Buy in strategy....

[SGS]

There is a local tournament in which there is a $10 registraition fee and a $50 buy-in. There are two optional rebuys for $50 and one $50 add-on. This would total $210. There is no minimum amount of chips needed to buy the add-on or re-buy when the period is over to do so. The re-buys are $50 for T1500. The add-on is $50 for T2000. The original buy-in of $50 gets you T1000. If you pay all $210 up front you are given a bonus T1000 in chips. So you simply start out with T7,000. If you end up using all your re-buys and add-ons you would only have gotten T6,000 in chips. Is it the best idea to pay up front and take your 7,000? Or is it better to play for a while evaluate your stack size and take however many re-buys or add-ons you may want at the end of the time period? Thanks in advance.

SGS

[sam h]

I would buy in for the maximum at the beginning every time. A 1000 chip bonus is pretty substantial, and since you only pay the house for the entry fee and the rebuys and add ons get you more for your money, you should be taking all the opportunities to buy chips anyway.

Plus, depending on the makeup of the field, you will have problems at the beginning playing a small orginal stack against good players who start with 7K.

[ohkanada]

I played in tournies with similar structures and I always bought everything at the beginning to get the bonus chips.

Ken Poklitar

[Greg (FossilMan)]

No-brainer. Buy-in up front for the bonus, OR admit that you are playing this event for significant reasons other than maximizing your EV.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)