Can this be fair?

[Vee Quiva]

I played in my first B&M no limit hold'em tournament on Monday. $25 buy in for $300 in tournament chips. Unlimited rebuys for the first hour for $20. There is a rule that if you go all in, then whip out your $20 before the hand is over, you will be granted your rebuy, even if you win the pot and your original stack grows above the initial $300. Does this seem fair to everyone?

I was surprised by the amount of rebuys that everyone used. What is the best strategy for utilizing your rebuys? Since it was my first tournament I felt I would be throwing my money away on the rebuys, so I only bought one. Had lousy starting cards the whole time and only lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

[McMelchior]

It is not clear from you post whether you ONLY can re-buy during an all-in hand, or if you can wait until the showdown and then decide to rebuy should you go broke?

If the latter is the case, I don't see any "unfairness" in the rule ... it doesn't favorize anybody in particular, but it probably provides for a lot of action. I wonder why you think it's not fair?

My strategy for re-buy tournaments is to take an initial rebuy if that's possible, or to rebuy immediately after losing the first few chips. I know I play much better when I have more chips than most of the players at my table - partly for psychological reasons, partly because I have the option of being an all-in threat to more players, and partly because I can gain the max from 'double-up' hands.

If there is an ad-on at the end of the rebuy period I usually take it for the same reasons, save situations where I either am extremely low on chips and the ad-on will not bring me anywhere near a competetive amount, or I have a huge chip lead and the cost per chip for the ad-on is substantially higher than the expected improvement in my chances of a money finish warrants.

Whether to rebuy if I go broke during the rebuy period depends completely of my perception of the quality of the other players ... the worse players, the more likely I'll rebuy.

Best,

McMelchior (Johan)

[Greg (FossilMan)]

Fair? Sure. Everybody is playing under the same rules, and the rules weren't written in a manner that intentionally favors any person or group in particular. So, it must be fair.

Reasonable? Maybe not. It is a huge incentive to get it all-in on occasions where you might not otherwise do so. For example, if I had T500 in my stack, and you have T200, I don't want to bet T200, but instead T500 all-in, because then I can rebuy while you're thinking. Or, if that's not allowed, imagine a T500 pot, T500 in my stack, more than T500 in yours. Maybe I would preferably bet T250, because I have the nuts and I think you'll call that amount every time, but if I bet all-in, I expect you to call only about 45% of the time. Now, by going all-in, I lose a little EV from your calls, but gain the right to rebuy, whether you call or not.

I don't think it's the best rule, but it's not terrible. Just a small mistake by the rule-maker.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)