Quote Originally Posted by Keith View Post
secondly , don't get obsessed about rakeback. sure its nice but merge stopped offering it last year,bovada have stopped it etc etc. You may not realise it but some of the merge sites base their vip program on lifetime points earned and if you don't play for a period of time (2 months i think) they decay your points so your vip tier is based upon lifetime points earned minus decayed points. this means that you can end up getting much better VIP bonus rates compared to straight rakeback % and promotes brand loyalty because the more you play the better your vip payouts get.
This is true, but the VIP systems are quite under-rewarding.

For example, it seems that on Carbon there are 5 VIP tiers. At the top tier you will be getting 35% in daily cash rebates + eligibility to exchange 5,000 points for $50 (50/500 = 10%). So at the top tier you get the max Merge of 45%. However, to obtain this tier you need to pay $2,500 rake in a calendar month. Which isn't that hard if you are putting in solid volume at 50nl+.

However, the other tiers appear rather laughable honestly. The next highest tier (Water) gives 15% daily cash rebates + exchange of 2,500 points for $22 (22/250 = 8.8%). So you are looking to get 23.8% back. Which is a good bit lower than the traditional rakeback deals offered, and this is after you rake $1k in a month.

It's even worse for the lower tiers, which most microstakes players would obtain.

Lock VIP system seems to be a bit better, in that the lowest tier (after paying $100 in rake in a month) you receive 10% daily cash rebates + 1000 for $10 vip point exchange, for essentially 20% rakeback. Then 30% totals for next VIP tier ($500 rake in a month), 40% for next ($1k rake paid), and 45% for top ($5k rake).