What is it that makes rakeback so great? It’s the only thing you can have in poker to make money without any effort on your part whatsoever. To be successful in online poker, in general, you need to be skilled at game selection, reading opponents and understanding poker strategy. To be successful with rakeback, all you need to do is play.

Being in a rakeback program does not guarantee texas holdem poker success. What it does mean is that wherever you are on the poker spectrum, you’ll be a little bit closer to your goal. In online poker, rake is the only aspect you cannot control. If you’re losing too much at one game, you can always move to an easier game. If you find leaks in your game, you can plug them. However, nothing can change the fact that the online poker room will take up to $3 or $4 out of every pot you play. There is no way to counteract the effect this has on your win rate.

Until now, that is. Thanks to your friend Poker Rooms, you can beat the rake, at least to some extent. The way it works is simple. You go to a rakeback site online and choose from a list of participating online Rake back. These rooms may vary as to the amount of rakeback they offer, which is usually in the neighborhood of 30 percent of your credited rake. Once you find the site you like, assuming you do not already have an account with that site, sign-up through the rakeback site. Once you’re signed up, you can expect to get a percentage of your rake returned to you every month.

Whether the site uses a dealt, or shared, method to calculate your rake, where all players participate in rake credit equally or a contributed method, where your rake is based on how much you put into each pot, you’ll be amazed at how much money you save in rakeback each month. Keep that money, or add it to your bankroll to play in more and bigger games. When you see the effect on your win rate, you’ll understand very quickly why rakeback is the online poker player’s best friend.

High-Low Stud, however, has more of a following, as it should. High-low has many more subtleties than high-only, and there is usually much more action. And for those who love to bluff, high-low can satisfy the craving.

There are two basic ways to define the best low hand. In many casinos, A-2-3-4-5 (a “wheel”) is the best, as straights and flushes do not disqualify the low hand. In other venues, however, a straight or flush cannot be played as a low, so A-2-3-4-6 is the best low.

There is usually an “8″ qualifier. In other words, a hand cannot be considered a low unless it contains five different cards from A to 8. For example, if a player has A-J-3-5-7-J-7 on the river, he has no low hand and jacks up for high. Finally, if there is more than one qualifying low hand, the winner is determined by comparing them card by card, starting with their highest ones. 8-5-4-3-A beats 8-5-4-3-2, 6-5-4-3-2 beats 7-5-4-2-A, and so on.

A novice may think that high-low is superior to high-only because the high hand can collect multiple bets made by opponents who chase, but do not fill, a low hand. Actually, the opposite is true. The hands that win the biggest pots in high-low are seven cards from which the player can make a qualifying low as well as a flush, straight, or trips.

In high-low, therefore, the emphasis should be on playing only hands that have strong two-way possibilities. On Third Street, discard starters such as 9-J-9, 10-10-A, and even K-K-4. A big pair is a very dangerous start in high-low, and I don’t mean dangerous to your opponents. Even a pair of aces can cost you plenty, especially if the third card is a nine or higher. You may think you can raise with aces and at least win the bring-in, perhaps a limper’s call. However, the only experienced player likely to call a Third Street raise is someone with a great two-way start, such as 2-3-4, 3-4-5, 4-5-6, or A-2-3 (especially if at least two cards are suited), or of course the rare rolled hand, three of a kind.

Still unconvinced? A-A-10 is only a slight favorite over A-2-3, 2-3-4, 3-4-5, or 4-5-6, depending on what cards are showing in others’ hands (61%-39% to 57%-43%). A-A-10 is about an 82%-18% underdog to 5-5-5 or other rolled-up hands. Sure, rolled-up hands are rare, but they are not your only worries. Remember the cardinal principle of high-low: A hand with three cards over 8 can never be low, but a collection of low cards can become a high. Most of the cards in the deck (32 out of 52, or 62%) are low cards, and once your opponent has a made low, he is freerolling! He can bet or raise into your high hand with utter fearlessness, knowing that the worst that can happen to him is a split pot.

Speaking of rolled-up hands…they are golden in high-only, but can be disastrous in high-low. A hand like A-A-A, 5-5-5, or 6-6-6 (the latter being known as the “Mark of the Beast” in my home game) has an outside shot at producing a low to go with the trips-or-better high, but basically all are one-way hands. 5-5-5 is slightly less vulnerable because it severely limits the chance of another player making a straight.. Rolled-up high hands are strictly one-way hands on which you can lose a TON of money when they don’t improve and an opponent drawing low hits a straight or flush.

What you want to see when you are dealt a rolled hand is lots of high door cards around the table, so you can raise and either win immediately or narrow your competition to someone drawing low who will fold when he hits a high (“brick”) card on Fourth Street and perhaps someone with a higher pair than your door card who will give you action when he hits two pair.

“What?” you reply. “I finally get a rolled-up hand and you advise me to raise, taking the risk that everyone will FOLD?” Yes, Tonto, and the horse you rode in on! Trip kings, for example, are only about a 2-to-1 favorite against A-2-3, 2-3-4, 3-4-5, or 4-5-6…on Third Street. Depending on the other players’ door cards, there can be as many as 29 remaining cards that will enable your opponent to fill his low…and start pounding you with bets or raises! He knows you are going high with a K door card. You think he’s going low, but he could be going both ways, or if the ace is his door card, he could have aces and a low card and trying to catch a low OR trip aces. High-low is almost always played as a limit game, and you won’t get a player with A-2-3, 2-3-4, or 3-4-5 out of the hand with one raise on Third.

ANY card you get on Fourth Street (other than the case K) is meaningless to you, but any non-matching low card he gets on Fourth Street gives him four to a low and perhaps three or four to a straight or flush. For example, you get a Q on Fourth Street, which increases your opponent’s odds of getting a low card. Sure enough (the poker gods have a wicked sense of humor!) he gets a 7 to go with his 4-5-6 or 3-4-5. Now you’re not getting him out with dynamite! You’ll feel as if you HAVE to bet, since you can’t give him a free card toward a straight or flush, but a savvy opponent may raise you, especially if the card he needs to fill his straight is completely live. Remember: He knows which way you are going, but you are hoping all he has is a low draw. In poker, as in war, inequality of information often dooms the ignorant party.

But, as they say, it gets worse. On Fifth Street you get another brick (no full house), but your opponent’s showing cards become 4-5-7, 4-6-7, or even 3-4-7. Is he freerolling? Does he already have a straight, in which case your lovely rolled kings have suddenly become a 4-to-1 UNDERDOG? Or does he have two pair, and bets or raises to bluff you? You don’t know.

Read also about free five card poker, poker ranking of hands and texas hold em poker online game.