General rebuy strategy

hey first time poster - a friend of mine said it was a pretty good forum!!

i have recently been playing in the lower level rebuy tourneys and am looking for general strategy....

typically my tourney goes something like this....

fold fold fold etc pick up premium - suck out - rebuy be conservative till the break - add on - then stay reasonably conservative.....

this pretty much means i end up in mid to late stages needing to double up with a showdown.

manwhile i look around and see people getting up to 30K in like 20 -40 minutes......

Is there a better way of playing these types of tourneys???

comments would definately be appreciated!!

frustratedwithsuckouts wrote:hey first time poster - a friend of mine said it was a pretty good forum!!

i have recently been playing in the lower level rebuy tourneys and am looking for general strategy....

typically my tourney goes something like this....

fold fold fold etc pick up premium - suck out - rebuy be conservative till the break - add on - then stay reasonably conservative.....

this pretty much means i end up in mid to late stages needing to double up with a showdown.

manwhile i look around and see people getting up to 30K in like 20 -40 minutes......

Is there a better way of playing these types of tourneys???

comments would definately be appreciated!!

hi m8 and welcome to the forum!!
in rebuys i tend to play loose in the rebuy period,ie see as many flops as possible for as cheap as possible,
esp if it low stake,i will set my self a limit of rebuys,thus stops you needing to win to break even,lol,once i have a stack,i sit back and play pre hands till the add on,after the add on obv the muff fest has finished,you have a stack,and the real poker begins,this is my theory,but works for me m8,hope it helps

Hi there m8. Welcome to the forum.

If you play rebuys all the time it can get a bit frustrating. If you tend to play a $10 rebuy and spend perhaps $40-50 including add on then why not try moving to a $50 freezeout for a change?

You will be spending the same amount of money but you will not be subject to as many (you will still get some) bad calls to your raises with premiums. The standard of play should be much better also although as I said there are donks everywhere and it's impossible to avoid them all.

With regard the actual strategy of a rebuy? Most will treat it as an all in fest hoping to chip up for the play after the break. It's tough to give you a bang on strategy that will cover all games but I would agree with hooders that in general your play must be looser in the rebuy period.

Rebuy periods of MTT's are not really the time to be holding out for premium hands imho. Try playing a lot more suited cards, smaller pairs and also connectors.

Get creative during this first hour and see what falls your way for a few MTT's then if it is still the same we'll try looking at other things. Keep a note of some hands and raises etc and let's see them. Only if you can be bothered of course.

Good luck at the tables.

Player 1)Raise every hand for first 15 minutes then every other hand next 15 minutes.

3rd quarter is all limping then rock solid for the last 15 cause you wanna protect that 20k stack till the break now

Or Player 2) Just limp 37 and j7 sooted from the button i hear thats profitable !

Personally (player3) i like to add on straight away and take advantage of players 1 and 2 by playing rock solid then add on again at the break.

Be player 1 for a change tho its fun

Welcome to the forum! Good to have you aboard.

My advice, and it's not worth much (if you want to save it, jot it down on the back of a fag packet; it's about as useful!), is that there are many ways to play it and you should play it how you like!

I play rebuys very aggressively as I play well with a big stack. I like to bully, put people to the test, play lots and lots of hands. I can't do this if I get nothing for an hour and I'm sat with 5k at the first break. However, many people can and make good ROI from these games because they don't rebuy. The stratergy here is just like yours; sit for a while and get paid off when youy get a hand.

I don't agree with moving to a $50 f/o if you can't crack a $10 rebuy. The standard of play will be much better and contrary to popular belief, THIS IS NOT GOOD FOR YOUR BANKROLL!

Always take add ons if the number of chips you get relative to your stack is 8-1 or better is my advice.

It's very dodgy though as I often need to finish in the top 7 of my Hilo mtts to break even when I've had a bad rebuy period. I guess it depends on you and how you like to play after the rebuy. I agree with the previous posters on hand selection; sooted connectors and all sorts of hands that can pay big are good before the rebuy ends.

Best of luck with it all and let us know how you get on.

MADV wrote:
I don't agree with moving to a $50 f/o if you can't crack a $10 rebuy. The standard of play will be much better and contrary to popular belief, THIS IS NOT GOOD FOR YOUR BANKROLL!

Bankroll wise m8 it isn't going to make ANY difference to him if he is spending the same amount on a $10 rebuy and getting nowhere.

If he is a tight player and likes to be patient and play mainly premium hands then it could be beneficial to him to consider switching to freezeouts. Possibly not to $50 but if that's what he's spending on rebuys and getting nowhere then why not?

For me there is two ways to play re buys either try to accumulate lots early play your draws strong and get the chips in first. The other is to just play it like a freezeout and pick and choose your spots to take out the more reckless players plus you get the added bonus of an add on. Both can work.

Playing a $50 freeze is completely different from a $10 rebuy. If you are spending $50 on a $10 rebuy thats also way to much.

the optimum way to play any rebuy mtt is to top up straight away at the start. If you dont then you are losing tons of equity. if you bust this then you quit and you lose the 2 buyins. If you make it to the break you top up.

Never ever spend more then 3 buyins on a rebuy.

Overated wrote:Playing a $50 freeze is completely different from a $10 rebuy. If you are spending $50 on a $10 rebuy thats also way to much.

the optimum way to play any rebuy mtt is to top up straight away at the start. If you dont then you are losing tons of equity. if you bust this then you quit and you lose the 2 buyins. If you make it to the break you top up.

Never ever spend more then 3 buyins on a rebuy.

This is a very good theory, Over. I draw a stark contrast between a $10 rebuy and a $50 f/o. The level of play in a $50 f/o will (in general) be much better and I don't care whether you're aggressive or a nit, you DON'T want to play players better than you for financial gain!

I instantly top up in all rebuys; ipoker remove the hassle of having to spend 20 chips on the first hand to rebuy, or 60-100 if some donk raises (normally me ). I can't stop playing though if I lose 2 because it's the only game I play. If playing multiple games I may agree but would also think it depends on table/tournament equity.

Overated wrote:Playing a $50 freeze is completely different from a $10 rebuy. If you are spending $50 on a $10 rebuy thats also way to much.

the optimum way to play any rebuy mtt is to top up straight away at the start. If you dont then you are losing tons of equity. if you bust this then you quit and you lose the 2 buyins. If you make it to the break you top up.

Never ever spend more then 3 buyins on a rebuy.

I cant believe I'm saying this, but...

good post over!!! The first of many?

Hey thanks for the advice....

I wouldn't say i am overtly tight - however the more i have played online the tighter i have become....

I have had some success but it tends to be where i sorta limp along in the last 2/3rds of the field then manage to squeeze into the FT...

I agree in the differences mentioned between the FO & rebuys... i limit myself typically to 2 buy ins plus add on...

thanks

Si

hi there frustrated, to the forum!

there's some good comments here already about limiting the number of rebuys you take, topping up straight away, only spending 3 buy ins, etc, and whilst I agre with this, I dont think thats the area thats bothering you.

you sound like a fairly solid player, who doesn't like to take too many rebuys.

The first thing I would say is that rebuy play is generally fairly different to frz out play. People are just more willing to take a gamble when they can rebuy, and this means there's always going to be some big stacks around.

However, people are also willing to call down and pay people off with much worse hands than they normally would.

for this reason I would advise playing a lot of cheap pots in the first few levels. The more players in the pots the better, if you can limp behind 8 limpers with 4 5 suited, or call behind a raise and 3 callers with J9 suited, these pots are going to be more profitable overall than just raising first into pots. Also by playing more pots you will look a bit looser, and be more likely to get paid off when you hit something huge.

When you get huge hands, make sure you raise enough to only get one or two callers - people will call a bigger raise pre with a poorer hand in a rebuy, and the last thing you want with a premium hand is a lot of callers.

i rarely slow play big hands preflop in rebuy tourns before the rebuy is over - your chance of getting called for a huge all in is good, and you'll have much less chance of getting muffed. One good exception to this is if you're on a table with a couple of players behind you who have been raising constantly - you can limp before them in the hope of committing them into the pot after they raise.

You want a big hand in a big heads up pot, or a speculative hand in a cheap multiway pot.

When you do hit with make sure you value bet big, you'll be surprised how much you can get paid off by loose players when you're betting the nuts.

wildrick wrote:hi there frustrated, to the forum!

there's some good comments here already about limiting the number of rebuys you take, topping up straight away, only spending 3 buy ins, etc, and whilst I agre with this, I dont think thats the area thats bothering you.

you sound like a fairly solid player, who doesn't like to take too many rebuys.

The first thing I would say is that rebuy play is generally fairly different to frz out play. People are just more willing to take a gamble when they can rebuy, and this means there's always going to be some big stacks around.

However, people are also willing to call down and pay people off with much worse hands than they normally would.

for this reason I would advise playing a lot of cheap pots in the first few levels. The more players in the pots the better, if you can limp behind 8 limpers with 4 5 suited, or call behind a raise and 3 callers with J9 suited, these pots are going to be more profitable overall than just raising first into pots. Also by playing more pots you will look a bit looser, and be more likely to get paid off when you hit something huge.

When you get huge hands, make sure you raise enough to only get one or two callers - people will call a bigger raise pre with a poorer hand in a rebuy, and the last thing you want with a premium hand is a lot of callers.

i rarely slow play big hands preflop in rebuy tourns before the rebuy is over - your chance of getting called for a huge all in is good, and you'll have much less chance of getting muffed. One good exception to this is if you're on a table with a couple of players behind you who have been raising constantly - you can limp before them in the hope of committing them into the pot after they raise.

You want a big hand in a big heads up pot, or a speculative hand in a cheap multiway pot.

When you do hit with make sure you value bet big, you'll be surprised how much you can get paid off by loose players when you're betting the nuts.

No wonder you've won so much!