Rebuy Insanity

[Eratosthenes]

[ QUOTE ]
"Further, the early chip leaders are not significantly more likely than a player with an average stack to make the final table or to win the tournament. With around 12 million chips in play, it does not matter too much who has 80,000 chips after the first hour when the winner will have all the chips after about 8 hours."

[/ QUOTE ]

I would like to see more of the science behind this statement. I thought my chance of winning the tournament with 80k chips was 8x my chance if I only have 10k. In these tournaments where there are 1-3k starters, it is hard to see even an 8x improvement in your expectation without a whole lot of data.

Even though I have some doubts about the data, I agree with the conclusion of the article, and when I get 10-12k chips I calm down and take fewer risks for the rest of the rebuy period. Playing solid poker during the rebuy period is too tight, having less than something like 8k really sucks during the 2nd hour of these things.

[Austiger]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"Further, the early chip leaders are not significantly more likely than a player with an average stack to make the final table or to win the tournament. With around 12 million chips in play, it does not matter too much who has 80,000 chips after the first hour when the winner will have all the chips after about 8 hours."

[/ QUOTE ]

I would like to see more of the science behind this statement. I thought my chance of winning the tournament with 80k chips was 8x my chance if I only have 10k. In these tournaments where there are 1-3k starters, it is hard to see even an 8x improvement in your expectation without a whole lot of data.

Even though I have some doubts about the data, I agree with the conclusion of the article, and when I get 10-12k chips I calm down and take fewer risks for the rest of the rebuy period. Playing solid poker during the rebuy period is too tight, having less than something like 8k really sucks during the 2nd hour of these things.

[/ QUOTE ]

The science behind it is that the article sucks.

I have wanted a knowledgable poster to do a rebuy strat post for a long time to put in the FAQ since there is a conspicuous absence there.

[degeneratedonk]

[ QUOTE ]
Playing solid poker during the rebuy period is too tight, having less than something like 8k really sucks during the 2nd hour of these things.

[/ QUOTE ]

Define "solid". I make the full rebuy in the beginning and then wait for my spots. I might rebuy once or twice if I go through too many blinds without getting a hand (I'll take some chances to get down to 1500 if I'm at like 2000). I do speculate quite a bit when I can see cheap flops in multi-way pots and I steal blinds and raise limpers in position with live cards. Otherwise I play the rebuy period the way I would any other tourney and I figure if I can make the break with an average or above average stack I've got myself one heck of an overlay.

I should qualify this by saying I've only played a few of these, so I have no idea if this is viable over a larger sample. I have no doubt there are better strategies out there, but right now this works for me. When my game gets better and I have more confidence I might amp up the aggression and put more on the line.

[dave6]

[ QUOTE ]
I was going to post on this topic, but you beat me to it.

I have a more philosophical question, which is: If you've just lost $100 in a MTT, and you have another $100 to invest, what is the logic of investing another $100 where you are by definition starting behind?

I accept that there are practical considerations in terms of availability of tournaments. But in an ideal world, where there is a tournament starting at any given moment, is there any advantage to a rebuy as opposed to entering a new tournament?

This has implications for me, as I'm very far from a pro, and I'd just as soon go mow the lawn as put more money in a situation where I'm disadvantaged.

Thanks!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

When you lose all your chips, I think there's 3 differences between rebuying in the same tournament vs. entering another identical rebuy tournament that starts in 2 minutes:

1. Rebuys aren't raked, so your chips are slightly cheaper if you rebuy.

2. You go back to the beginning of the blind structure if you start a new tournament. For good players, this should be an advantage.

3. If you rebuy, you continue playing the same people at your table. If you enter a new tournament, you get 8 random opponents. I think this is the most important consideration -- if you're at a table full of donkeys and maniacs, rebuying is very +EV. If it's a rock garden, get up and find another tournament.

[Mr_Donktastic]

Nice article...the strategy he recommends is very similar to my own strategy.

To people who play this approach and have played alot of rebuy tournaments, I'm wondering if you have an idea of what your avg buy in is?

I haven't played a lot but it seems very swingy. Sometimes I'll just make the initial rebuy and end up with a huge stack at break and other times I'll spend like $100+ and end up with like a 6k stack...

I'd guess that counting the add on that it would avg to be around like a $60-$70 investment per tournament for a $10R?