rebuy tournaments

[Cincy Peach]

Regarding tournaments which offer unlimited rebuys before the break, the only limit being that you must be below the original buyin:

which is true . . .

A) rebuy tournaments are not 'real' tournaments. You are pitted against opponants who play with reckless abandon because they can rebuy at the speed of thought. Even tight play does not prevent them winning some hands where they were not favored, meaning I will have to rebuy because they play like drunken sailers.

B) The rebuy does increase the varience, but all that loose money pumped in is +EV for the competant player.

OK/ for better or worse, i am playing them so question #2:

which is true:

A) my performance is a ratio of my buyins to my wins, so I want to avoid rebuys unless neccessary.

B) I am going to get opportunities to go all in when I am very confident I am a heavy favorite, therefore, I should rebuy whenever possible to mazimize this advantage. In particular, if I fold my first hand and am one big blind short of the original buy-in, I should rebuy immediately to be ready to take down the large stacks that show up quickly in these tournaments.

I keep vacilating in my opinion about rebuys (usually based on my most recent experience); would appreciate the thoughts of more experienced and successful tournament players.

[bigt2k4]

I like to call the 1st hand and then rebuy right away and then resort to my normal style of poker, usually playin TAG as people will call all ins with tp no kicker in 1st hr

Rebuy tourneys where people go all in like drunken sailors rock. Varience is higher yes, but if you play TAG, and you can afford a rebuy or 2, your almost a shoe in to do really well.

I play in a rebuy tourney every Tue, i have been there 6 times now for this, everyone is loosey goosey like you described, and in the 6 times i have been there, i have finished 2nd, 3rd twice, 4th, and 5th twice. one of the 5th place finishes i got busted out when i had aces, and the other A/K.

Rebuy tourneys where people act the fool are easy

[odellthurman]

I feel that my edge is greater in rebuy tourneys, because it has more of a deep-stack structure after the first break than you find in most other online tourneys, due to the large amount of chips in play.

I've had good success with R&A tourneys. Fun stuff. I think Mason wrote that you should have five or six rebuys ready to go and that rebuying is usually correct. Yes, I usually rebuy ASAP to get a big stack, and I always add-on at the break. Paradise runs a lot of R&A tourneys, and usually you get 1500 in chips for the buy-in and a rebuy, then 2500 for an add-on at the break. The prizes skyrocket at the break, but the payout structure stays the same (places 1-50 or whatever.) One strategy that I've seen but don't usually use is if your stack is just above the rebuy level before the break, peel off enough chips to get below the level. Then rebuy and add-on at the break.

ScottieK

[AaronBrown]

I wouldn't say unlimited rebuy tournaments are "not real tournaments," but they are not as good a test of poker skill as no-rebuy tournaments. The option to rebuy helps bad players more than good ones. However, as you say, they are often looser so you might be able to make more money.

It's almost always advantageous to rebuy as much as allowed.

[TomHimself]

[ QUOTE ]
I wouldn't say unlimited rebuy tournaments are "not real tournaments," but they are not as good a test of poker skill as no-rebuy tournaments. The option to rebuy helps bad players more than good ones. However, as you say, they are often looser so you might be able to make more money.

It's almost always advantageous to rebuy as much as allowed.

[/ QUOTE ]rebuy tournies are better for better players because it is deepstacked
just because you are loose in rebuy period doesnt mean you are going to be throughout the tourney

[AaronBrown]

[ QUOTE ]
rebuy tournies are better for better players because it is deepstacked
just because you are loose in rebuy period doesnt mean you are going to be throughout the tourney

[/ QUOTE ]
I see your point, but I think the disadvantage of rebuy more than offsets the advantage of deep stacks.

Good players are less likely to go broke than bad ones, so they get less advantage from the option to rebuy. In the extreme of unlimited rebuys, the richest player would win, not the best.

As a practical matter, many bad players also use the rebuy option badly. If you include that factor, maybe you're right that rebuys are a net advantage to the good players. But you don't have to be a good poker player to know when to rebuy (almost always).

[Xhad]

Basic EV calculation for you:

There is a $100 prize pool we are playing for heads-up. I have a 25% chance to win but paid $10 to enter, while you have a 75% chance to win but paid $90. Who is getting the better deal?

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I recall FossilMan saying that if you're not willing to take every rebuy and add-on to which you're entitled, don't play rebuy events.

I also recall some other pros saying that they assume they'll make an average of 7 rebuys evey time they enter a rebuy event. I think that's a good rule of thumb. If you're not willing to consider anything under 7 buy-ins as getting in cheaply - don't play.