Rebuy/MTT Strat Guide (by request)

Hey guys I just wanted to preface posting this with a couple of things...

I posted this on a couple of other forums in the past, and naturally I was trashed and ridiculed. Sharing my strats really left a bad taste in my mouth when everything was said and done, so I haven't really discussed game theory or shared any of my ideas of holdem for quite some time because so much of the feedback and comments I got were negative..even vicious in nature.

I have mentored a few people (one on one) who went on to become winning players and I think my own MTT stats and ROI speak for themselves. I am very proud of the fact that I was able to communicate a lot of my ideas to some people and that I helped improve their game(s) or changed the way they think. That for me was satisfaction enough. A while back this guide was floating all over this internet and I was getting a ton of emails saying 'wow you really helped my game and opened my eyes' etc etc. Thats all that mattered to me.

Now by no means I am saying this guide (which I wrote when I was a moderator for another forum) is the ultimate holdem playbook. All I want to do here is share MY ideas with others...if it helps you, thats great....if you disagree, well thats fine too. I am not trying to (nor did I ever) promote this piece as the only way to approach tournament poker.

With that said, let me add that I am happy to be a new member of Cardschat and I hope after reading this, you can take something from it and with a little luck add some weapons to your arsenal(s).

Ripptyde

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ________________

"Luck comes and goes...Knowledge stays forever."

I'm going to break this down into several sections/stages, and also explain some of the strategies you should be using for both (freezout) and (rebuy/add-on) tournaments which I'll incorporate when applicable. I'm also going to include numerous hand histories to illustrate various points when the topic calls for them.


I do have a tendendency at times to ramble on and get off the 'beaten track'.... and I'll warn you ahead of time that this essay will undoubtedly be a tad 'cluttered' ...but I am confident that by the end of it , you'll have a better understanding about how to approach MTT's in general and with a little luck some of my observations and tips will help you to go deeper...more often...and who knows maybe even get a win or two

So before I get underway with the overall strategy content here, I'd like to state for the record that I admittedly have an extremely aggressive style that many players simply cannot (or will not) adopt. I take risks at various stages of tournament poker which often result in busting out. I'll be the first to confess that...BUT...What you have to understand is that if you arent WILLING to take risks and execute bluffs holding nothing (when the situation calls for it)...then I can promise you that you will never succeed at MTT poker.

There is absolutely no way you will ever make final tables in this venue of poker without occassionally taking risks which defy logic. So called 'tight' play is appropriate in the early stages of MTT's and I fully appreciate the approach (and utilize it myself) however, in mid and latter stages you simply have to be prepared to abandon 'logic' and play a much more aggressive brand of poker...always looking for opportunities to take down blinds as well as large pots when you are holding nothing but rags. Now I am not by any means advocating foolish play such as making expensive calls out of position with rag hands just because you have a 'chance' at cracking someone else holding a strong hand....not by a long shot...But what I am seeking to stress here more than anything...is that POSITION is the most valuble commodity in tournament poker....Far more valuble than hole cards. Once you begin to understand the value of position in tandem with leverage in tournament poker....you have 1/2 the battle won. You begin to look down at suited connectors licking your chops raising with them like you would with rockets when the big blind is on a short stack. Understanding the value of position combined with leverage is absolutely imperative to becoming a winning MTT player....and thats the bottom line.



The point I'm really trying to drive home here is that gaining a big stack early is vital to being able to implement some of the strategies which you are going to read about. Without a decent stack you have virtually zero chance to make it deep in MTT's so being willing to bust out early is necessary when you approach the tourney. Playing weak/tight passive poker is just going to result in spinning your wheels and finding yourself pushing all in with some mediocre starting hand when the blinds begin to threaten your stack. The idea is to stay ahead of the blinds throughout the entire tourney so you don't have to make these types of moves late.

With that said, lets get under way...



STAGE 1

Early in a large field tournament is essentially 'sink or swim' time in my opinion. Especially in a rebuy/add-on format tourney where the chip leaders often reach 50K in chips or more by the end of the first hour. Lets talk about rebuy/add on strategy first.

Typically you are going to begin a rebuy add-on tournament with 1500 in chips with an option to rebuy. The first hour of these tourneys is generally not 'real' poker..its an all-in fest with players pushing all in (even calling) with marginal and even garbage starting cards. The first hour of these tournaments are often frustrating for the novice player because they are too busy playing 'poker' and fail to realize the objective of the first hour. The objective is simple: ACCUMULATE CHIPS

I strongly suggest that when you enter an 'R/A' tourney...you commit yourself to spend 6 to 8 rebuys/add ons. The first hour is going to give you approximately 50-70 hands to play and its imperative that you are not playing 'poker' but pushing pre flop 90% of the time. Use the 1st rebuy immediately giving yourself 3000 in starting chips and then wait. Take yourself out of the mindset that you can be limping in with hands like J/10 or A/9 etc and making a hand and extracting chips after the flop. The first hour is not the time for this mindset.

Now in the first hour you WILL be dealt 3 or 4 monsters....they are coming trust me. A/A, K/K, Q/Q, A/K. But do not try and get fancy with them. With a little luck you have a loose table with lots of action, and if you just sit quietly in the wings waiting on your hand...you will get action...and 1, 2 perhaps even 3 callers on a pre flop push. Now I am not suggesting that you do not play any hands other than the ones listed above. Because when you are dealt a hand like J/10s, or Q/Kos or any low pocket pair you should also be pushing all in pre flop. (provided there are no all ins before you...these are hands that you should be initiating action with...not calling with) but what I am suggesting is that if you have been just camping out folding multiple orbits, its unlikely that you will get any action when you do catch that monster. This is reason why I strongly urge all in pre flop with even group 2 hands. To ADVERTISE !

The idea here is to establish a wild table image in the first hour and hopefully induce action when you do catch your golden hand. Ex: you are in on the button with 8/5os and everybody folds around to you. PUNCH IT ! ..of course you don't want a caller...in all likelyhood the sb and bb will quickly fold. This is when you SHOW your cards ! The only purpose this move is serving is to demonstrate to the other players that you are reckless and have no regard or respect whatsoever for the value of your buy in(s). Its also giving you less respect for when you push pre flop and increasing the probability that you DO get called when you push pre flop again. In short this is a 'set-up' (the beauty of this play is that even if you do get a caller with an unpaired hand...you are only a 2 to 1 dog to crack him)

What you are trying to accomplish in the first hour of an R/A format tourney is to at the very minimum double up. My goal is typically to go into the second hour with 10K or more in chips. Ive gone into second hours with as much as 40K when I was dealt some good cards, but understand you are at a tremendous disadvantage when you enter the second hour handicapped with a short stack, so don't waste precious time playing post flop poker.

When I say 'sink or swim' I mean simply that you cannot be playing 'timid' , cautious poker the first hour. Be willing to either double/triple up or go home. Its as simple as that. Commit yourself to 6-8 rebuys and make all your moves all in pre flop (with a few exceptions)

Now there are actually some cases when you should just 'call' or limp in. You want to be playing as many hands as possible when you aren't pushing all in pre flop. Ex: hands like 6/4os, any suited cards (yes I said ANY) J/9os, K/7 etc. You have plenty of time to rebuy but essentially you are playing flop poker here. Limp in with marginal cards and play the flop...period. Dump your hand if you miss. The 1st hour of a rebuy add on tourney is not the time for bluffing...you'll have plenty of time for that later. You are looking to catch the odd set, a flush draw or two pair...thats it. Sometimes you are fortunate enough to double up by investing only the amount of a small sized big blind on a flop so don't just fold that J/9os because you wouldn't normally play it if its only going to cost you 20 or 40 chips to see the flop. If you flop a draw and its cheap to see the turn, you have a good chance to blindside someone who fell in love with top pair...especially if you are playing a hand like 10/7os or J/8 etc. Now the hand below is from a sit & go..but it illustrates this point perfectly >

PokerStars Game #3417712472: Tournament #16946638, Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2005/12/23 - 20:48:41 (ET)
Table '16946638 3' Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: stallion712 (720 in chips)
Seat 2: team shisler (1450 in chips)
Seat 3: sprinkler19 (1470 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 4: deckhandj_ (1420 in chips)
Seat 5: Comptr (2090 in chips)
Seat 6: bertdale4u (1465 in chips)
Seat 7: Thor3365 (2415 in chips)
Seat 8: fastdenny (970 in chips)
Seat 9: ripptyde (1500 in chips)
fastdenny: posts small blind 15
ripptyde: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ripptyde [8d Jc]
stallion712: folds
team shisler: folds
sprinkler19: folds
deckhandj_: folds
deckhandj_ is sitting out
Comptr: folds
bertdale4u: calls 30
Thor3365: raises 30 to 60
fastdenny: folds
ripptyde: calls 30
bertdale4u: calls 30
*** FLOP *** [6h 9c 7s]
ripptyde: checks
bertdale4u: checks
Thor3365: bets 90
ripptyde: calls 90
bertdale4u: calls 90
*** TURN *** [6h 9c 7s] A♣
ripptyde: checks
bertdale4u: checks
Thor3365: checks
*** RIVER *** [6h 9c 7s Ac] 5♦
ripptyde: checks
bertdale4u: bets 300
Thor3365: folds
ripptyde: raises 1050 to 1350 and is all-in
bertdale4u: calls 1015 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ripptyde: shows [8d Jc] (a straight, Five to Nine)
bertdale4u: shows [Qh Ah] (a pair of Aces)
ripptyde collected 3095 from pot
Seat 6: bertdale4u showed [Qh Ah] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 7: Thor3365 (button) folded on the River
Seat 8: fastdenny (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: ripptyde (big blind) showed [8d Jc] and won (3095) with a straight, Five to Nine

This was a cheap flop to see when I was on the big blind and only had to call a mini-raise preflop....and only a small flop bet to see the turn with an open ended straight draw....a good example of how marginal cards can quickly turn into monsters.

Now lets assume you have managed to double up and find yourself with 6000 or more in chips with 30 minutes left in the rebuy hour...what now ?

Well its time to adjust...BUT, that doesn't mean you just camp out. You are still playing all in pre flop poker with group 1 hands. But at this point you can adjust to play 'raise' poker with group 2's. Stick to 3X's with hands like Q/10, K/Q , J/10 and small pocket pairs and play the flop just as would in a normal 'poker' setting. Now you have a stack that you can use to your advantage and induce action and 'juice' the pot a little. Towards the end of the first hour the blinds are typically 50/100 and you can easily take down a 1/2 a dozen 1000 chip pots if you play good solid post flop poker.

Now you are still going to have players going all in pre flop like madmen but this can also work to your advantage. Say for example you catch pocket 3's and find yourself sitting on 9000-12,000 in chips. A player that just busted out the hand before rebuys twice and immediately goes all in on the next hand with 3000 in chips. This is a good time to GAMBLE. There is a strong possibility that this player is on a hand like A/9 or K/10 and you can safely 'flip a coin' . You have to be willing to take chances like this in the first hour. I can't stress that enough. Low pocket pairs are decent 'calling' hands provided that the person who pushed all in doesn't have more than 1/3rd of your stack. This stands true for ONLY the first hour of an R/A tourney. Naturally, low pocket pairs are played completely different as the tourney progresses and the blinds increase.

Now this brings me to what a like to call the '2 to 1 knockout'

So you catch a medocre hand like Q/9s in the cut off. You have 600,000 in chips and the big blind has 100,000. The blinds are 15K/30K and you decide to go for a steal. You raise it up to 45K in position when suddenly the big blind goes all in for another 55K...what now ?

CALL !!

There are several different scenarios here but barring the possibility of the re-raiser catching a monster like AA, KK or QQ...you have a LIVE CARDS scenario. If you are lucky enough he might even be on a low pocket pair where you find yourself in a coin flip situation.

Now the beauty of this situation is that even if you lose you still have a good sized stack and the upside is that you have a decent shot to knock out a player thereby increasing your payout 1 more notch.

Now even if the reraiser has A/K, A/J or another unpaired hand that dominates you...you are only a 2 to 1 underdog to crack him. Think about that. You have a 4 to 1 chip advantage and a 2 to 1 chance to rail him. Take the chance !! This is what I am talking about when I talk about taking risks. Don't fold to the reraise ! But keep in mind this is a manuever you are only attempting against a player you have a sizable chip advantage against. If you lose the hand it doesn't cripple you...if he loses it rails him.

Now on the opposite end of the spectrum if you are on the big blind and the short stacked button, cut-off or small blind goes all in against you....even if you have marginal cards....make the call !! (provided it only represents less than 1/4 of your stack) You can absorb losses like this whereas your short stacked opponent cannot. Many times making a call like this turns out to be a pleasant surprise when the cards are turned over and you discover that you have the best hand against a blatent steal attempt but in most cases you find yourself in a 'live cards' situation.

In the first big MTT I won, I found myself as a huge chip leader with 5 left. I was sitting comfortably on a stack of 1.4 million in chips and the short stack was fighting off the 20K/40K blinds with about 250K in chips.

I caught a monster (9/4os) on the big blind and the short stack (who was in the cutoff position) raised all in for all 250K. Now a lot of players fold in this situation looking to conserve chips...but I called. Why ? For 3 reasons

A: the difference in prize money for 4th and 5th place was $1500.00 and it was an opportunity to knock him out

B: I was banking on my opponent holding an unpaired hand

C: I had him oustacked by almost 6 to 1 and even losing this hand I would still be a huge chip leader

So I make the call and the cards are turned and he is holding A/K

A/Kos (66.9%) vs 9/4os (33.1%)

Well needless to say I spiked my 4 on the turn and his A/K went unimproved railing him in 5th place. You see this player had very little 'fold equity' left as such a short stack..meaning that the big blind players with larger stacks were less likely to fold to his all in...especially me with such a huge chip advantage. (Naturally I had to endure a barrage of profanity laced insults from this {observer} player...he even remained at the table for the rest of the tourney berating me for my horrible call)

So the bottom line here is that if you have a big stack at the final table....USE IT ! You can afford small losses and you can afford to come into pots as a 2 to 1 underdog. There is so much at stake late in the tourney and each player knocked out means that much more prize money to you...so stop waiting on premium hands when you find yourself with a big stack. You also have to be relentless when attacking the blinds...the blinds at this point of the tourney are essentially your bread and butter and if your steals are executed properly, should give you the much needed leverage to take it all the way.

_______

Well I guess that pretty much covers it. There is so much more I could add to this guide but a lot of the tactics and moves you make are going to come only from personal experience and a 'feel' for the game which really can't be taught. Experience is truly the best teacher and there is only so much you can pick up from book, and essays such as this strat guide.

I will probably be updating this guide over the course of the year and adding sections which I feel are applicable but until then if you have any specific questions, comments or even criticisms...I'm very interested to hear them. If you ever find yourself deep in a multi table tournament and need a little help...I'd be happy to help. I can be reached via the following:


email: Ripptyde@yahoo.com
Yahoo messenger: Ripptyde

I like the puppy.

yea I cant read this, sorry I really want to since I love rebuys but I just cant do it.

this looks liek a great guide i will read it tomorrow

tell me what it says

I appreciate the time put into this Rip.

I read the first post and though I am super-agg myself in rebuys when first in a pot I throttle back once I treble up. I also don't seek coinflips on purpose once I've doubled up, calling an all in with 33 is something I will very, very, very rarely do if ever.

You are same in the general area of the game I play but there's some significant differences in execution from what I've read so far. Interesting post though, thanks for taking the time.

I'll get to the rest later.