Pokerstars 3x-turbo satellites

[slapdash]

Has anybody played many/any of these? In case you don't know how they work, I just played one with a $5+$0.50 buy-in. 3000 starting stack, 5 minute blind levels, and rebuys of 3000 available for 90 minutes when you have 3000 chips or fewer (I think the "3x" means the rebuy period is 3 times what it would normally be for a turbo tournament). And after 90 minutes you can buy a 30,000 (!) add-on for $5. Blinds in the last level before the end of the rebuy period were 10,000/5,000 with a 1000 ante. I'm sure lots of people will dismiss them as "crapshoots", but I don't mind a crapshoot if I'm getting good odds, and in the one I played, only 32 out of 73 players were still in at the end of the rebuy period and were able to buy the add-on (I imagine all of those did get the add-on, though I didn't check). It seems to me that the other 41 players were giving a huge amount of value to the players who stayed in. Also, it involves a lot of short-stack poker, which is the best part of my game (plenty of practice :$). I wondered if anybody had any thoughts on the correct strategy for these, especially towards the end of the rebuy period? Should you be focused on reducing the number of rebuys you need rather than building a stack? If you go bust, should you get a single rebuy of 3k or a double rebuy of 6k? Right at the end of the rebuy period, I'm pretty sure you should just get a single rebuy, since the antes then give you much better odds when you commit all your chips preflop, but what about a bit earlier? To give some idea of the chip stacks at the end of the rebuy period, in the one I played the average was about 37k (before the add-on) and the chip leader had about 320k. Only about 10 players had more than 30k. The top 7 won a seat (actually the top 6, but the consolation prize for 7th was only $10 less than the $320 value of a seat). (I came 12th, by the way, with 6 rebuys and an add-on. :\)

[^Newbie^]

Re: Pokerstars 3x-turbo satellites so how much did you spend in total ? Sorry but i cant count at this stage of the day now . :$:$:$ Scrap the above , think u spent about $30 + for a shot at a $320 seat ? Depending on the quality of opposition , might be money well spent . But i hate tourneys that develops into crapshoots as u're forced to go into flips quickly .

[GaF]

Re: Pokerstars 3x-turbo satellites Sounds really interesting, but those out before the rebuy period ends giving away huge value seems to make a lot of sense intuitively. If we think of it from an ICM style perspective, where every chip you have is a lottery ticket with an equal chance, then at the beginning $1 is buying you 545 tickets, the rebuys (assuming $5 cost) buy you 600 lottery tickets per dollar and at the add on, each dollar is buying you 6,000 lottery tickets. So as you suggest, those not buying the add on are buying the expensive lottery tickets, but forgoing the cheap tickets. Strategy? Survive as cheaply as possible whilst the lottery tickets are expensive and then start playing your game after the add on?

Should you be focused on reducing the number of rebuys you need rather than building a stack?

That would be my view. You need to increase your starting stack (or rebuy stack) 10 fold to 30,000 to match the add on, assuming no edge (and I would say that good players in a short stack situation would not have a huge edge), then you're a 9-1 shot to achieve that. I'd rather wait till I have the 30,000 add on and then take a coin flip to win another 30,000. Given the [comparitive] expense, I'd be getting the single rebuy every time and not the double rebuy. My goal would be simply survival (and taken to the logical extreme to the extent of using my full time bank every hand, and playing very slowly to minimise the number of blinds I see). Its solely about getting to the add on with 1 chip in front of me.

[Robbiebox]

Re: Pokerstars 3x-turbo satellites

Strategy? Survive as cheaply as possible whilst the lottery tickets are expensive and then start playing your game after the add on? Given the [comparitive] expense, I'd be getting the single rebuy every time and not the double rebuy. My goal would be simply survival (and taken to the logical extreme to the extent of using my full time bank every hand, and playing very slowly to minimise the number of blinds I see). Its solely about getting to the add on with 1 chip in front of me.

I play the 3xtourneys quite a lot in the evenings, $2 NLO8 and the mega $1NLHE, although not the sats very often. I play with exactly the strategy you suggest above killing the clock every hand ~ I am the only one who plays like this but who cares:moon I am quite happy to make it to the break with just a single chip as the add-on puts you right back in the mix, where one double-up will put you at average or better. The only decision i have is when to commit as you have to and often if you get this right twice you can get to the add-on break with no rebuys. Notquite so sure how good this advice is when there are just a few seats ( places paid) to be won.