If there’s one thing I always try to stress about poker, it’s that you need to know your wins and losses down to a T. How much goes into your hobby versus how much comes out? Again, if you have the disposable income and mentality that you just want to play poker no matter what the losses are, that’s fine, but the majority of players can’t afford that type of lifestyle, so we have to minimize our losses at every opportunity. One area that players often don’t factor into their win/loss ratio is the entry fee’s of tournaments and the add-on’s/rebuys that may be offered. Since most players will never see a final table or make it into the money, this is one of the prime examples of losing money in poker unnecessarily.
A rebuy should not be treated as just a way to play a tournament for another hour or so. Correct rebuy strategy should involve how you’re doing in the tournament thus far, how far you think you can realistically last in this tournament, and the cost of the rebuy. Small events may offer rebuys and add-ons for as little as $15-$20. At that cost you can afford to extend your fun a little, especially if you catch a bad beat early on.
However, if the rebuy stretches into the three digits and you are totally outclassed at the table you’re playing at, you should really consider just leaving after you lose all your chips. That money you’ll save will be better spent on cheap sit & go’s online and other smaller limit game.
As far as add-on’s go, if it’s cheap enough, I’ll almost always do a add-on right at the final deadline for deciding whether or not to do so, which is typically during the 3rd round or so of a tournament. If I can add another 30-40% of chips to my stack for cheap and I feel that I can now use my larger stack to play more aggressively and further my way into a field of average level players, I’m more than likely going to do it.
No two situations are alike, you need to be able to remove all pride and ego from the situation and make a decision based purely on the financial risk/reward terms of the situation.
