In this article, I analyze the structure of rebuy tournaments, sharing my approach to the different phases. For beginners and intermediate players.

Rebuys are a kind of tournament with a particular structure.
These tournaments have two distinguished phases, separated by the first hour break.
During the first part every player can get the starting stack again whenever remaining with no chip left just by paying the buy-in again. In some poker room players are allowed to add the starting stack to their present stacks every time these are lower than (or equal to) the starting stack. Just to make an example, in the tournaments with starting stack 1500, every player can rebuy when his or her stack is 1500 or lower.

In most poker rooms, during the first break (usually after one hour) players are allowed to increase their stacks by paying an add-on equal to the buy-in, whichever their stacks are. This means they can add a number of chips equal to the initial stack or a little bit higher (in the CD poker room the add-on gives 2000 chips when starting stack is 1500).
After this break the tournaments continues the same as a freezout and players get eliminated when they have no chip left.

I consider extremely important to underline two aspects (one strategic, one economic) every player should know before taking part in these tournaments.

While playing this kind of tournament you should consider that the majority of your opponents play the first hour of a rebuy with a different approach than freezouts, as this is not a freezout. The opportunity to lose the whole stack or an allin without being eliminated invites players to a different risk attitude, as far as rebuying is not an issue for their bankroll. What usually happens during the first hour is a lot of preflop ALL-INs occurring, a lot of hazardous attempts, many weird hands with weird results as a consequence of many players not folding hands usually should not be played at all or should not be played until the river. All of this comes from the logic that during the first hour what really counts is obtaining a good stack to play the rest of the tournament with, even if to achieve this result you may be required to rebuy several times. For this reason many more hands than a freezout should be played to get some good pots. During the first hour a more conservative or traditional style can be played after a good stack has been reached. At that point, why risking to vanish the good job made just for the incapability to stop over-risking?

It may be difficult to play a rebuy without adjusting your game style to the rebuy approach for the reason the other players would play a different game with different unwritten rules during the first hour.

Myself, I consider important to gather the bigger stack possible during the first hour too, even if I experienced winning a rebuy after a disastrous first hour. In order to achieve this aim I suggest to instantly double up with a rebuy when starting the tournament and whenever rebuying after remaining chipless. For the same reason, I suggest to pay the addon in all the cases your stack is not too poor at the break to consider worthy such an investment. This strategy is for players whose skills are good enough to justify in the second part of tournament all this investments made during the first. Beginners should try just with very cheap tournaments.

This approach gives the opportunity to get in the money with higher frequency and the times you get at the final tables or in excellent final position will make up for the odd days when you don't get in the money in spite of this approach. As a direct economic consequence of this approach, asking you to pay at least 3 times the rebuy (maybe 5, maybe 7) you should just play rebuys with a buy-in many times lower than the one you would pay to play a usual freezout.

Last but not least, with some attention during the last hands of the first hour you can always start the second part of the tournament with about 5000 chips: 1500 from the stack after the rebuy, 1500 from the instant double up given by the additional rebuy and 2000 from the add-on. That's not the great stack you have dreamt to start the second hour with, but it's not a bad stack in relationship with BB and nobody knows what could happen then.

I would be glad to read your opinions about this approach and know your experience in rebuys. For any further question, feel free to write here.

See you around,
Coach Stefano