The first question you should ask yourself when considering joining a Rebuy Tournament is—“Should I play?” A Rebuy Tournament can be a deceptive endeavor when it comes to cost, as the very nature of the beast dictates you will spend many times the initial buy in, over and over again. That is, if you want to maximize the key advantage of the Rebuy Tournament, deep pockets.

A Rebuy Tournament is an event, typically a No Limit Texas Hold’em freezeout Tournament, that allows a player to buy back in once they bust out. Typically the rebuy amount is equivalent to the initial buy in, and typically a player gets a new rack of chips equal to the starting rack. Rebuy Tournaments have a set period during which this can happen, the rebuy period, to prevent players from rebuying their way to the final table. This means that the optimal strategy, unique to a rebuy format, needs to take place within the proscribed rebuy period.

And what is the optimal strategy? Take big chances for maximum payoff. In a cash game it pays to take chances if you will be right more often than not, because in the long run you will be profitable. In a tournament this is not often the case, because there is a finite end—the tourney itself—to your chances of being profitable, which leads to instances where you would fold a draw with tons of outs just so you can last longer in the event. A rebuy event changes that.

With a rebuy event you can go ahead and take that chance, because you can buy back in if it does not work out in your favor. It is like taking a standard tourney and adding back in the long term profit factor. There can, however, reach a certain point where your rebuys start to actually cut in on the potential profit. So, to sum up, approach a rebuy event the same way you would a typical freezeout, but with two differences. First, be prepared to spend as much as ten times the buy in or more in rebuys, and second, take big chances during the rebuy period as long as your budget holds out.