Rebuy strategy

Say you play in a rebuy tourney with 500 people. 250 take advantage of the immediate rebuy. You're now effectively behind 50% of the field before even playing a hand. Also, you are missing chances to really maximize your return when you nail a huge hand.

Not really. Say you play tight and double up 5 times before the first break (Traditiional end of the rebuy period). Starting with 1500 chips, you now have 7500. If you had taken the immediate rebuy, your 5 doubles would now net 15000 chips, which is a fairly significant amount.

It's not so much a loose approach, as it is a willingness to push the slight margins more. In a tournament without a rebuy, you might not be willing to risk AQo against a small PP for your stack early on, but you would in a rebuy.

Now, it's easy to get silly (See Danny N in the...2004? WSOP where he rebought something like 19 times in one event), so what I usually do is give myself the initial entry and rebuy, and then one more double rebuy and the addon as a budget. So, if EF is $15, RB is $15 and the addon is $15, I'll start with $75.

Some rebuys are very 'economical,' meaning that you get a lot more chips for your money compared to the initial buy-in. I think that Caesars Palace has a rebuy that is double the initial buy in chip

The main reason why pros are willing to gamble to get a big stack for after the rebuy period is because good players can better exploit the deeper stacks. Novices and tight players make tons of mistakes after the rebuy period (for example, you, as a tight player, are probably quite liable to go broke with AA/KK when you flop an overpair). This is simply because you don't get a lot of premium starting hands, and have to play them to the hilt in order to really have a shot at going deep. A player who is experienced with deep stacks, and who knows where you are in terms of your cards will eat you alive with deep stacks.

I can't tell you how many people I have seen in the Stars 11R building a stack of 20k chips, and then pissing it all away after the rebuy period.

Now, the optimal strategy in terms of EV might be to play tightish during the rebuy period, and get a decent stack fairly often, and then switch gears after the rebuy period to play a deep stacked strategy.

Hope this helps.

Fair point. I should have clarified that I meant a beaten overpair.

Fine, a pro will probably lose some chips with a 2nd best hand against AA/KK, but will not likely go broke. He is calling preflop with speculative hands because he recognizes you as a tight player. There is a strong likelihood that you have a big hand. If he hits, he expects to stack you more often than a loose raiser (if that loose raiser is not manical postflop).

Well, firstly, I would never recommend playing without the immediate rebuy. The benefits of doubling up are too great. As for the AQ/TT point, yes, I do mean calling an all-in with these hands, if you are against the perennial pushers. It is quite likely that you have them dominated or 60/40, or are a coinflip.

I find, when I employ this 'tight' strategy, that I average a stack of around 8000 at the break on 3.5 bullets.

This is incorrect if you have 1500 and double up 5 times you would have 48K chips which I think would be pretty impossible to do. 1500 3000 6000 12000 24000 48000

I dont think you would find a player with 24k taking an allin without AA.

Getting nervous WAY too early.

Adjust. If they are calling with the deep stacks, then play tighter, focus on doubling by going in with stronger hands (or big hand potential hands).

Deeper stacks mean that the ante steals are not worth as much to your stack, and you can wait until later.

Usually, when I find myself around an average stack post-rebuy and add-on, (which is about 70% of the time) I find myself in the exact same situation I was at the beginning of the tourney. Needing to double up quickly (within the next blind level or two) or I start to feel short again already. Coming out of the first break (on PStars) blinds are at 75/150, when they hit 100/200 +25 I start to get real antsy if I haven't added at least another 2k to a 6-8k stack.

Am I getting nervous way to early here? My problem is, when the antes start I want to steal, but when more than half the table has a stack 2-3x larger than mine, that is very difficult most of the time.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

I have heard that too, but it was never confirmed.

This comment right here says it all. You shouldn't play rebuy tourneys if that is the way you approach the rebuy period.