Rebuy Tournament Strategy

In this article, we will discuss strategy for playing satellite tournaments that pay seats to a bigger tournament. They are quite popular, because a low-stakes player can afford to enter a bigger buy-in tournament for a much smaller price. The tournaments are made famous by Chris Moneymaker's dream run in 2003 WSOP after winning a 39$ satellite tournament. We will primarily discuss the rebuy satellites that run on sites like Pokerstars, and Party Poker.
Different types of satellites

There are various types of satellites that are available on online sites that require different strategies.

Single table satellites: In this format, one or two players are paid in a STT (single table tournament) with 10 players. The strategy one would use is similar to normal STTs, but the bubble dynamics differ considerably. Though these satellites can be profitable for a good SNG player, they don't fill up that often and may not be as good for $/hr by themselves.

Shootouts: These are one of the most popular formats. In this format, if it is a double shootout, there are two rounds of STTs. One has to win the first round of STT to enter the second round, where most people are paid some money along with top few people winning a seat to the higher buy-in tournament. The appeal comes from the fact that winning the first round guarantees some return in money. Online sites offer triple shootouts as well with similar pay structures.

Though popular, these tournaments are not really that big on EV. One has to win the first round consistently to have good returns. An average player finishes first in a STT may be 5-7% of the time. They also take considerable amount of time to complete (about 3 hours for a DSO), as one has to wait for all the first round tables to complete to start the second round. We can calculate the EV of the tournament as follows.

It's a double shootout with two 10 player STTs with buy-in 10$ paying two 200$ tournament seats to top two and 40$ to the remaining 8. The EV, if you finish first 5% and top two 10% of the time in a STT would be

EV = 0.05 * (0.1 * 200 + 0.9 * 40) - 0.95 (10) = -6.7

As you can see, a marginal player actually has -EV value and one has to win at least 12% to have profitable outcome. PartyPoker offers double shootouts where three players from first round advance to the second, which can be a much better proposition.

Multi-table tournaments

In this format, more than a top few of the people are paid and the structure depends on the buy-in of the tournament. One will have a much better expectation in a 30$ tournament paying 200$ than a 10$ tournament to 200$ buy-in. In my experience, any tournament paying one spot for every 10 or more players, is a tough one. So, choose the buy-in accordingly.

Rebuy tournaments

These tournaments are multi-table tournaments with rebuy option available in first half-hour or first hour. Most popular tournaments include turbo rebuy tournaments which have insane structure with blinds increasing every 5 minutes! In my opinion, these are the most profitable satellite tournaments as they offer considerable amount of overlay after the rebuy period and the strategy is very simple to apply. In the rest of the article we will discuss about the basic strategy and specific strategy that should be applied in a rebuy tournament
Basic strategy for a satellite tournament

The key to winning a satellite tournament is understanding that you only have to survive to win and do not need to accumulate chips. Unlike in a normal tournament, you do not have to be aggressive during the bubble unless you are very short-stacked. In general, always keep track of the following things during the tournament

* Number of players remaining.
* Your position. This along with number of players remaining determines whether you should try to steal blinds with a marginal hand.
* Blind increases. This is a very important aspect that I will elaborate later.
* Opponent stack sizes. Unlike in normal tournaments, you should trying to attack larger stacks to steal. However, most people make the mistake of attacking the biggest stacks and bust. The key is to understand that the opponent you are trying to attack should have reasonable number of chips that he is confident of folding and getting a seat. If your opponent is too low or too large in chips, this won't apply. I prefer attacking medium-sized stacks similar to my stack.

Strategy during re-buy

Similar to other re-buy tournaments, one should try to take many chances to double up or triple up. I usually open push with hands like AK, AQ, 88 etc and call with most of the strong hands. The idea is to double up quickly in the rebuy period. However, note that this is not a real MTT and there are only a few places paid. If you spend too much in the rebuy, you MUST have to finish in the money to show a profit in the long run. A general rule is not to spend more than 1/4 of the higher buy-in seat (or about 5 times the original buyin). This rule comes from the fact that you will win at least 1/4 of the time. Another thing to keep in mind is to take lesser risks once you built up a nice stack.
Strategy during middle stages

If you played the rebuy stage properly, you will have above average stack with healthy number of chips. Since our goal is to stay alive and not accumulate chips, we are folding most of the hands during this period. One should steal occasionally to stay alive, but don't over do it. One of the most common mistakes people do during satellites is calling light when they have a big stack.

It is almost always wrong to call an all-in even with hands like AKo, unless you are short-stacked and the blinds are going to eat you up soon. I see people calling with hands like KJo, 44 and these mistakes should be avoided. However, it's right to push with these hands in late positions, to steal blinds. In my experience, I found that there is just one hand that you have to play to double up and choose that one hand carefully. If you do that right, you can just fold all other hands, and win the tournament.
Strategy during the bubble

This is where it gets really interesting. Short-stacks are desperately trying to sneak in and medium-sized stacks are folding away every hand. You don't have to take un-necessary risks at this stage. Keep track of the blinds and steal once or twice and you will be in the money.
The controversial stalling

Stalling is the most controversial aspect of satellite tournaments. Due to the insane structure of these tournaments with 5 minute blind increases, many people stall while acting on a hand, so as to avoid blinds passing through them. Every one gets 30 second timer, so it's ok to use it once in the tournament, especially during the bubble with an immediate blind increase. However, some people tend ot overdo it making the full amount of thinking time for each decision.

That's really bad and totally unnecessary. It just makes your table run slower making you play fewer hands and the higher blinds will hit you faster. IMO, if you require stalling to win the tournament, you are missing some thing in your strategy, and you are not playing the tournament well.

Specific hands and situations

What do you do with QQ?

This is a typical 11$ rebuy satellite tournament where the top few players get an entry into 215$ tournament. My position is 15/21. Next blind increase in 3 minutes. 13 spots get 215$, 3 get 33$, 1 gets 16$, 4 get nada. What's your decision and why ? PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t2000 (7 handed) TightPoker converter

• MP1 (t7999)
• MP2 (t13040)
• linuxrocks (t10893)
• Button (t26380)
• SB (t19976)
• BB (t6120)
• UTG (t14156)

Preflop: linuxrocks is CO with 
1 fold, MP1 raises to t7899, MP2 calls t7899, linuxrocks ??

This is a very interesting hand, considering that we have the 3rd best starting hand. However, see that there are only 4 opponents to bust and we can easily get into money. We also have pretty good stack for this stage. Fold is good here, and there has been considerable discussion about this on the forum. Check the discussion here

TT on the bubble

This is a 22$ rebuy tournament to win an entry into 530$ tournament. There were about 30 players who started and only four get paid.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t3000 (5 handed) TightPoker converter

• UTG (t33364)
• MP (t19925)
• Button (t18970)
• linuxrocks (t19787)
• BB (t16454)

Preflop: linuxrocks is SB with
UTG raises to t33364, linuxrocks ??.

Here, every one is playing well and are pushing with reasonable ranges. He might have a marginal hand, but we are usually flipping or may be behind with 20% chance of winning. That's not the kind of gamble you want to take in a satellite bubble.