Question about add-on decisions
 

At my local B&M I play in a weekly $50+$15+$5 tourney with one $50 rebuy/add-on during the first hour (the xtra $5 gets you an additional T1000 up front). We begin with T2500 with blinds at $25-$50. It's not a very good structure, but leaving aside that for a moment, I'm wondering when it is worth/not worth taking the T2000 add-on at the end of the first hour. After the add-on period, the blinds are 100-200 with a 25 ante.

How few or how many chips makes taking the add-on a bad play? Or is it better strategy to take the add-on immediately at the start of the tourney?

Maybe my questions aren't clear (or maybe the structure of the toruney renders this concern pointless), but the bottom line question is when is it not worth investing an extra $50 into the tournament because you're already too weak or too strong for it to have an appreciable effect on your chances?

Re: Question about add-on decisions
 

I think you need to clear up some of the numbers.

its 50 for 1500 or 2500 chips ?
Then you can pay 5 for 1k more ?
Then you can either rebuy or addon 50 for 2000 but only once? and only up until the first hour ?

As some general thoughts:
Generally you should take the addon provided you a: still feel you are favored compared to the average person in the field, and b: have enough chips to have any realistic chance of Final Tabling.

As for wether using it as an addon at the end, or saving it for a rebuy if you bust, or using it right away... thats a complicated question. My guess is that mathematically the best play from EV perspective is taking it right away is the best. My guess is many players have a viceral reaction to wanting to save it in case they bust due to bad luck (bad beat)... my guess is that mathematically that thinking is unsound. If you could constantly re-enter a similar tourney, taking it right away probably is best, given that your can only play this tournament live every now and then, maybe saving it for a rebuy if you bust then taking the add on if you have any realistic chance to final table is best.

Re: Question about add-on decisions
 

To clear up the numbers w/r/t the tourney, the $50+$15 gets you T1500, and the optional $5 add-on gets you an additional T1000. In effect, all but the most stingy begin with T2500.

On the subject of the add-on, in practice I think about what the xtra T2000 will do for my M for the next round. If the add-on allows me one more level out of the desperation zone, I figure it is worth it. What I wonder is a) how many chips I'd have to accumulate in the first hour to be able to pass up the rebuy, or b) how little an improvement in M I'd get from a rebuy to make it not worth the additional investment.

It's worth mentioning, too, that this is typically a 100 man tournament, with 10 players getting paid from a pool of approx. $8-9K.

I am curious about the mathematical considerations in deciding to add on immediately. It seems to me it only becomes relevant during the final level of the first hour, or the last level before the rebuy period ends. For instance, one week I was busted on the very first hand, at which point I rebought. In that scenario, it would not have mattered if I rebought before or after I played the hand, as I would have been left with the rebuy amount anyway. That's the baseline of irrelevancy, but where does it go from there?

Re: Question about add-on decisions
 

bump for the late night crowd.

Re: Question about add-on decisions
 

i always addon, i think its always worth it.

btw

i had 60k at end of the 5r PLO 6 max, last nite and was a huge chipleader by like over 30k, average was under 9k and i still added on. So why not?

Re: Question about add-on decisions
 

This has been discussed ad nauseum. Check the anthology at the top of the MTT forum.

Re: Question about add-on decisions
 

add on if it increases your stack by 30% or more, sounds like in this low M event adding on is standard, if you have 15K in the stars 10r if you already have table covered addon is unneccesary