$30 Rebuy: my first live tourney

I've been invited by some of my buddies to a $30 rebuy in toronto's lakeshore area tonight at like 8PM
I've played a bunch of rebuys online, but none over $10, and no freezouts over $20.
Not sure if i'll be seeing a bunch of college donkeys or tycoons who'll absolutely murder me. Also not sure how many entrants. I'm expecting 20 to 80 players, and possibly a cash game afterwards.
I've decided to stick to my usual rebuy plan, but a little tighter as my budget's about 30 or 60 bucks: Super super tight before the break, and normal poker after.
Any tips?
Wish me luck!

edit: Fish - you ever play in these? I've found a $40 one down on college & bathurst that runs roughly every sunday aswell.

Are you looking for live game tips or rebuy tips? Not much help on the rebuys, but I can pass along what has helped me be successful during live games.

either would be great
I've read mike caro's tells book (or saw the video rather) and know alot about tells, but have alot of trouble hiding them.
I guess thats just up to me to keep calm.
Any tips on rebuys or live games would be greatly appreciated

edit: ive also played alot of home games, but ive got the feeling the rebuy'll have a completely different feel to it.

T, I doubt you'll run into a lot of tycoons, but I'm sure you will run into plenty of donkeys. Like you said, play super tight before the add-on break; study your opponents for play style/reads, and pick your spots. Try not to get overwhelmed. You're a good player and could probably take the majority of them to school. But don't underestimate either. I think you've got it pretty well under control. Good luck!

thanks tammy!
ps. how'd you do in that tourney you entered a few days ago?

Well, I didn't do the best, but I did have a good read on at least one of the players. I gave a rundown of the last hand here.

The thing that made me mad at myself was that I knew I shouldn't called the re-raise. I was thinking FOLD! as I called. So, listen to your gut too.

oh yeah i already read that...completely forgot
Kids - ganga is bad for tha brain!!

My simplest tips for live games, not sure if you've ever played at casino style event:

Keep the same mannerisms after each action. ie: after looking at your cards, always place them in the exact same position whether you have good or bad cards. If you think you are giving tells away after you have looked at your cards, don't look at them until it's your turn to play.

A very simple one, but if someone bets and you are going to call/raise, don't move your chips into position until it's your turn.

Ensure you are playing in turn. I've been guilty of playing out of turn and you feel like a real donk when the dealer reminds you.

Call out you raise. If the bet to you is $50 and you just put down a $500 chip, that's only a call - you have to announce a raise.

Pick a spot ont he table to concentrate on so that when you feel yourself getting a bit of nerves, you can stare at one spot and you aren't darting around the room with your eyes. Strike up some light conversation with your neighbor if neither one of you are in the hand. It gives you a bit of a breather and you don't have to keep up the tight persona while not playing which can help reduce anxiety.

Most importantly, watch other's mannerisms. I have WAY more success in live games than I do online because I find it really easy to judge the stregth of peoples hands based on jestures, movelemts and mannerisms.

You game knowledge is very strong and if you play tight in a $30 rebuy you will do fine. I know I wouldn't like my odds of winning sitting at the same table as you.

lol i got a backer!
i was going to buy-in myself but my stepfather offered to back me on this - he knows how many bloody hours i have spent in front of this damn pc playin poker, and decided to trust me with the dough
he actually gave me two buy-ins and we agreed that we'd split the winnings if i cashed, so i'm getting a nice deal here

Well now, some interesting advice here on the re-buy take. Early stages, dependant on you table, I played a $75 re-buy last weekend with a field of 200, our table was super tight, no one busting, no one re-buying, total disaster, where as one table had 27 rr-buys, leaving 3 times as many chips sitting on that table as ours.

As was mentioned before, play super tight early on, do nothing fancy with a monster if you happen to get one, push pre-flop with AA,KK,QQ (AK if you feel like it). It can some times be the only way eliminate players.

Towards the end of the re-buy stage, punish limpers from late position, even the BB, you should have an ultra tight table positon at this stage. After the re-buys are over, you can go back to playing your standard game, but bear in mind its highly likely youll be miles behind the big stacks.

Play looser/more aggressively, the blinds antes will kill you if you hang around, you wont see the same volume of hands that you get online, so your choices will be more limited. You will need to win a few races at this stage, use table position, percieved weakeness, and again punish limpers. Dont be afraid to fold your SB, after picking 4 limpers from the button (perserves your tight image). But generally the most aggressive players are the most successful after the re-buy stages, dont call raises, either re-raise or fold, maintain control of any hand that your involved in.

As for looking for tells etc, your shouldnt really bother, stick to the simple ones. People who look like they are going to bet out of turn, and start counting out chips will generally check. Shaking hands means they have a monster, and someone that bets out of turn are usually over-excited abiut their hands.

Over looking for tells, unless you know the player is generally folly. Good luck let us know how you get on.

PS: These are won and lost on the bubble.

Nice, T! Now all that's left is to take it down!

tenbob said:

Over looking for tells, unless you know the player is generally folly. Good luck let us know how you get on.

Click to expand...

I find this to be true. Whenever I sit down and try to look for tells, I come up with nothing. I just pay attention to raises, betting patterns and the like, then make sure to pay close attention at showdown (when I'm not in a hand) to see what types of hands they're playing and how.

I find that there is always a few ppl who are in most of the pots early on, so watch them closely and you will get a read. Anyone in a re-buy who isn't in a lot of hands is playing tight and it will be much tougher to get a read, if you can get one at all as mentioned by tenbob and juiceeQ.

Well I'm almost embarassed to post the results but here they are:
There was a $30 rebuy (only a 10 seater), and a 1/2 cash game (two 10 handed tables) afterwards.
I brought $120 or $140 i think.
I only bought in and didnt rebuy/add on, and in the tourney i played VERY tight.
Before the break i played two hands;
the first was the first hand of the tourney - AKc and i called a raise from LP and didn't hit
the second was a JJ from UTG and i had played so tight that noone gave me action. Folds all around
Last night I was pretty pissed and thought i played really poorly and way too tight in the rebuy, but when i look back i
made some good laydowns. I layed down AT to an EP raise and he and another player showed down AQ and AK.
The thing was that every time i got a hand, there was a raise that indicated a better one before me.
I literally blinded myself away. I HATE blinding out.

The tourney was structured like a turbo too, which didn't help.
Every 15 mins blinds go up (fine). Each player started with 700 chips (tiny) but the thing was the levels the blinds went to...it was crazy
10/20, 25/50, 50/100 100/200 200/400
insanity...i think the only chance i had was doubling up early, which didn't come close to happening
so on to the cash game....not much different.
I played like a mouse which is so unlike me.
I played so tight because i was thinking along the lines of "I'll punish these monkeys who play the K7s and A5s with my stronger hands"
The problem was that if you raised in the cash game, you were guaranteed to get at least 5 callers. None of my hands hit and i ended up blinding alot of my dough away. In the end i decided to take a race, as i hadn't had a hand in hours, and ended up busting with 66 vs AA. AAARG

I feel a whole lot more comfortable now live though; when i got there i was nervous as f*ck, but by the end i was fine (too bad my cards went dry)
I'm gonna go back next thursday and bring my weeks wages - these guys are SUCH monkeys (open raises for $25 in a 1/2 cash game?? with AJ??? from EP??????).
I think there were maybe 3 decent players who were like my skill level
and even they were playing poorly
Anyways, my first live tourney and cash game are under my belt and I now have the experience. Even if i lost everything, i know i can be comfortable next time and play my game and not this mouse crap that somehow came out last night
sorry if i rambled...im just still in awe at how crazy it was and how crappily i played

Wow, great post full of great information there, thankyou.
I'm yet to play a live tourney, but after reading this post, soon as I've got some cash I'm gonna play one.
Chuck, dont worry too much about how you got on, now you've got your debut live game out of the way you should be able to play your normal game next time, and win some serious money.
Reminds me a bit of an online tourney I played recently, usually I play $1 to $5 MTT's and do ok, but this one I qualified via another tourney, so the actual buy-in for it was nearly $60, therefore the payout was a lot bigger than I was used to. And I panicked, was so super-tight cause I didnt want to go out, that eventually I got blinded out and went out like a damp squib(as we say!). Next time I'll play it like a cheapy(Hopefully!)