where it gets really fun. Let me know if I miscalculated any of these.
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Doyle's Room: I am targetting generating enough rake to place on the RB affiliate's rake race leaderboard. You currently need to generate about 390 rake (based on past 3 months) total to get a 100 dollar bonus.
So......
390 total rake (about 390 15+1 tournaments):
130 (33% rb)
100 (rakeback affiliate bonus)
80 (bonus dollars, Doyle's always has reloads and sign up bonuses. 3.5 ffp/1 dollar)
310/390= 80% rb.
You can find an analysis of Doyle's Room here:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28...-shill-669667/
Note it's hard to get your money off the site without paying exorbitant fees.
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Absolute/Cereus: I am targeting getting enough points to convert 25 dollars worth of Absolute points each month. I did these calcs very quickly so maybe they are off.
3571 absolute points are required for 25 dollars.
At a 3x multiplier (you need it to convert the points), assume that's 1190 FAME points.
That's equal to
357.1 dollars in rake.
107.13 (30% rakeback)
25 (point conversion)
59.5 (bonus dollars at 20 fame points per dollar, ABS always has reloads)
=
53.66% rb per month
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Conclusion: Doyle's Room on the Cake network seems to offer a ridiculous rakeback % for low limit grinders who can put out $390 of total rake a month. I just wanted to ask you readers for your own assessment of different sites that are most +ev for US players and any errors in my calculations. I did not account for MGR being hit by bonuses.