My Opinion On Re-Buys

[WillyWillmer00]

Every re-buy I have seen there has been one fact I have found. If you re-buy more then 4 or 5 times the payout curve will soon require you to make the final table before you brake even. Yes every re-buy adds to the pot, but most of it goes to the top 1% of the payouts; and only a small amount gets added to the last place. The more you spend, the deeper you have to rank in the money to just get your entry money back. If you have to re-buy 5 or 6 times you are setting the odds against you so deeply it is not worth it. I'll give 2 examples to show it. First the ten cent FTP game, and then a $1 re-buy tourney also on FTP.

Lets use the last FTP ten cent re-buy as an example. (#58485084) If you spend $2.10, so the dime plus 3 re-buys and an add-on, you would loose money if you "Make it in the money." You would have to place in or near the top 100 just to break even. And that is just 3+ the add-on. If you re-buy 5 times and then add-on you would have to make the about the top 50 out of 3600 just to break even. 7 re-buys and an add-on and you have to make about the top 35 out of 3600 just to break even. I admit, payoffs go up faster after that, but you are still looking at making the top 1% to break even at that point. I admit, this is from the dime re-buy game, but they all tend to come out about the same math in general.

Now a $1 re-buy on FTP number 58557230. It had 421 entrants, 320 re-buys and 134 add-ons. About average. Last place only payed out $2.75. So if you did one re-buy and one add-on, you would loose money if you made the money. If you did the buy-in, plus 2 re-buys and the add-on, now you have to make 27th out of 421 to get a $3.92 payout. You loose, although just a bit, but you still loose money with just $4 that you payed to play. If you buy-in, then do 5 re-buys and the add on you have to make 15th out of 431 just to make seven cents. The pay-out being $7.07 at 15th in this example. Looking at it from this perspective, in general more then 2 re-buys and an add-on you start setting the odds more against you then normal because just making the money dose not get you your money back. Try to never spend more then what last place will pay out in return. These are actual examples, not just off the top of my head.

Personally I hate re-buys over all, but I have fun with the dime re-buy on FTP. But there I almost never re-buy. My whole point of it is see how far I can go on a dime. Made the top 20 once for over $20 on just ten cents. If you make the money on just ten cents you have made $1.50 to $2. on a dime.


WillyWillmer00

[frob23]

I've played the 6th cent single rebuy on Nordica. It's not too bad (I never had to rebuy) and you can only rebuy once. I don't like unlimited rebuy games myself. My step-brother loves the $3 rebuy on Stars... and that's cool... but I know he's not making money from it in the long run. If he could commit to 1 rebuy and 1 addon, he'd probably do a lot better -- and play better in the early stages.

[RiverstarsVictim]

I remember watching a video of someone whom I presume was quite well respected. He must've re-bought about 5 times, most of the table were doing the same. Whilst commentating he was slating 1 player who just sat tight with his original stack, apparently you couldn't win like that. After about 40 minutes this tight player suddenly won 2 big pots and was well placed on that table. I know which route I'd prefer to take if I had the patience to play these tournaments.

[mrbig]

I dont like doing rebuy tourneys, why??

[shippotamus]

I personally don't play many rebuys, but they are so heavily weighted towards the best players.

Aside from skill, the biggest edge that a player can have in a tournament is a good table. When I say a good table, I mean a table that has a lot of chips spread around in the hands of bad players as well as a big stack for the player himself. If you aren't getting caught with "goofy" hands getting all in you are not playing the rebuy period right. Going through 3-6x MAX buyins is not uncommon in a field of 500+. If you're playing in one where there is like 200 or less you should probably stay between 2-4x of the maximum buy ins. My goal is always to get to 10k in chips by the first break and hopefully have 2 to 4 other players around the same amount.

And if you aren't rebuying for the max, then you shouldn't be playing a rebuy. The reason being that if you double twice you're at 12k instead of 6k.

Your only reason for not rebuying is if you notice that you are at a table of nits. If you are sitting at a table of guys who aren't willing to give action and rebuy then it absolutely crushes your chances of winning the tournament because all of the other tables will have amassed a huge pile of chips.

Playing single buyins and playing really tight aggressive will indeed give you great odds on your money and make your ROI gigantic if you win, but it will also make it verrrryyy difficult to get to the top 3 spots which is all that matters.

[iceveins0901]

2 out of the 3 tournaments I won in 2k5 and 2k6 were rebuys. In both occaisions I made the initial rebuy, and then just played a good game, doubling and tripling up again with the best hands, not ever needing to rebuy and being lucky enough not to get sucked out on. Then at the 1st break period I did the add on as well, and I was easily into the top 20 in chips, and I stayed there the whole time.

[liladypokerpro]

I never play the unlimited rebuy games...they just play out too much like freerolls for my liking. But, the singles are not too bad...I seem to do fairly well in those, depending on the site.

[gorden71]

I avoid unlimited rebuys at all costs. The play is worse than any freeroll Ive ever played and they just arent fun to me. I enjoy seeing people play poker, not bingo!!!