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Re-Buy tournaments

Re-Buy tournaments are a lot of fun. The first hour is shear chaos but relatively stress free as you can’t get knocked out. The key is picking spots to amass as many chips as possible. But remember, you don’t want to buy in a zillion times, otherwise, you have to go far just to break even. So today, I’ll give a brief tutorial on re-buy tournament strategy.

The very first thing to do when you are playing a rebuy event is to assess your table. You need to know what type of players you’re facing and what style they’re going to play. If you find yourself at a table where people are rebuying a lot, you have to be willing to put your chips into the middle of the pot and take some chances. In early the stages of the tournament, I won’t pass up any coin flip situations. Any time I think I have even a 40% chance of winning the pot, I’ll get all my chips in.

Other times, you’ll be on a table where people are very cautious of rebuying and are trying to make the most of their one buy-in. In this case, you have to chip away at them and apply some pressure because they will be playing tighter. When you’ve identified the guys who have no intention of rebuying, you have to attack them every time they enter a pot. Don t fret if these tight players double or triple up early. Since you have so many bullets, you can keep attacking. By keeping the pressure on them you can build up a lot of chips.

Early on, , I’ll raise a lot of pots to get a very aggressive table image. My goal is to build up a stack of two to three times the starting stack. Once I accomplish this, I buckle down and play solid poker. Once the rebuy period is over, always take the add-on. No matter how many chips you have, you should take advantage of every opportunity to get the maximum allowed on the table. Not doing so is just plain silly. Give yourself the best opportunity to have as many chips as possible. Even if you have the chip lead, do this. After you take the inevitable bad beat, you’ll wish you did.

When the rebuy stage is over, it’s time to spot the folks at the table who are not able to transition back to playing a normal tournament. You will always see people who are still in the rebuy mindset and are gambling for a lot of their chips. They are easy to spot because they are still calling a high percentage of their hands. It’s important to value bet these players every chance you get, because they will pay you off most of the time. They will get their money in with the second best hand. It’s vital to switch back immediately to your standard game and value every chip once you’re back from break.

Follow these general guidelines and you’ll be ready to crush your opponents. Be smart, pick your spots and take them down.

Till next time, may the chips fall your way.


by Johnson