Live rebuy tournament, first hour strategy

[ilushan]

Well, it will be more psychology-related than poker-related, but I'll be very interested in feedback.

Yesterday I was playing in a big local Russian tournament ($50+unlim rebuys; about 100 participants; starting stack - 1500, 1 level blinds - 25-50). I won a couple of smaller tournaments earlier, but I was still underrolled for the event (my poker bankroll for live events was about $600; though I can easily add some money - not a big deal).
I decided to take a shot because big events are still rare in Russia, and more than 50% participants are brain-dead.

First hour looked like a total curse for me. I lost with top two pairs to a rivered set on the first hand. Then raised some early limpers with 1010 - one of them (definitely weak player) reraised AI, I called and lost a race against JK. Then I lost a coinflip once again (AKо < 1010) and reraised limpers once again with AKs only to face AA in BB.

So after 20 minutes of play I spent about $200 and kept getting good, but vulnerable hands - AQs, 1010. I'm playing very TAGgishly in the first hour in rebuy tournaments, but what would you do here, considering the circumstances? Would you just "sit out" literally or keep playing your usual game, putting your whole live bankroll at risk?

There is one of the best Russian players at the table ( http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/play...?a=r&n=415 ), a couple of solid players ( http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/play...a=r&n=2276 , for example) and whole bunch of donks.

Sorry, it was unbelievably long, but well, I needed it to sort it up in my head also.

Many thanks for those who just bother reading [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[registrar]

When's the break, what's the add on when you can you rebuy (no chips, instantly or with say <500?).

Without wishing to stereotype, would I be right in assuming that Russian players would be pretty manic and rebuying a lot?

What's the expected first prize? Just FT paying?

[ilushan]

Good points, registrar. Thanks for response - I respect you a lot as a poster.
Add-on is 3000 after 3 30-minutes levels (25-50, 50-100, 75-150). Rebuy is available if you have less than 1500.

Russian players during the rebuy hour (even good ones) are as manic as you can imagine. For good ones the buy-in is usually insignificant so they are ready to spend up to $300-400 in such a tournament easily.

First prize will be about $5500-6000, 10th prize will be about $400. Russian events has no antes at all (!), so the structure after the add-on is pretty deep.

Many thanks for your interest!

[Mclane665]

Your bank role is insufficient for this one although you said you could add to it no problem. You should rebuy as soon as you drop below 1500 and try and put pressure on with your big stack. Take a few chances but wait for some good cards also. always add on when you get the chance. Be prepared to race several others in a big pot. One thing I like to do in rebuys, say 3-4 players go all in preflop I call with suited connectors as low as 6-7 when they hit they usually are good enough to beat the whole table. Far better than AK if you ask me.

[registrar]

If money's not a big problem (and you can't really play the game when it's 25% of your roll just to play properly: buyin+rebuy+addon), I think at this stage you should take the insta rebuy and then sit back and play real tight while watching how your opponents play and what the stack sizes are like as the break approaches.

When I've played rebuys for which I'm substantially underolled, I've employed a very loose passive strategy, for better or worse, in the sense that I'll spend one buyin trying to see lots of flops and then folding lots of flops until I've frittered away enough that I can rebuy. So in the $50r, I was fully expecting to spend at least $200 - this has worked quite well. Of course this depends on the table dynamic and whether you can get into flops. But I like calling UTG and seeing what happens behind for example.

In terms of psychology, the worst thing is to get unlucky again, be in for $500 and have ~6k and then feel the need to make it happen. I had that in my first ever live rebuy and it really, really pissed me off when I was coolered shortly after the break. Go home then. Do NOT take on the cash tables.

[ilushan]

Registrar, sometimes I felt like you were writing about me, not about yourself. The same here.
I will be glad to see some other responses and then I'll post what happened later.

[ilushan]

Mclane, I think I made it clear that was exact what I did. I made a rebuy every time as I dropped lower than 1500 chips. But in 20 minutes I was in for $200 already and the waters became dangerous for me money-wise as I was definitely going to make an add-on no matter what.

[ilushan]

Just wanted to mention the end of the story.
I kept losing coin-flips and ended up spending $400 for the tournament. I built my stack after an add-on, but my run was finished when JJ < 55 AIPF. Flop - A27, turn - 3, river - 4.
Then I lost $100 in PL cash.
It was a tough experience, though today I feel OK about it as I won three sats today at PS - for Million, Warm-Up and Warsaw super-sat. I will sell all my seats so I will be a winning player this week anyway [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]