cferejohn
07-22-2003, 08:01 PM
Last Sunday I played in the Lucky Chances $100+20 Sunday Evening NL tournament. You start with T1000 and can take one $100 rebuy anytime in the first 4 levels (20 minutes each). The rebuy gets you T1500. Given the fact that you more than double your chips for less than double your entry fee, it seems to me that I'm pretty much taking the rebuy at some point no matter what. The question is, when should I take it. Since I mostly play on Pokerstars and I am not used to rebuys, I decided to take it immediately and just start off with a big stack. I'm not sure this was a great idea, but I don't think it was horrible. I'm curious how others would handle this. Here's a few hands where it was relevant:
Blinds are 50/100. I've got ~3000 chips. Folded to cutoff, who is shortstacked (about 600 chips), but still had his rebuy. He raises to 300. Folded to me in the BB with A6o. Cutoff had been playing a lot of hands and it seemed to me very likely he was stealing, especially since he did not go all-in. Given his short-stack, I re-raised him all-in. He had K7 and I hit 2 6's on the flop to take his chips. If he had taken his rebuy already (i.e. had 2100 chips), I would have folded this without too much thought. But because he had not done so a) I knew that I wasn't risking that much and b) I knew he might be more prone to gamble since he still had his rebuy in front of him.
Blinds 75/150. Folded to me in the SB. I have ~3500. I have 27o. I raise to 450. BB, who has not yet taken his rebuy and has about 1300 in front of him, re-raises me all-in. I actually ended up folding, but I remember thinking that I was very close to having odds to call (in fact I was getting odds if I could be certain he had no overpair). He told me later he had AJ.
2 hands later. Blinds still 75/450. I have ~3000. Folded to me in the cutoff. I have AKs. I raise to 450. BB, who has about 2000, raises all-in (he still has his rebuy, fwiw). I think "he just saw me lay down to a much smaller all-in raise so he figures he can get away with it with a marginal hand". He is unpleasantly surprised when I call, but not nearly as unpleasantly surprised as I am when his QTs makes a broadway on the river. I certainly would not play that hand any other way. However, I was thinking that if I hadn't taken my rebuy, I probably would have just gone all-in for about 1500 (with my rebuy still in front of me), and I doubt he would have called.
Any thoughts?
Blinds are 50/100. I've got ~3000 chips. Folded to cutoff, who is shortstacked (about 600 chips), but still had his rebuy. He raises to 300. Folded to me in the BB with A6o. Cutoff had been playing a lot of hands and it seemed to me very likely he was stealing, especially since he did not go all-in. Given his short-stack, I re-raised him all-in. He had K7 and I hit 2 6's on the flop to take his chips. If he had taken his rebuy already (i.e. had 2100 chips), I would have folded this without too much thought. But because he had not done so a) I knew that I wasn't risking that much and b) I knew he might be more prone to gamble since he still had his rebuy in front of him.
Blinds 75/150. Folded to me in the SB. I have ~3500. I have 27o. I raise to 450. BB, who has not yet taken his rebuy and has about 1300 in front of him, re-raises me all-in. I actually ended up folding, but I remember thinking that I was very close to having odds to call (in fact I was getting odds if I could be certain he had no overpair). He told me later he had AJ.
2 hands later. Blinds still 75/450. I have ~3000. Folded to me in the cutoff. I have AKs. I raise to 450. BB, who has about 2000, raises all-in (he still has his rebuy, fwiw). I think "he just saw me lay down to a much smaller all-in raise so he figures he can get away with it with a marginal hand". He is unpleasantly surprised when I call, but not nearly as unpleasantly surprised as I am when his QTs makes a broadway on the river. I certainly would not play that hand any other way. However, I was thinking that if I hadn't taken my rebuy, I probably would have just gone all-in for about 1500 (with my rebuy still in front of me), and I doubt he would have called.
Any thoughts?