Head Games: Should I Go Crazy During the Rebuy Period of Tournaments? It All Depends.

Craig Tapscott: What’s the best advice for the rebuy period of play in tournaments? You see some players go crazy and shipping it all-in with any two cards during live or online events to build a stack. And many others are just playing premium hands. What’s the best way to approach this period?

James Campbell: Your table dynamics determine the proper way to play the rebuy period. If I have a table that likes to gamble then it can be a lot of fun and I enjoy mixing it up with everyone else. Back in 2006, 2007 you were able to build monster stacks in the rebuy period online because the games were good, everyone else was bad. So if you were able to build a big stack during the rebuy period and you could continue to put pressure on people throughout the tournament, it was a huge advantage. Nowadays I think the rebuy periods have changed a lot and everyone is much tighter. So if you play the rebuys crazy it’s going to end up costing you too much money to maintain a decent ROI. I still like to gamble in the low and mid-stakes rebuys, because I think there is a significant edge against those fields. Sometimes I might gamble a bit more towards the end of the rebuy period in order to accumulate some chips.

Steve Barshak: The rebuy period is a very interesting time in poker where you can really accumulate a ton of chips if you play it the right way. The best way to approach it is to really figure out how ‘gambly’ people are playing at your table. That can dictate how often you should be all-in; the more ‘gambly’ your table the more often you should be all-in. If you have a really tight table, going all-in is usually going to feel very unnecessary in many spots. You really just always have to make sure you have a comfortable amount of money in your account so you can just rebuy how much you “need/want”. It’s good to play a wider range of cards during the rebuy period and try to build a stack, which makes logical sense since you can buy more chips if you lose. The goal during the rebuy period is accumulate, accumulate, accumulate. Always remember though that if you don’t come out of the rebuy period with heaps, its OK, as your stack will still be quite deep after the rebuy period is over. So it’s not the end of the world. If you are playing rebuys though you must be more than willing to get it in during the rebuy period, no matter if it’s an $11 rebuy or a $1,000 rebuy.

Darren Elias: This depends almost entirely on your table and its dynamics. If you draw a table full of gamblers, shipping it all-in preflop with weak holdings, then it can be profitable to get it in preflop with marginal hands like T-T and A-Q. This can get expensive as you will often be forced to rebuy multiple times, but a lot of the time you can run up a big stack. I prefer to play at these tables during the rebuy hour. On the contrary, if you draw a nittier table where everyone is playing the rebuy period like a freezeout, then you are just burning money by shoving in light preflop because you are only getting called when you’re crushed. Usually if you’re the only person at your table shoving in preflop then it’s better to play tighter. Getting it in repeatedly as a 20/80 underdog isn’t gambling, it’s losing, even in the rebuy hour.

Craig Tapscott: Once the rebuy period is over and the stacks are deep in the early to middle stages of the event, what are the biggest leaks you see from players during these stages?

James Campbell: The best part about the rebuys is the deepstack poker that you get to play for a few hours after the rebuy period. I think tournament players in general aren’t comfortable playing 100 big blind stacks or greater. So I think some players especially, beginner or intermediate, really struggle playing this deep. The biggest leak that I see players making is not being able to fold big pairs on coordinated boards and calling too loose preflop, especially out of position. With people min-raising a majority of the time the blinds are defending way too wide. If you are defending out of position against a good player who likes to apply a lot of pressure, well then it’s going to be very difficult to be able to win that pot. You see players playing a guessing game most of the time just hoping that the aggressive player may be bluffing. As simple as a concept as it sounds this is the biggest leak that I see many players making.

Steve Barshak: I see many, many leaks in players’ deepstack games. After the rebuy period, the stacks tend to be very, very deep and most online players are uncomfortable with how deep these stacks are. They really don’t know the “right approach” to take with these 70-100 plus big blind stacks. From what I notice, many people get it in too light in spots that are way too deep. For instance, at a lot of these tables after the rebuy period, you can find someone losing all their chips with J-J or 10-10 for 70-80 plus big blinds. They could easily have not gotten into a preflop war with these hands. It is key to avoid these huge preflop wars for massive stacks when you already have a ton of chips, there is just absolutely no reason to get involved. You have to be very comfortable with your post-flop game in these scenarios, that’s when it’s going to be a true test of your game. You may realize that you have a lot of leaks in your deepstack game after playing the huge-stacked rebuys, but these usually are leaks that can easily be improved and involve “spewing” too many chips in spots where it is unneeded or high variance.

Darren Elias: After the rebuy period, tables are usually full of 100 plus big blind stacks and players with no idea how to wield them. One of the biggest mistakes I see players making is a mental one. It occurs when a player has run up a big stack either during the rebuy period or early after the rebuy period, and loses a significant but not crippling pot. For example, a player has 150bb and loses a pot to bring him down to 50bb. A lot of times this player will overreact to the loss and begin to panic. To them, their 50bb stack feels more like 10bb or 20bb and they force the issue, usually making bad decisions and busting the tournament. These players need to forget the fact that they had 150bb at one point and simply play optimally from their new stack. Players often feel the need to get right back up to where they used to be and take unnecessary risks to do so. I also think the preponderance of other big stacks at the table after rebuy periods can give a player stack envy in these situations. It’s imperative to have a firm grip on your emotions or you won’t make it far in these events. ♠