On rebuy tourneys, would you suggest rebuying at the very start of the game to have a bigger stack to press the other players immediately? Will they tend to play loose and call big bets if they know they can still rebuy?

Most online rebuy tournaments, and especially low buy-in and unlimited buy-in require a significant change in optimal strategy during the rebuy period (almost always the first hour).

Although I admit I’m far from an accomplished tournament player, my strategy has always been to play loose/aggressive without going psychotic – I still pick my spots. But, this strategy only works if you have a decent stack and are attempting to build a bigger stack. So, in direct response to your question, I would definitely rebuy immediately, and I always do when playing in unlimited rebuy tournaments.

The reason is this – you are not trying to play tight/aggressive style as you would in a regular freezeout tournament. Rather, since rebuy tournaments are about accumulating a large stack of chips before the break, you want to take gambles and give yourself opportunities to double and triple up. Players are more likely to play loose/aggressive against you because they can just rebuy if they lose all their chips, so you have to adapt to this and try to build a stack. If you compare a freezeout and a rebuy, you’ll note that at the first break the average stack will usually be proportionately double or triple the size for the rebuy versus the freezeout, and since optimal strategy in a tournament requires a keen attention to stack sizes, this means you need to try to build up a big stack before the break.

In a tournament with starting chips of 1500 or so, I like to make sure I have at least a 10k stack before the end of the rebuy period, including the add-on which I always take. Of course, if you never get the cards to gamble with, you can’t build a stack, but what I am saying is maximize your chance to press other players and to move all in with decent cards (eg. any pair tens or better heads up, AK or AQs etc.) because you want to get action.

If you play this loose/aggressive style, you should be able to accumulate enough chips that when the tournament becomes a freezeout, you’re in decent shape instead of shortstacked. As a result, you may have to rebuy as many as 8 or 9 times, and I’ve heard of people having to rebuy even more. Usually, you’ll average 4 or 5 buyins, as you’ll buy in and rebuy immediately (2 buyins) and you’ll have to do it all over again (another two buyins) quite often, plus one more buyin for the add-on.

So my suggestion is to figure the cost of a buyin at about 5x its initial entry fee. So if you’re usually a 10+1 player and that is all you’re bankrolled for, play the $2 frenzy and not a 10+1 rebuy, because rebuys are much, much more expensive to play than freezeouts. Above all, play rebuys at a level where you don’t feel any pain in rebuying.

Of course, if you’re trying to build a stack and with 10 minutes left in the rebuy period you get busted, depending on the average stack you might be better off quitting and waiting for another day, than trying to double-rebuy because you need some time to build a stack, and building is all that rebuys are about in the first hour. After that, revert to your usual smart, TAG style and you’ll find that you should have enough chips to play optimally without having to take any serious risks because there will be a lot of chips versus the blinds in both your stack and that of your opponents.

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