Rebuy / Addon Questions...

[CCIE SOON]

Hello,

Ive never participated in a tourney that had rebuy/addons. Is there a particular strategy to using these? From what ive seen, at PokerStars one of the tourneys allowed "unlimited rebuys/addons until the first break" and it said you must have 1500 chips or less to do an addon/rebuy. So am i misunderstanding this or can i fold my first SB, have 1490 and then plunk down the $5 or $10 and get another 1500, bringin me to 2950 basically right out of the gate? It also said 1 add on allowed at the first break. Am i not understanding this or are these just ways of easily adding to your stack without really winning?

Please correct me if im not understanding this...

CCIE SOON

[BreakfastMan]

As you mentioned, on PokerStars you can rebuy if you have your orginal 1500 or less. So you can rebuy as soon as you enter the tournment. Many people do this, as most want to grow their stack as much as possible during the rebuy period.

[drmcboy]

Yes, you can rebuy even with 1500 at the start, and you should. Expect wild play, especially in the cheap re buys. The 3 dollar ones on PS and UB are so crazy I don't even bother anymore. DO NOT BLUFF until the rebuy period ends, people willalways call with top pair and hilariously often with second/third pairs.

[mojoNOgo]

how should you play in these tourneys if you have no intention of re-buying OR adding on ?

should you play TIGHT until the first break when it all ends?

last night i played a 2.5k tourney on Noble and one guy at my table re-bought !5! times and ended up placing ITM. w/ a 10$ buyin plus 50$ in rebuys, he had to finish 10th to make his cash back, last i checked he was chipleader w/ 14 ppl left.

is this crazy-loose play for the first hour standard ? if you play these should you count on at least adding on ? or just play your game and hope for the best.

[scgolfer]

You shouldnt even play if your at least not going to immedaitely rebuy and do the addon at the break. You are putting yourself at a huge disadvantage to the field. The only way you could compete is to have several big hands that do not get "cracked" early to have at least close to the average stack. Dont play rebuys and addons if you cant afford to play.

[Sed]

how should you play in these tourneys if you have no intention of re-buying OR adding on ?

play freezeouts instead you are at a severe disadvantage if you don't rebuy/strapon. Have the bankroll to put in 5 buyins or play a lower limit.

should you play TIGHT until the first break when it all ends?

you could but will be severely disappointed when your AA or KK all in gets called by the maniac big stack 24o who can afford it and loses.

last night i played a 2.5k tourney on Noble and one guy at my table re-bought !5! times and ended up placing ITM. w/ a 10$ buyin plus 50$ in rebuys, he had to finish 10th to make his cash back, last i checked he was chipleader w/ 14 ppl left.

between the polars of playing so tight that my starting chipstack lasts the rebuy period and so loose that I have to rebuy 10-15 times is where I like to play them... a rebuy or three and an addon is expected. Allow yourself to get lucky during this period.

- sed

[mojoNOgo]

this was my first exposure to a rebuy/addon style tourney.
im used to the party tourneys where once your gone, your gone.

next time i play one of these ill allow myself to re-buy 2x if i get knocked out on a silly call. ill even buy those xtra chips at the break.

like the loose+crazy player told me, 'the real game doesnt start til after the break'.

[Legendash]

Yeah rebuys are crazy, you need to allow 5 rebuys and probably the add on unless you're in the top few. I played one today and quintupled up on the first hand with TT. Because it was a turbo this stack didn't take me the distance but it was pretty fun and i didn't rebuy or add on.

[aleksandr]

As you know, MTTs are all about stack size, who has the most chips. Good players will invest alot of money here to get alot of chips on the table that they can make back later. Your objective is to double up several times and have a better than average stack that you can use to dominate the shorter stacks at the break, and your best chance of doing this is to push with any 2 cards that are suited, connected, or high and rebuying lots.

[boost]

when I first started to play rebuys a couple months ago, I would play REALLY tight, but I only played them for fun because a lot of other ftr's would be in, so I would just do it for kicks. This CAN work, but if you dont get cards, you can forget about it.

The way I prefer to play now is like a mad man, esp at a tighter table, go AI almost every hand, any live cards, any connections (suited or not) any PP any decent over cards, any thing live. people will fold at first, but eventually youll get 4 or 5 people AI at once, if you hit GREAT!!! if not, thats 3 or 4 rebuys then probalby 2 or 3 addons, thats more chips at your table. early in the first hour its good to look at your table as a deposit safe, you just need to find a way to withdrawl the chips during the first hour. If you play the first strategy mentioned (tight) and your table is tight too, you are screwed, because even if you do get a good string of hands, there arent enough chips at your table to build your stack. the big stack will probably be 5k, everyone else at 1500-3500. Even if you miss repeatedly, there are so many more chips available to you at your table now.

[Staple Gun]

I think that playing tight is a better strategy for the rebuy period. If you play tight, when you get a hand you can usually double up. By taking advantage of all the people willing to double you up you can get a lot of free chips. In a R/A tourney if i get AA, KK, QQ or AK first hand i will do all in out of the blue. Usually someone who knows they can rebuy will call with hands like KQ or low pockets. I dont see why you would want to throw your money away with all the other people when you can just be the one taking it.

[Legendash]

What boost says is spot on, if you're stuck at a tight table with say 20000 chips on it at the end of the first hour and then you get moved to another table where they've all been rebuying like madmen and the table has 100000 chips you are immediately at a huge disadvantage and need to double up in the first orbit or two. At the same time all these monster stacks are going to start respecting each other because they can't rebuy anymore but you'll get no respect as a short stack. The only advantage of playing tight is not needing to rebuy/add on, but then why the hell aren't you playing a freezeout? Plus rebuy periods are fun if you are rolled for it (which you obviously should be)