Re buys - Your Strategy?

[chala]

Well, I'm back. Haven't posted in the old poker forum for some 6 months! After a good start to my online poker play, I hit a terrible run (like we all do), and got really disillusioned with it. But I'm back and ready to give it another shot! I've still been playing every week, but live with a group of mates. However we only chuck in a fiver each, so it's more play for fun really than play to win big cash. Anyway the point of this thread is, we're thinking of going to play in a live game in Bristol (at the Triangle Casino, incase anyone else here plays there?) in the next few weeks. The buy in is £20+£2, and there are unlimited re-buys in the first 90 mins, plus one top up. I've searched through some other threads to see opinions on re buys, but I wanted a few more. Can you realistically have a good shot at winning or at least getting into the money positions without re-buying? Re-buying in this game just once is gonna push the cost up to £42, which imo is quite a lot for one game, and will definately put most of my mates off. They'd probably just about stump up £22. I know in re-buys that a fair few people go mad, going all in with very little early on, just trying to double up. So surely if you play really tight for the first 90 mins, theres a good chance, you should atleast double or treble your stack, in which case you should be in atleast as good a position as the people who have rebought a few times? Or are you gonna be really disadvantaged if you don't re-buy? Finally, for those of you who have played a fair bit of live poker, what is the average number of times people do re-buy?

[Ovalman]

Re: Re buys - Your Strategy? Play tight, only rebuy if you have a bad beat. You probably won't win but using this strategy over the long term will see you in profit. The guys who rebuy 10 times only builds the pot for solid players. They might catch lucky and win the tournament but that only reasures them to keep their playing style. Any rebuy you have is only trying to win your own money back. If you make a shocking call that puts you out - DON'T rebuy. Go home as punishment and think about your mistake, I guarantee you'll not make that mistake again. I hit an all in with AJo the other week against a solid guy similar in chips who made a small raise UTG. He flipped over KK and that was me. The thing that annoyed me was that the signs were there. Had I have flat called, I had an option to get out of the hand but stupidness cost me. Top-ups - only top up if the blinds are really hurting. The chips you get in a top-up can be won or lost in a single hand after the break. Think about it this way - you pay £20 and it lasts 1 & 1/2 hours. You then top up for £20 and it could last you 5 minutes, not good value. If you've a medium or large stack keep the chips you have and win someone elses top up. I've only been playing live for 2 months, I'm down overall but I did finish 2nd in a tournie which has brought me back close to even. My strategy might not win you on the night but it will in the long term. Good luck on the tables and tell us how you get on.

[chala]

Re: Re buys - Your Strategy? Cheers ovalman, was hoping someone might tell me they play this way. I think we've pencilled in 30th November for our first game, I'll let you know how I get on.

[georgej]

Re: Re buys - Your Strategy? Never played live, but i found the "happy" hour was always a bit of a lottery. My solution was to play tight, never bluffing, and only going allin for a reason. Even with AK i won't go allin against someone in that mad hour. I looked at it more as how much i didn't lose rather than how much i won. usually come out about 1.5 times my original without rebuy and then play hard on my good hands. Not only make them pay to see what you have if you think you have the best, make them pay 'til it hurts. It's just getting through that first hour...