Multi-Table Tournament (MTT) Rebuy Strategy

April 13, 2009 by cal

Several strategies exist for online rebuy tournaments. When thinking about a strategy to use it is important to consider your own personal risk tolerance and bankroll. Rebuy tournaments can be quite chaotic to say the least. The last rebuy tourney I entered was an overall donk fest in the first hour of play. In case you didn’t know, in rebuy tournaments players may rebuy an infinite amount of times in the first hour of play, often resulting in continuous all ins pre flop. After the first hour of play rebuys are no longer allowed, but an add on can be made for the cost of the original tournament buyin.

Over my past couple of rebuy tournaments I have witnessed some utterly foolish play. In one 10$ rebuy tourney on Full Tilt Poker I saw widespread donkish play. The tournament consisted of about 30 players with about 25% of the field being fish in my estimation. One such player who will remain anonymous captured my attention during the rebuy period. “PlayerX” was attempting to build his stack by shoving any two cards. Not only that, he was double rebuying for $20.00 a pop. His shove range was truly any two any time. I witnessed “PlayerX” shoving 73 offsuit into re-raised pots pre-flop. While I know that this type of play is used to build a stack early and to gain a loose image, I completely disagree with this strategy. First off, at worst “PlayerX” should be shoving suited connectors into non re-raised pots. Secondly, he should factor in the massive rebuy fees he is undergoing. While at my table he lost at least 9 double buyins (9 X $20 = $180). Given that only 30 people were in the tourney (30 X $20.00 = $600.00) this individual accounted for roughly 30% of the total prize pool. Based on this figure he needed to cash in the top 4-5 places to break even.

While loose aggressive play during the rebuy period can really earn you a big stack, it could be detrimental to your bankroll in the long run. From my personal experience, neutral-tight play has worked best for me in rebuys. This gives me the best “bang for my buck” and takes advantage of positive EV preflop against overly loose and often foolish play.

Key Points:

* Watch your buyin total in relation to the prize pool
* Consider tighter play against an overly loose table
* Factor in proper bankroll management into rebuy fees
* Remember, action gets considerably tighter after the rebuy period

Win MTT Rebuy Tournaments at Full Tilt Poker

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