Small rebuy tourney strategy...

[PantsOnFire]

We all know the fun of the low buyin rebuy MTT. There's nothing better than being at a table of maniacs and sitting back and waiting to double or triple up.

However, I was in one that was so wild, I was wondering if I was doing too much waiting. This one had a good structure with 12 minute levels so the speed of the tourney was not really a concern like a turbo.

I have some general strategy questions (let's say your stack is the standard two rebuys and it is the first level so most stacks are around 2 rebuys):

1. Knowing the looseness, what hands do you raise for value? For example, TT or JJ is a good hand to raise for value in a normal tourney but you know a lot of Arag Kxs, etc. are going to call a raise here.

2. If there is consistly a pf limpfest, do you range down to hands like Kxs or one-gapped unsuited connectors?

3. Is your postflop play a little more aggressive? For example, you have TPTK on a wet board. Do you overbet here?

4. If there are multiple all-ins pf, like say 5-6 in front of you, what hands do you call with with the chance for a megastack in one hand?

5. If the pot is big enough on the flop, do you just shove a hand like the nut flush draw?

7. Do you play Arag cheap pf and hope to hit two pair or a baby straight?

[helter skelter]

I loosen up on a loose table, but not as loose as my opponents. Assuming your'e on a loose table.

1. I think raising for value is OK since you should charge to see the flop and can bail out on bad flops.

2. I limp in a lot with hands like those if its not being raised

3. I think since massive overbetting gets called by any draw, it should be done.

4. I fold small pairs but call with TT+, AK, AQ, AJs. If I see people showing down stuff like Axs, Kxs, suited connectors, KT etc., I lower standards even more, like 77-99 and maybe other high suited connectors.

5. If I still have a smallish stack, I am probably already getting odds with one caller. Since I may get more than one caller, it will usually be a good bet. If I have built up a big stack,though, I want to play cautiously if there is another big stack involved in the hand.

7. I do because the implied odds are there, just as with the other hands you mentioned. If its being raised frequently or is raised behind me, though, I don't (but you said cheap)

I don't know if any of this is correct, but this is how I have been playing them.

The ones on Stars have 15 min levels. Sometimes its crazy from the gate, sometimes a few hands will pass before it gets crazy, sometimes it will be tight for awhile and then get crazier toward the end. Sometimes its crazy for awhile and then tightens up toward the end. It is not often that the table plays normally for the whole rebuy period (1 hour), so you couldnt' going wrong just playing solid poker.

Like I said, I don't know if the way I play them is correct, but my perception is that I don't end up rebuying as often as others while building my stack.

[Proofrock]

My responses apply to small buy-in (<$10), large field (>800 entrants) tournaments during the rebuy period where you feel adequately bankrolled to gamble.

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1. Knowing the looseness, what hands do you raise for value? For example, TT or JJ is a good hand to raise for value in a normal tourney but you know a lot of Arag Kxs, etc. are going to call a raise here.

[/ QUOTE ]
I generally open-shove AJ+,KQs,88+ for value. Not because I'm afraid of getting sucked out on, but people call 200+BB shoves really light during the rebuy period in low buy-in tournaments.

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2. If there is consistly a pf limpfest, do you range down to hands like Kxs or one-gapped unsuited connectors?

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I play any hand that can hit the flop hard enough to win a multiway pot -- suited connectors and one-gappers, suited aces, suited kings, any two broadway cards, and low-mid PPs. If I expect a lot of limpers I limp with these, but also shove sometimes.

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3. Is your postflop play a little more aggressive? For example, you have TPTK on a wet board. Do you overbet here?

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Postflop play is pretty much "shove anything with a good shot at winning the pot."

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4. If there are multiple all-ins pf, like say 5-6 in front of you, what hands do you call with with the chance for a megastack in one hand?

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Any hand that I would limp or shove (see 1 and 2 above).

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5. If the pot is big enough on the flop, do you just shove a hand like the nut flush draw?

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Yep.

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7. Do you play Arag cheap pf and hope to hit two pair or a baby straight?

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Depends on the table, but sure. I usually only play them if they're suited, though.

[van_exel_fan]

Jam pot with big pairs as much as possible and limp with any suited aces (nut flush draw potential) and suited connectors. Ideally you flop monster draws and are able to get it in in big pots against many top pair/overpairs.

[PantsOnFire]

This one is regarding your own stack size. Say one rebuy is 1000 chips and you are allowed to start with 2 rebuys and rebuy again when you go below 1000. I think this is pretty standard.

I choose 2 rebuys all the time. If I get a chance to double up I want to go from 2000 to 4000.

So my question is how do you handle your stack? When my stack is 2000, I am pretty loose (given I have plenty of bankroll to just buyin again for two rebuys).

However, if you have say 4000, do you tighten up a bit? It seems that chips over the original rebuy amount shouldn't be as loosely played since they are earned. For example, at 2500 chips you can probably still take some all-in shots. But when you get to say 5000, it might not be such a good idea to go against a bigger stack and risk going back to 2000. I would also presume that near the end of the buyin period, this would be even more important.

[helter skelter]

[ QUOTE ]
This one is regarding your own stack size. Say one rebuy is 1000 chips and you are allowed to start with 2 rebuys and rebuy again when you go below 1000. I think this is pretty standard.

I choose 2 rebuys all the time. If I get a chance to double up I want to go from 2000 to 4000.

So my question is how do you handle your stack? When my stack is 2000, I am pretty loose (given I have plenty of bankroll to just buyin again for two rebuys).

However, if you have say 4000, do you tighten up a bit? It seems that chips over the original rebuy amount shouldn't be as loosely played since they are earned. For example, at 2500 chips you can probably still take some all-in shots. But when you get to say 5000, it might not be such a good idea to go against a bigger stack and risk going back to 2000. I would also presume that near the end of the buyin period, this would be even more important.

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I think you need to be cautious if you are against another big stack or there is a big stack yet to act. But if you've seen this big stack move in with crappy hands even after he had a big stack, then you have a chance to double to a monster stack, provided you have half decent hand and there are no threatening stacks yet to act ( although, see 2-1 principle below. you might end up with a super monster stack ).

Towards the end, it depends on the table. Sometimes there are players that appear to be desperately trying to build a stack near the end and are moving in with garbage. If you are last to act against them, then you want to call with any half decent hand. But even if not last to act, the way I see it is I don't need a premium hand to call, because even if a better hand calls behind me, I am getting 2-1 against 1 hand that is likely to be worse and 1 hand that is likely to be better. Here again, though, you have to be cautious if there is a big threatening stack behind you.


[After I wrote this, I decided to finally install pokerstove to test my intuition]


Actually, it looks like you don't have to worry too much about the big stack behind you. For my example, I use your tourney with 1000 buyins and the situation where there is a big stack donk moving in front of you, you have the same stack and a big stack behind you. You each have 5000. For simplicity, I have to ignore the rest of the table with smaller stacks. I used the pokerstove slider to give you a approx top 10% range and the big stack behind you will overcall with approx top 5%. The donk will move in with ATC.







The results suggest that you could raise the donks standards and/or expand yours and the overcallers range quite a bit and still have positive equity in the long run. However after the hand, you're either going to have 0, 10000 or 15000 chips depending on the outcome, so it depends on how that affects you too, I guess.