how many rebuys are too many?

[bestcellar]

I've gotten into trouble a couple of times recently...gotten clocked by bad beats twice or three times and before I know it I'm in for 8 or 9 buy ins trying to catch the other end of the variance...at what point do you think it's correct to stop rebuying and just call it a night in the first hour?

[sloth469]

I take every rebuy I can.

[neotope]

[ QUOTE ]
I've gotten into trouble a couple of times recently...gotten clocked by bad beats twice or three times and before I know it I'm in for 8 or 9 buy ins trying to catch the other end of the variance...at what point do you think it's correct to stop rebuying and just call it a night in the first hour?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this question depends a lot on the structure of the tournament and the players. If you are playing in a regular homegame with the same players all the time and you know you have a good chance to finish high in the money then it is probably right to take all the rebuys you need.

If you are playing at a casino and are getting outplayed at your table then it is probably not to your best interest to take a lot of rebuys.

Don't rebuy just because your suited ace lost to kings and you want to get even.

[bestcellar]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've gotten into trouble a couple of times recently...gotten clocked by bad beats twice or three times and before I know it I'm in for 8 or 9 buy ins trying to catch the other end of the variance...at what point do you think it's correct to stop rebuying and just call it a night in the first hour?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this question depends a lot on the structure of the tournament and the players. If you are playing in a regular homegame with the same players all the time and you know you have a good chance to finish high in the money then it is probably right to take all the rebuys you need.

If you are playing at a casino and are getting outplayed at your table then it is probably not to your best interest to take a lot of rebuys.

Don't rebuy just because your suited ace lost to kings and you want to get even.

[/ QUOTE ]

well I don't consider a suited ace losing to kings as a "bad beat"....I'm talking online tourney, $30 buyin/rebuys, 1500TC....prize pool is a guaranteed 20k. usually, the lower tier money is like $150-$200. If you're in for $240 or so and finish 21st out of 278, you end up usually losing money...although the winner takes down 6k.

I'm just wondering if there's some kind of general guideline I should be employing.

[RevAgain]

Making the assumption that you are a good player who can expect to make money out of these things and, quite importantly, you are setting out to make money in this tournament and don't just want to while away a couple of hours playing in it regardless of cost:

The amount of money you have invested in the tournament is irrelevant. What matters is your stack compared to average, and the play of those at your table. If you are buying in and only buying in for half the average stack that's insane unless there's going to be a massive overlay from the site.

There isn't a shortage of tournaments, why buy in to one for half the average stack when you could start a fresh one for the same money with the average stack?

The worse and looser the players at your table the more you can afford to rebuy because you stand a decent chance of doubling up that rebuy but in real terms each rebuy is worse value than the original buy-in because there are more chips in play, so to be mathematically anal about it, you should never rebuy without an overlay, just find another tournament to play in.

In the UK most tournaments in casinos are rebuys as people have to travel quite a way to them and don't want to travel for an hour or two and get knocked out in 5 minutes. I would never go to a tournament without being willing to rebuy once or twice and take the add-on, but that's because of the travelling time and because I want an enjoyable night, not because it's +EV. Just like the blackjack table after the tournament [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[bestcellar]

awesome post rev...thanks for the insight

[RevAgain]

Oh, and if you want a guesstimate guideline I'd say as soon as you're rebuying for less than 75-80% of the average stack it's a bad thing in terms of EV, assuming no overlay.

[Chief911]

When you are playing awful.

Otherwise, hang in there, push the rebuy button a few more times, and get back in there.

Nick

[sloth469]

I find that rebuy tournaments are by far the most profitable. Quite a few weak players gain pretty big stacks by pushing TPTK or worse during the rebuy period and quite a few players decide to call it quits beforethe rebuy period ends.

After break instead of the normal 10% getting paid it is closer to 15% or more and there are usually a fair share of easy to come by chips since a good deal of the players have no idea how to play deep stack poker.

Almost every night someone from this forum that understands these concepts goes very deep if not to the final table in the stars 25k. A lot of us have no problem rebuying 4 or 5 times along the way (the night I took 3rd I put $70 in). If you can find her ask Jennicide when you should rebuy.

-sloth

[dmk]

as much as you need