The Microgaming Poker Network is making plans to change the way rakes are calculated for their online poker sites.

According to an announcement made on January 5, 2010, the online poker giant will be switching from a so called contribution method to a weighted contribution method.

The current method allocates rake between the different operators based on the amount of players they have in a hand and does not take into consideration the amount of contributions to the pot.

This type of system has been considered to be particularly helpful to online poker room operators with lots of “rakeback grinders.”

The company plans to enforce a new way of calculating rake by proportioning it according to the total amount put into each pot. This is expected to provide a fairer rake distribution and will lure operators into encouraging a broader range of skill when it comes to their players instead of catering mostly to those with a high skill level.

Another problem which will likely be lessened by the new method is the usage of rakeback. Many online poker rooms are overshadowed by others on the same network offering better deals. These methods are frowned upon by the network.

“The introduction of the new weighted contribution will reward operators with a greater proportion of looser, fishy type players, encouraging them to target these players proactively whilst making rakeback as a practice less attractive within the Network,” Andrew Clucas, a spokesman for Microgaming explained.

“It is believed this initiative will encourage the right sort of contributing players into the Network whilst discouraging the grinding type of behaviours which can be so negative to the health of the Network.”

iPoker Network has already made the switch to the new rake method and has also banned poker rooms with poor practices in hopes of stopping the practice of “rakeback grinding” and to bring in casual players.

Microgaming poker rooms include WildJackPoker.com and CoolHandPoker.com