rethinking rebuy tourneys

[Cincy Peach]

Up until now, I have avoided rebuy tourneys like the plague, because I just didn't have the willingness to keep rebuying and trying to keep up with those who were willing too.

However, the availability of rebuys seems to make so many players play like madmen. That has to be bad for them, doesn't it? and in a tourney where all the rebuy money goes into the prize pool, their bad play has to be good for me. I am thinking of trying these again, without rebuying myself, with the idea that a bad player who is going to rebuy twice is no different than playing three bad players.

Is my thinking flawed? I am definately not willing to be one the the rebuyers . . .

[nmt09]

The problem is that it essentially doubles or triples the field you're up against making a cash less likely.

I've only every entered one re-buy for the same reasons as you, I was unwilling to throw money at a game.

[Pepsquad]

Just play a rebuy as though it's not a rebuy. In my experience, people are MUCH more willing to fling chips the first hour, looking for quick double/triple-up's. This only makes makes your typical solid "wait for big pockets and push" early game that much more effective. You have opponents much more willing to gamble.

[benkahuna]

It basically depends on the variance you're willing to tolerate. Rebuys are much more hectic early on with medium strength hands.
I think you're sort of in bad shape heading out of the rebuy period if you haven't doubled or tripled up in many cases, particularly in unlimited rebuy tournaments. I think single rebuys ought to just be called single mistake tournaments. You can call with top two pair without worrying so much that you're facing a set.

While the prize pool is increased, I think so is the average stack.

I treat rebuys as if they were more expensive buy in tournaments.

[AaronBrown]

If you play rebuys and don't rebuy, you're at a big disadvantage. Much better to avoid them. If you do play rebuys, make up your mind at the beginning to take maximum advantage, and make sure you have the bankroll to do it. You'll have a solid edge due to the players who can't or won't rebuy.

The reason the rebuy is good is chips are more valuable to low stack players than high stack. Your probability of winning the tournament is close to proportional to your stack if players are equal. But the winner is penalized because he wins all the chips, but only collects a portion. The more chips you have, the bigger this penalty. Therefore, the fewer chips you have, the bigger your advantage.

The degree of advantage depends on the payout structure of the tournament, plus other factors like the distribution of playing skill, but for a random example say your expectation is the average of 1/N, where N is the number of players left and S/T where S is your stack and T is the total stack.

At the start of the tournament these are the same, and equal to the cost of your buy-in minus rake. But suppose the tournament started out with 100 players and a $500 buy-in (after rake). Your initial expectation was $50,000*(1/100 + $500/$50,000)/2 = $500. But now the tournament is down to 49 other players, your rebuy is worth $50,500*(1/50 + $500/$50,500)/2 = $755.

Of course, that's only if no one else buys in. But to the extent they do, it means the advantage of rebuying declines, but so does the expectation if you don't rebuy. The relative advantage of rebuys stays the same.

[mudbuddha]

i dont know if i can agree. ive had alot of success in rebuys.. i dont know what it is, i play them as if their not rebuys and hope that i have idiots at my table who are willing to rebuy.
Hopefully I will find 1-2 guys who keep rebuying the whole way through and hopefully you wont have to..
i like rebuys bc alot of the peopel who get throught the rebuy period are god awful and they will end up being out right away when they cannot rebuy anymore.
Bigger prize pool.. same # of entries.. works 4 me..

[DRKEVDC]

If I want to play in a re-buy I figure in an initial buy, an add on and possibly one re-buy. If that pushes me over what I want to invest I find a cheaper buy in.

[JonPKibble]

[ QUOTE ]
If you play rebuys and don't rebuy, you're at a big disadvantage.

[/ QUOTE ]

What if you don't rebuy, but double up twice? Isn't that better than rebuying?

[mudbuddha]

much better

[TomCollins]

That's like sayign "well winning a tourney without rebuying is better than rebuying and bubbling".

You are comparing apples and oranges.

Doubling up twice after you rebought is significantly better than not rebuying and doubling up twice.