How to play rebuys

[Jim14Qc]

Hi, I recently started playing online poker (about 3 months now) and while I did fairly bad losing a couple hundreds in the first month or two, I'm now back up on my feet (thanks largely to 2+2 books and other online material) and I started playing some MTT's. I am mostly interested in the rebuy tournaments since I can't figure out the best way to approach them. I first decided not to use any re-buy/add-on and came in 55th in my first try ever at a 5$+R PS 40k$ which was pretty sweet, but it seems like it's ann all-in festival in the first 30-60 minutes of any rebuy tourney and it's quite hard NOT to rely on luck to make it to the first break. So pretty much, what's your strategy on using rebuys? All-in anytime you have AK or a high pair? Or just wait patiently??? Thanks!

[JFJB]

If you find 55th sweet wait until you come in first...

Once you had a taste of first place that is what you will aim and should aim for.

To do this you need to build a stack and the rebuy period eliminates the going broke factor so it is a good time to try to build your stack. To build a stack you need to look at the size of the pot versus what you have to put in (pot odds), your oponents card range and then your cards and position (if it is not an all in pre-flop call) to figure out if you think the bet is a good one or not.

[elstunar]

Quoted from the faq:

"15. How should I play rebuys?
There is no set in stone way, here are a few guidelines:

2+2ers generally like to take an immediate rebuy (double your stack before you play the first hand) but many don’t do this. Taking the add-on however is all but compulsory, the only real time you shouldn’t be taking it is when you have very few chips at the end of the rebuy period and have given up on cashing in the tournament. In other words, passing on the add-on is tantamount to giving up on the tournament completely.

When considering playing a rebuy, realize that you need to be budgeted to spend 3-4 times the buy-in at least, playing a rebuy as if it were a freezeout and quitting if you lose your chips is extremely ill-advised. In terms of how you want to play during the rebuy period, you shouldn’t depart from your regular game too much, some players like to slightly adjust their thinking and pretend their M is actually < 10 when it isn't. The main thing to do is take into consideration the way other people are playing and adjust accordingly, a lot of people play very loose/bad poker during the rebuy period determined to come out of it as the chip leader, you need to take advantage of that.

Also, Party Poker has a 'bug' affecting it's rebuy tournaments which allow players to rebuy whenever they are all-in (regardless of the outcome of the hand). The bug is pretty much common knowledge and used by many players. Whether or not you want to use it, it's something you should know about."

[clickk]

I am not experienced player, but I have some doubt over not making add on if chips are too low.

Say you go busted in 58 min., do you intend to continue? If I continue and take 1 rebuy for 1500 chips (PS structure), and another 1 rebuy for 1500 chips coz you still only have 1500 chips, and take the addon for 2000 chips you have 5000 chips i.e. 33x BB after the rebuy period, not very deep but plenty to work. If you have only like 3x BB after addon like in those 6min/level tournament in Paradise then you might better try it another day.

Also I think if you have low stack your EV per chip is greater than a huge stack so rebuy and addon looks good for me. The only reason concerned is if the rebuy and addon have fee then it could make the R&A -EV. If no fee is included I would definite rebuy. (In $1 R&A tournament on iPoker that I some time play I paid $1.1 at the beginning and for each rebuy and addon I only pay $1. In Stars 3+R there's no fee involved.)

I think the major difference affecting your play between freezeout and rebuy is survival is less important so you may call those all-in with more hands than in a freezeout, provided you have read when you call with like AQ.

Building stacks is important but it doesn't mean you can make bad play (which is -EV anyway) so you can gamble all your way to get a big stack. If you build it this way you are certain of losing money. I've just won a rebuy tournament but the stack size after rebuy period wasn't very good (just about buy-in + 1 rebuy + addon which was what I've paid).

Another good thing in rebuy tournament that I like is bad players contribute more cash to the pool. They stay there for more than 1 hour and easily make like 10 rebuys because of gambling with trash hands. While in freezeout a lot of those players left the table in the 1st 10 min.

[HerbieGRD]

[ QUOTE ]
Another good thing in rebuy tournament that I like is bad players contribute more cash to the pool. They stay there for more than 1 hour and easily make like 10 rebuys because of gambling with trash hands. While in freezeout a lot of those players left the table in the 1st 10 min.

[/ QUOTE ]

Be very careful labeling these players bad - many of the very best rebuy players gamble with trash hands during the rebuy period to build a big stack and then stack people who think they are bad after the rebuy period is over...

[Joe7280]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Another good thing in rebuy tournament that I like is bad players contribute more cash to the pool. They stay there for more than 1 hour and easily make like 10 rebuys because of gambling with trash hands. While in freezeout a lot of those players left the table in the 1st 10 min.

[/ QUOTE ]

Be very careful labeling these players bad - many of the very best rebuy players gamble with trash hands during the rebuy period to build a big stack and then stack people who think they are bad after the rebuy period is over...

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed, not all of those players are just throwing money away, most of them know exactly what they are doing. I generally wait for decent hands in the $3+R during the rebuy period before going all in. If I lose, I rebuy and stay in. I put $27 into the tourney last night, and started the freezeout with only $5300 in chips including the add on. I went on to take 148th place and got $40+ for my troubles without building a big stack early. If you are a good player, you don't need a huge stack to go far. All you need is 10+ BB's, and a lot of patience.

[Jeff76]

I played a rebuy last night. Didn't rebuy at all- just took my 1500 chips. Waited for AA and shoved. Got em again and shoved again. Added on at the end and ended up w/ 8K. Not bad for two buy ins.

Not optimal strategy I think (should rebuy immediatly so I have 3K), but lots of cheap fun. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Yeah, yeah, I know. Low content.

[skylos]

I don't have that much experience but I would say don't feel like a quitter if you decide to give up before the first hour. I used to think all the people who got busted before the first break and didnt rebuy were stupid fish padding the prize pool but for the first time last night I was one of those people. I had only invested $6 in a $3 so far and got KK busted by A7 for a pretty big pot the last hand before the break and just couldnt get myself to spend another $6 to only have 3k in chips when the average was like 10k.

[omaha]

You have to read masons book, cant remember which one it is.

Basically, he assumes that everyone is of equal playing ability, and then calculated the ev change in rebuying when broke, and when up.

Basically, rebuying is always correct when you are bust, and in fact, is ev negative for the leaders!!!!!!!

Thus, he says, firstly, to realise that you really need the BR to have many many potential buyins than for a freezout(as you SHOULD be rebuying EVERYTIME you go busto- unless of course, you are majorly on tilt, have had a heart attack or the identical blonde twins from next door need the sunscreen applied to their naked nubile bodies)

Secondly, rebuying if you are ahead (which party doesnt allow anyway) is ev neg for the leaders.

WIth party allowing a rebuy of more chips than you initially purchased, he does not comment on the situation. However, I assume that if you are towards the bottom end, it would have to be ev+, and if you were up in the leaderboard, it would be ev-ve