[jojobinks]

guys at my game don't like rebuys in our tournaments. they think it seems wrong, that you'd be able to buy back in after busting out early.

i like them b/c it'd keep the bad players active, and pump up the money pool.

how would you argue this/ introduce this in your game, if there was resistance?

[smoore]

Cut the buy-in.

I personally LOVE rebuys, but I'm good at them. Lots of average players hate them.

[breakbeat46]

Try a single rebuy and if players dont rebuy they have the option of an addon. I didnt like rebuys untill i played in a tourny structured like this. But then again I only played in unlimited rebuy tourneys.

[hayaku]

i think 1 rebuy is ok, im not too fond of the unlimited rebuy tourneys.

[FreakyD]

A friend of mine who plays in tourneys regularly also despises re-buys because he has been knocked out of the money a couple of times by players he knocked out earlier who re-bought and came back. I've empathized with him in these instances but argued that he's going to profit in the long run with re-buys in place. The weaker players in the tourneys will generally play more loose early if they have the security blanket of getting back in if they bust out. Besides, more money in the pot is always a good thing, right?


My personal preference is re-buys that are limited to a certain point in the tournament (say, the first 60-90 minutes or the first "x" blind levels) because I think this promotes the main advantages I noted above -- encouraging looser early play (allowing savvy players to build chip stacks early) and juicing the prize pool.

I'd be curious to hear opinions about add-ons. I have never played a tourney with them (admittedly I'm a tourney noob, so I'm sure it's just a matter of time), but my initial instinct is to be against them. From hearing others discuss it, an add-on is almost guaranteed to get every player taking it, just so that a player doesn't instantly have a chip disadvantage, relative to the players who take the add-on.

If the motivation behind the add-on is to juice the pot, why not just increase the buy-in? I can see the advantage of an add-on if you're surviving in the tourney but short-stacked, but the advantage is nullified if all your opponents also take the add-on, right?

[Bhudio]

I'd maybe allow one re-buy. It's been my experience that who ever has the most money in there pocket will end up winning most of the pot. In this scenerio a bad player with alot of money has a better chance of winning than a good player with little money. I host a cash game once a week and this situation happens alot. It seriously undermines the whole point of the game.

[smoore]

Ok, lets say you start with 2500 in chips and the blinds are 25/50. You allow unlimited rebuys until the BB is 500 (3hrs in my long tourns). Any time you are at or below the starting stack you can rebuy. Obviously, anyone who thinks they're a better player than the field is going to rebuy immediately (instant chip leader!). People who are basing thier play on luck don't need to rebuy, they're hoping to double up. At the end of the rebuy period offer a 3000 chip addon for the same price as the buyin.

My strategy for this style is to buy twice right away and try not to push marginal edges. I'm still going to play looser than a freezeout but I'm not going to try to get all my chips in on a coin flip, I'm going to try to limp with drawing hands and hit a monster. My goal for the end of the rebuy period is 12000 chips. I only need to modify this number if a) hardly anyone rebought or b) everyone rebought a metric buttload. If average stack is 10000 or so I'm comfortable with 12k. I must take the addon if it will get me over the average stack. If I'm above 15000, I have to look around at other stacks (esp. the good players) and determine if I'm going to take the addon. If there are some donks at my table who have bigger stacks than me but I'm still well above my goal then I don't want the addon, I'll just take that 3k from a donk or two. If the addon will only get me to say, 8000 then I also have a decision, I need to look at the texture of my table and see if I want to just try to double up early after the rebuy ends. I will almost always take the rebuy here unless I'm basically giving up. There is a lot of math behind these numbers that I don't understand, but I learned from a guy who does and this strategy has worked great for me.

After the addon I tighten up like a nun's hoochie, most people won't be able to make that transition and there will also be shortstacks that have to make a move. If you are one of the shortstacks, NOW is when you try to get all your chips in on coinflips... gotta win that first one

GL all... if you use this stack management in addition to good tourney skills you should be owning rebuy tournaments soon.

[imthatguy]

On Friday I tried something different. Usually we play 4 or 5 small ($10) tourneys. This time we did one big one. $40 buy-in with unlimited rebuys for the 1st two hours. We had four rebuys, which increased the pot substantially. The people who won cash all loved it, but none of those people had to rebuy - so you can see how it may have ticked off the guys who put the extra cash in.

Next time, I'm going back to our standard 4 or 5 mini-tourneys, it gives everyone a better chance of winning something, which encourages people coming back to my game.

[Mr Meaner]

We do rebuys at my games but you are limited to one rebuy only. If you are busted out twice you are out of the tourney.

Acctually I have two forms of rebuys.

First one is run this way. $60 buy-in get you T1500 in chips, You can rebuy (another $60) within the first two rounds of blinds if you get below T500 in chips. After this if you bust out you are just out of the tourney and those people start the cash games. These games are a little shorter 3 hours or so and our prize pool is usually around $1800 or so with around $700 going to first. Most of the time the last three player split the 1-2-3 prize pool though.

Second, $100 buy-in T1500 in chips. You have the option to rebuy ($50 = another T1500 chips) anytime you are below T500 in chips up to the fourth round of blinds. At the fourth round of blinds break if you have not rebought you have the option to add-on to your stack ($50 for T1500) Prize pool around $4000 and the top three usually make some agreement to split as well.

I like the rebuys for a couple of reasons, if you get a bad beat you have a chance to come back and win, second if you do happen to win the prize pool has grown to make it worth you while to stay in.

[hachkc]

How about this scenario. Assume starting at chips of 1000 for a $25 buy in.

- One Rebuy option by the end of the 2nd or 3rd round for 1000 chips for $25 rebuy.

- One Addon by the end of the 2nd or 3rd round for 200 chip increments per $5 upto a total of 1000 chips (remaining stack + buyin chips).


If you bust out, you can reload from scratch but if you are a short stack you can also get back to your starting chip count without having to bust out. This keeps the short stacks for going All-In right before the Rebuy period expires because they don't have to bust out to get more chips.

In essence, the rebuy/addon are almost the same thing. A rebuy can only be for 1000 chips at $25 while an addon needs to get you to at least 801 chips. Here is an example of how this would work:

Player 1 busts out and MUST rebuy 1000 chips for $25 dollars.
Player 2 has 600 chips left and adds on 400 chips for $10.
Player 3 has 700 chips left and adds on 300 chips for $10.
Player 4 has 700 chips left and adds on 200 chips for $5.
Player 5 has 755 chips left and adds on 200 chips for $5.
Player 6 has 902 chips left and adds on 98 chips for $5.

Don't let people argue about buying the exact number of chips they need to get to a 1000 chips. This becomes a headache to manage if someones needs to buy 295 chips and someone else needs to buy 155 chips. Tell them they should have bet more (or less) earlier.