 |
|
This article came about from a question on the message boards. That question was: “How does one manage a budget with rebuy tournaments?” While in LA, I cut my teeth on all types of low to mid level rebuy tournaments and I still have my best results in them over 5 years of tournament poker. I was on a serious poker budget and through trial and error and quizzing the hell out of anyone that would stand still for 10 minuets; I built a vault of knowledge about the rebuy tournament, poker’s favourite crazy uncle. This article (it was supposed to be a quick response) is the summation of that knowledge. Here are the rules: 1. Have the assumption that the Card Room/Casinos do. Rebuys create more action and therefore more profit for the same cost they are laying out anyway. 2. While many people will claim different at the table (some won't) the "its a rebuy" generates a lot more bad calls, overcalls, and generally crappy displays of poker than about any other form of poker short of gambling for drinks. 3. Therefore, if you bet when you hit (simple premise) and play premium hands through the rebuy period and one round into the post rebuy period, you can get paid off pretty huge. If you don't get hands, two things will happen. One, you get a real "nit" image you can exploit. (This works so much better live than most sub-$50 rebuy online tournaments. I won't even try to describe it, its gospel.) Two, you have saved your budget for the “one rebuy/add on effect” below. 4. The budget. No matter what the sign says, your buy-in for the tournament equals the following: Buy-in + 1-2 rebuys + add-on. They are separated for a reason. First, you have to have your buy in. Duh. Make sure you understand how much is going to the prize pool, this comes in handy later in case they don't put this kind of thing up. Second, know how many rebuys you can afford. Assuming your add-on is mandatory and 98% of the time it should be, this is your variance. This can be because of a few things. First, do they allow you to rebuy immediately and does this give you a real advantage? Second (depending on the first answer) are you prepared to gamble it up or deal with a suck-out and come back? If not, forget the rebuy and you are probably in the wrong game, but hey, just in case. Third, how do you want to leverage the rebuy? As a weapon? As a safeguard? As a reload if you are in trouble? I'll let you brew on that one and we'll come back to it on another article. 5. The add on. It gets its own chapter because it is key. Also, because that last chapter was really fucking long. You should ALWAYS take the add-on in a rebuy unless you’re A) are the absolute bad ass 10X chip leader in the tournament (happens all the time right?) or you have used up your budget. You shouldn't be in that last spot due to the above formula. If you blow your two rebuys, hang it up, you are starting late with minimal chips. (aka - disadvantaged) While hope springs eternal, bad odds are bad odds and on a budget if you are thinking about it, you are probably on tilt and pissing it away. Save it for the next tournament, trust me on this. Even if you "have a nice stack" a flat fee add on (same as a rebuy) gives you a few rounds of antes, a probe bet, a bluff bet, a buff-caller or just an bigger chip lead. You are ahead and this is now a cushion. Be glad you are there to get it. Yes, you are giving more to the house, but it usually goes straight to the prize pool anyway so if you hold on to cash, you get it back. Some houses/sites give double chips for an add on. Don't be an ass; take the 2:1 deal. 6. Why this works: The minimal I use is Buy in + 2 rebuys + add-on. Most rebuy tournaments use this formula or an amount very near it for last-place cash. Meaning, it is the min-max tilting point. The maximum you can invest without taking a negative win. While this does not always hold up online, it still provides the best bunker point for your budgeting. One rebuy + add-on will put you in the hole in a long-payout structure (typical online) so you have to make the best of it. Just move your brain up to the breakeven money point before you are even thinking about cash. Should you use less than one rebuy, or only the add on – bonus – you are damn near on a freeroll. This gives you some stability to figure out how much of your bankroll you are putting in and what the total percentage of your bankroll you are comfortable putting up at one time. Basic bankroll management takes over here. 7. Money out of the way, its strategy time. Your job here is to be the biggest “top 10 hand” nit at the table. No matter how loose the table, throw the Jacks and Tens away to any raise-reraise action, etc. If you have it, bet the CRAP out of it, it is not time to trap yet, they will fall in on their own. You are working to triple up by the end of the rebuy period by catching the donkeys overplaying their hand and by flopping killers in the blinds. In most rebuys, this is highly probable if not guaranteed. Once the rebuy period is over, take the "cool-off" round seriously. A lot of people just can't gear down and the LAG players will keep firing. Usually, they blow out or will gear down after getting bit a time or two. Keep playing tight. Now you are four rounds in, look around. 8. If you took the rebuy and add on at the end, you are probably at average or better if you haven't won a pot. Neat huh? If you rebought immediately and coasted to the rebuy+add on, you are probably ahead of the average. Someone run the math, but I will put 500+ live rebuy tournaments up against it that I am right. Should you have won a few (with or without rebuying at the start) and have raised your stack to +75% or a double, the add on (usually no rebuy allowed over starting chips) will put you in a good spot too. If you are winning like a mo-fo...why let the nits catch up? Are we clear? 9. Here on out, you should play your table with the information and tells you've picked up in the previous rounds. Yes, you should have been working during the first hour-twenty to two hours to pick up as much info as you can. Now you have the two biggest keys to winning a tournament: Chips to play with and knowledge of your opponents. It should keep you out of coin flip situations until later rounds and that is a whole different article that someone should do, huh? They keys here are: Patience and Attention. They are, in my opinion, the biggest keys to success of any live action player AND any online player. You just have less info online, it does not mean you have none. Patience is something you need to sit there and shepherd your folds for up to 2 hours waiting for a monster. The two together with this rebuy strategy give you about as big an edge as you can get without luck or cards. Yeah, you still need those, no outrunning that. What this gives you is consistency and the ability to make it into the money more often. I find it is much better on a budget than the “Crash or Burn”/Worst or First mentality of some players. Most likely, they aren’t on a budget. The “Spray the Table” method (or the Daniel Negreanu) is something you can do with a “fat bankroll and mad skillz”. Since most of us don’t even play in DN’s neighbourhood (or county for that matter) I don’t advise this, especially on a budget. Your bankroll will agree with me. In super-fields of 200 plus live or 500 plus online, you will have to go on a run somewhere in the early mid-levels. While that is almost a given for anyone in any tournament but, you will not have the cushion of the lucky or fast paced players. You can see a lot of bubbles here, but you swap that for being in the position to cash and even win. Rather than rail from the 5th level to the Final Table – get into the real tournament and then turn it on. It’s open for discussion, and I’m
taking on all comers. Matt Waldron
|
