PokerStars Rebuy Tournaments
Don't these seem a little too good to be true? Here's why:
1. There is a house edge *only* on the initial buy-in and not the rebuys. That is, in a $10 +$1 rebuy tournament, all $10 of each rebuy and add-on go directly into the prize pool. If you plan on taking one rebuy and add-on you're essentially playing a $30 + $1 tournament. That's only about a 3% house drop.
2. The blind/ante structure is identical to a non-rebuy tournament. A typical rebuy tournament probably ends up having around 3 buy-ins for each player, resulting in there being roughly 3 times more chips in play. So, the blinds/antes (compared to the average initial* stacks) are actually less than in a regular tournament by a factor of 3.
3. Some bad players may take too many rebuys which builds both the prize pool, and the chips io play (as in #2). Of course, if your skill level is well below the competition, even taking *one* rebuy or add-on is a mistake. (Not to mention enetering the tournament in the first place.)
For good players these (particularly #2) are huge advantages.
Typically, do B&M (or other online) casinos take a cut of the rebuys/add-ons or not?
It seems like rebuys offer something for everyone-- real advantages over regular tournaments for the good players, and "second chances" for the loosey-goosey gamb00lers.
ScottyZ
* "initial" meaning counting the tournament chips added by the rebuys and add-ons.
1. There is a house edge *only* on the initial buy-in and not the rebuys. That is, in a $10 +$1 rebuy tournament, all $10 of each rebuy and add-on go directly into the prize pool. If you plan on taking one rebuy and add-on you're essentially playing a $30 + $1 tournament. That's only about a 3% house drop.
2. The blind/ante structure is identical to a non-rebuy tournament. A typical rebuy tournament probably ends up having around 3 buy-ins for each player, resulting in there being roughly 3 times more chips in play. So, the blinds/antes (compared to the average initial* stacks) are actually less than in a regular tournament by a factor of 3.
3. Some bad players may take too many rebuys which builds both the prize pool, and the chips io play (as in #2). Of course, if your skill level is well below the competition, even taking *one* rebuy or add-on is a mistake. (Not to mention enetering the tournament in the first place.)
For good players these (particularly #2) are huge advantages.
Typically, do B&M (or other online) casinos take a cut of the rebuys/add-ons or not?
It seems like rebuys offer something for everyone-- real advantages over regular tournaments for the good players, and "second chances" for the loosey-goosey gamb00lers.
ScottyZ
* "initial" meaning counting the tournament chips added by the rebuys and add-ons.
Comments
I haven't seen rebuy tournaments on any other sites so far.
ScottyZ
If you dont plan on spending a rebuy and addon though, it seems much much harder to assemble chips in these, in which case a non rebuy event is maybe better. All depends on 1st table in rebuy events, gotta get lucky with cards and action.
As far as brick and mortar rebuys, I have never played any where they rake the rebuy or addon....however the initial fee for B&Ms are often massive, so the rebuys help the prizepool recover fom the take.
These live events also often have a 3%-6% withheld from prizepool for dealers and staff, I say stic to online.
Kev
$50+$5
$300 TC's
rebuys were $20 (unlimited for one hour)
addon was $30 (but you got $600 TC's) - one time only (within the first hour).
100% of the $50 fee, rebuys and add ons went directly to the prize pool. They definately lost money running the tourney (5 dealers, space, administration, game stewards etc).
This was on a Tuesday and they don't usually have the cash games open until Wednesdays, but they did that Tuesday (aka the loser's lounge). They had 5 cash tables ($3/$6 only) full by 9:30pm.