[BigKyle]

This structure allows players to be more willing to spend money on the tournament. Whereas almost all of my friends complain about a possible $20 buyin, they drop $10 + $5 or $10 more + $5 or $10 more with this structure.

20-30 players, $10 buyin, Unltd. $5 rebuys, $5/$10 addon 2k/4k chips
12 green $25 chips, 7 black $100 chips, 2 purple $500 chips =
21 total chips- $2,000 in chips starting stacks (Use $1,000 chips for rebuys and addons)

Small Blind - Big Blind
25 50
50 100
100 200 END REBUYS; $5 SINGLE ADDON & $10 DOUBLE ADDON
150 300 Color up the $25 chips
200 400
300 600
400 800
600 1200
800 1600 Color up the $100 chips
1000 2000
1500 3000
2000 4000
3000 6000
4000 8000
5000 10000

For example, we had 16 players buyin for $10 each. 14 rebuys, 10 single addons and 4 double addons. So instead of a regular $160 prize pool with a $100-$40-$20 payout, we had a prize pool of $320. The payout was $200-$80-$40. I got second in that tournament with just one buyin and one single addon, so I spent $15 to win $80. This type of structure also seems to be like the ones at the daily NL tournaments at casinos. We played ours with 3 levels of 20 mins, and the rest 15 mins each. Our game ended at the 3000/6000 level after about 3:20.

[Captn_All_In]

Hey Kyle...

I really like this structure. I was curious though not everybody got a rebuy...do you know why? Were those 2 players that were opposed to rebuys, or were they in a position where they did not need to rebuy, or did only a few players rebuy more than once??

Also, how did you introduce/explain how a rebuy tournament worked to your group? Was anybody openly opposed to this type of tournament?

Sorry for the 20 questions...but I am pretty interested to hear about your experiences!

Thanks, Capt.

[BigKyle]

Hey Captn,

There were a few players who chose not to rebuy or addon whatsoever. I don't know if some did not want to pay or could not pay, but they didn't. I know for a fact that one player who didn't rebuy/addon was a big chip leader, having won a 3-way all-in early in the tournament (AA v. KK v. JJ). He ended up winning the tournament, and spent only $10 to earn $200.

I approached the change to a rebuy format like this. We typically get about 15 players to this tournament (sometimes 4 events per month, sometimes as few as 1). Of those 15, 6-8 are regulars. The regulars want to play for higher stakes and the newbies don't. The newbies also don't want to blow $10 in 30-45 minutes. So I basically told the better players that

A) rebuys/addons meant more money total to win from the newbies
B) they can recover from early bad beats against the noobs

I told the rooks that

A) They could be more aggressive early on against the better players
B) They would be able to play longer

As it turned out, the eventual winner (a veteran) earned more money, tripled up on two noobs, and they got to play more after a tough beat.

That 16-man tournament was last Wednesday. We had another last night. It drew a record 24 players split over three tables. Many of the guys were new to our tournament and liked the structure. We had

24 players x $10 buyin. 18 rebuys x $5. 14 single addons x $5. 8 double addons x $10. Total prize pool 240+90+70+80=$480 (very large for us). The payouts were
1st $240
2nd $120
3rd $70
4th $50
I purchased one rebuy and a single addon and ended up placing third in the tournament for a net of $50. I felt good about it because I lost a big pot early on with AsKs on a board of 10s-Js-6d. My opponent went all-in for about 1500 and I called. He had pocket Queens. Turn and river were 2d-4c.

It was basically twice as much money as our old tournaments and ten times more action . I look forward to more of these events in the future. I will let you know if we change anything.

Keep asking questions, that's what this place is for.

[Captn_All_In]

Thanks BigKyle. Your answer/reply is greatly appreciated! I am hoping to set one of these up in the near future!

[Strange]

I run a similar level tourney with a very similar structure.

The main reason I go with rebuy is that I hate the idea of anyone going out on hand number 1 having taken the evening out to play. I normally run the tournament for about 4 hours and the rebuys end after the first 2.

Most people rebuy until the break if they bust out, and about 50% add on.

It works well.

[mac40k]

Hey BK, that's the same blind structure I use except I have a 75-150 as my 3rd level; otherwise they are identical. I allow only 1 rebuy before the start of the 4th level. I think the single rebuy covers the bad beat scenarios, but doesn't promote the rediculous all-in plays (I'll either get lucky and double up or rebuy) that unlimited rebuys tend to promote. No add-ons though, I just don't like them. I have a $20 buy-in though, so the pots are comparible and we start with T2500. I think add-ons would just be more work for me and not worth it.

It's interesting how the group mentality helps drive your structure though. I've played in one $30 buy-in game that starts you short chips and allows unlimited rebuys. People bust out more and rebuy more resulting in some pretty huge pots. They'll routinely drop $60-$90 on the "usual" format, but propose a $50 buy-in and no rebuy and they are all totally against it.

[TheDuke]

Very cool idea BK. I too play with people who are put off by 'high' buy-ins. I'll try to implement re-buys into my next game.