home tourney - 1 rebuy

[housenuts]

i'm going in a home tourney in a few weeks that is going to offer 1 rebuy (when you are out of chips, you can't rebuy when you still have chips left). there will probably be 60-80 people there, and i assume it will be 50% fish, 40% competent, and 10% solid players. those numbers are by no means accurate but a rough estimate. if they are off i would bet there is more better players and less fish, but i don't know.

anyways here's my question. how does strategy change when you are only allowed one rebuy compared to unlimited? the rebuy period lasts for the first 2 hours. at the end of 2 hours the blinds are 40/80. 1,000 starting chips.

here is the payout schedule assuming 70 players.

Place Prize Percentage
1 $1,000 28.57%
2 $750 21.43%
3 $600 17.14%
4 $400 11.43%
5 $300 8.57%
6 $200 5.71%
7 $150 4.29%
8 $100 2.86%

it is roughly the same for 60 or 80. the only caveat is ALL rebuy money goes to 1st prize. this is something i've tried to dispute but it's not going to change. this often results in deal-making because there's such a huge difference between 1st and 2nd.

so how to proceed? i think i'm gonna start off by firing at most pots. pushing small edges like any rebuy tourney. is this smart considering there's only one rebuy? by the way it's $50 buy-in. i wouldn't complain having to buy-in twice, but i'd rather not. really any suggestions on this type of format would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

[smoore]

I would play it like a freezeout. I probably wouldn't even take such an absurd rebuy, "I'll wait for the cash game, back after dinner!"

[Eric H]

One rebuy only when out of chips? That's a little strange. And the payout? Wierd! How do they get people to play with that format?

[housenuts]

we are students and they isn't much else available around these parts. it's actually a very well run tourney.

why would you play it like a freezeout? is there no sense gambling with your first buy-in?

[Lottery Larry]

The "all rebuy money to first" isn't a good rule IMHO.

[housenuts]

no it's not, and i've discussed with him about it. i don't know why he likes it so much. one reason he stated is that it makes deals more likely at the end which speeds up the process.

i don't know if this is his answer, but he's run alot of tourneys and this is how it's always been.

[Fins]

I think you definitely play it like there were no rebuys... too many people (i.e. too much money in play) to justify a dbl up... hey if you see an opportunity and the xtra $50 would be worth it for +EV (entertainment value /images/graemlins/wink.gif) then jump all over it... getting no cards and dropped to 500 then maybe, but what's a 1000 chips going to get you with 70k in play?

Two real recent threads might be of interest though I know you said they'll be a higher % of competent competitors... playing beginners:
Thread 1 (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=1796677&page=0&view=colla psed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1)
Thread 2 (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=1178151&page=0&view=colla psed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1#Post1843197)

My 2¢,
Fins

[smoore]

I don't see any sense in gambling with your first buyin because of the strange payout structure. As you know, with a regular rebuy the rebuys are "spread" across the prize structure. So if I'm 15 hands into this tournament and get my allin AA cracked I'll probably buy another but I'm not trying to gamble it up like I would in a regular rebuy tournament.

[housenuts]

i've thought of a bit of a revised strategy. i'm not going to gamble it up but if a lose a sizeable pot and am shortstacked i am going to start gambling pretty quick.

no sense trying to grind it out as a shortstack when a full stack is just around the corner.