Rebuy Tourneys Suck

I played a few rebuy tourneys, $8+R and $3+R on Pokerstars yesterday and I gotta say they will probably be the last I play. People going all in with low suited connectors and generally chasing any sort of flush possibility is pretty much a given within the first hour of play whereby they can simply rebuy in after losing their chips.

I've never played rebuys before because I don't like the idea of them, and I know that for every rebuy there is more added to the prize pool, but slim chance of getting past the first hour if you play tight-aggressive and aren't re-buying or adding-on during the first break.

I lost a few hands to runner-runner draws, be it straight or flush and was short-stacked so went all in when the time came, with AA. I scooped the pot but was beaten for my entire stack not much later with top 2 pair by a flush draw that he caught on the river, he had 2-3 suited ffs. Fair enough if you want to play like that and end up putting damn near $300 then so be it but the fact it was $3+R and I was only using one re-buy made it extremely frustrating.

I doubt I'll ever play a rebuy again or if I do it'll probably be a higher buy-in. I must say the $8+R wasn't so much like this but the $3+R was terrible.

Just want to hear your opinion on Re-Buy Tourneys...

The answer is simple, dont play them unless you can immediately rebuy, then be prepared to double rebuy numerious times, and add on. The idea is to built a large stack for the later stages.

Sounds like your not rolled for these. The $3r my most amount of re-buys is 15, I usually play with 6-10 in mind. If your not prepared to do this in arebuy then dont play them.

Yeah sounds like that is the typical idea for most of the people in the tourney.

I'm going to stay away from them in future most likely.

Are there ever any tourneys with limited Re-Buys/Add-Ons (ie. 1 only)?

i rarely ever do rebuys. i go in thinking 3 max REBUYS (not including an immediate rebuy in the beginning and then the addon at the break) and the past ones i've done ive only had to buy in, immediate add on, and then add on at break. i made it to the final table in the last one i did ($2 rebuy i think )

Yeah you really have to see these $3 rebuy tournaments as at least a $15 tournament, i quite often have been known to spend a lot more than this, can get a little frustrating if you run bad, but when you run good it is a lot of fun- had over 100K before first break one time in one of these- that was a great table. Personally i shove most suited cards- where one is J or higher, most A hands, any pocket pair, but you do have to be prepared to rebuy. Bad beats are a foreign concept in the first hour of a cheap rebuy- always makes me laugh when someone starts whinging about having there AK beaten by 710s, and ranting about how the guy could call a shove with 107- its a rebuy- and if someone at your table is not shoving most hands then the table doesn't have much of a chance of keeping up with the field in the following hours, as the average stack at the first break is going to be over 10k.

I play a few small rebuys from time to time, but rarely rebuy and only do an add on if it is needed. I play them more like a freeze out.

dont ever play them again then,


back to OP, like has been said if you can not afford or dont want to add on immediatly and plan on rebuying a couple times dont join them at all. There are multiple ways you can approach a rebuy and putting your money in with suited connectors is not a bad idea actully.

If you double up twice you actually have a workable stack for the 2nd hour and you have this crazy image you can use to your advantage. I did this couple days ago and I got to final table of a $2 rebuy on full tilt. I spent $10 in the tourney and left with $65 and honestly it was one of the easiest tourney I have ever played.

why would you want to go in EXPECTING to rebuy. i play them like a freezeout as well only i utilize the beginning rebuy and addon's. that makes no sense going into a tournament expecting to rebuy.

i personally play smart and try to feed off of everyone else's crazy all in's.

because you could go in playing smart and get AA cracked very 1st hand and then say oh well im done im leaving? thats just dumb as hell.

why would you put yourself at a disavantage and not add on right away. You start with 1500 chips and the rest of the table adds on for 1500 so they all start with 3000 while you start with 1500. 1st hand you get it in preflop with AA vs someones KK and you double up to 3000 INSTEAD of 6000 so in that hand you lose 3000 chips, yes you lose it because you could be sitting on a 6000 chip stack instead of a 3000 one. Its just dumb.

if you feel you are a better player then the rest of the table then you should go into it thinking you are going to have to rebuy and then win the chips back from them. I went into yesturdays freeroll, I bought in for $2 and added on right away for $2. Busted out once and double rebought for $4 and got back all my chips and got to 1st break well over average and added on again for $2 for a total of $10 invested. This should be what you should expect to spend is 5x the buyin. If you are going to play rebuys like a freezeout just play the freezeout to start with.

its the same reason Daniel N, re-bought in the 1k rebuy like 15 times last year, he knew he would get the chips back.

i think it was closer to 30 times, brian.

yea I was just pulling a number out of the air, didnt research it.

Personally, I like rebuys a lot and I regard them as much easier to win than freezeouts.

I didn`t always feel that way, though. Only a year or so ago, I felt a bit like Hustlin that they were too wild and crazy to suit me.

I think it depends where you are in the development of your tournament play. If you can change gears effectively, play loose in the rebuy period, then deepstack after the addon break, and do both styles well, they are going to be profitable for you.

However, if you don`t have that level of experience, you can shell out several buyins for the privelige of being rolled over and chewed up. I certainly wouldn`t recommend rebuys to beginning players.

If you enter a re-buy you've got to play it like a re-buy. I don't however play nuts. I try to buy for as little as possible but am willing to re-buy as needed and always add-on.

Treat a $2 RB as a $10-15 tourny and be prepared to see some wild play.
Join in only as much as you are comfortable with. AAs do get cracked but they also quadruple up. Play your strong hands fast and take advantage of those willing to go in with weak speculative hands.

Look at it this way, if you can get in for 3-5 buy-ins, someone else who did 15 is subsidizing you.

Once the RB period is over continue to play solid. Note who is still playing too fast and bust em. Even though things slow down, some donks will continue donking. By the 2nd break things return to (almost) normal. It's still generally a lil more aggressive than most regular tornys.

Goldog

If your rebuying 5-9 times in a $2 tourney why don't you just play a $15 tourney to start with? What's the advantage of rebuying?

one advantage is that you start w/more chips than those who do not rebuy.

You've also got the luxury of playing a much looser game than you normally would during the rebuy period in the hope of doubling or tripling up. Marginal hands that you might lay down in a freezeout suddenly become viable because if the hand doesn't work out... well, it's only another $2 or $4 to start over, innit

They're a different style of play, they either suit you or they don't. I've only ever played them live, where the cost of rebuys (around $25 a pop in the regular one our local casino runs) is usually prohibitive to playing them properly in relation to my bankroll. Imagine they might be fun online where it's only a couple of bucks to start over though.

I played a couple of rebuy tourneys in the past, and I really didn't mind them, mind u I don't rebuy, nor do i win but i make it the money not all the time but the times that i have more or less made all my rebuy tourneys that i've played in for free sorta speak, as for the rebuys itself, it really comes down to how fast do u want to gain chips, if ur willing to wait for monster hands and then push weather u win or lose then that's a good plan, not the right one mind u because ppl will play like donks as someone already stated no matter what stage of the game your in, but u can't lose all the time, If your willing to just wait it out, no matter how hard things become, even though they just keep taking u to bigger tables, with more donkeys, that are all-i,n all-in and all-in everytime, when u have a hand, and u push your bound to get atleast 2 callers and there u just tripled up, so with that said, my advice is don't put rebuys aside just approach it alittle differently is all.

Set a limit for the re-buy. A 3+R consider it a 12$ tournament, buy in and only rebuy 3 times max. For the first hour I play tight/tight and try to control the bad beats, which you can usually see comming. Don't gamble and put yourself in the postition to be taken advantage of, have patience and eventually your cards will pay off or the loose all/in players will be gone.

This is something I posted a few months back for my 1000th post that may be helpful if you decide to play another re-buy Re-buy tournies(1000th post)

One more point, in rebuys your postition is more important than your cards. Pay attention to the habits of the other players and don't get trapped.

I love re-buys and generally do much better in them than in freezouts.

I always re-buy right away to double up my stack, and from there on I play it like any other tournament (i.e. not like a maniac). But knowing that I can re-buy at any time I may take some bigger risks than usual.

There's a lot of dead money in these tournaments. Most of the time when the first break begins, half the playing field is already out even though every one of these players had the chance to rebuy.

rebuys should not be played the same as freeze outs

anyone who is gone b4 the first hour = dead money and is the reason rebuys are so profitable for properly rolled players.

u don't need to be a total maniac, but u should be playing looser and more aggressive trying to build a stack.

re buys play much deeper than normal freezeouts, which is a very good thing for a lot of people

Thanks guys. Maybe I'll try another and see how it goes. Do you call an all-in pre-flop or do you wait for the flop?

Just remember the most important aspect when entering a re-buy tourney and that is to make sure you are properly rolled for it.

depends on your hand, stacks, action, and reads...

post specific hands and it's easier to answer questions