Always add on?

Unknown

It was a couple minutes before the rebuy period ended when I got this nh.

Full Tilt Poker Game #2347768389: $9,000 Guarantee (Rebuy) (17324259), Table 2 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:23:08 ET - 2007/05/04
Seat 1: clikityclack (11,293)
Seat 2: goneblind (2,250)
Seat 3: jusmoneyjj (5,138)
Seat 4: hero (5,355)
Seat 5: FlopNRun (6,826)
Seat 6: phynix (3,120)
Seat 7: Cruzin Coyote (1,945)
Seat 8: sisco1775 (2,250)
Seat 9: krazylouie (5,216)
FlopNRun posts the small blind of 40
phynix posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hero [Ad Ac]
Cruzin Coyote folds
sisco1775 raises to 250
krazylouie raises to 5,216, and is all in
clikityclack folds
goneblind folds
jusmoneyjj folds
hero raises to 5,355, and is all in
FlopNRun raises to 6,826, and is all in
phynix calls 3,040, and is all in
sisco1775 folds
FlopNRun shows [Qs Qc]
phynix shows [Ah Ts]
krazylouie shows [Jc Js]
hero shows [Ad Ac]
Uncalled bet of 1,471 returned to FlopNRun
*** FLOP *** [2s 6c Qd]
*** TURN *** [2s 6c Qd] [4d]
*** RIVER *** [2s 6c Qd 4d] [As]
FlopNRun shows three of a kind, Queens
hero shows three of a kind, Aces
hero wins side pot #2 (278) with three of a kind, Aces
krazylouie shows a pair of Jacks
Cruzin Coyote: ohhhhhhhhh man
hero wins side pot #1 (6,288) with three of a kind, Aces
krazylouie: wow
phynix shows a pair of Aces
hero wins the main pot (12,730) with three of a kind, Aces
Cruzin Coyote: justice served
sisco1775: wow
phynix adds 3,000
krazylouie adds 3,000
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 19,296 Main pot 12,730. Side pot 1 6,288. Side pot 2 278. | Rake 0
Board: [2s 6c Qd 4d As]
Seat 1: clikityclack didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: goneblind didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: jusmoneyjj didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: hero (button) showed [Ad Ac] and won (19,296) with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 5: FlopNRun (small blind) showed [Qs Qc] and lost with three of a kind, Queens
Seat 6: phynix (big blind) showed [Ah Ts] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 7: Cruzin Coyote didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: sisco1775 folded before the Flop
Seat 9: krazylouie showed [Jc Js] and lost with a pair of Jacks



So the case Ace vaults me into first place. A couple minutes later I pay $20 for the 2000 chip add on because that's what you're supposed to do. It only adds 10% to my stack, my total buy in is now $62 and I only end up cashing for $76. In hindsight the add on doesn't seem worth it here. Why is it I HAVE to add on here according to Phil Gordon and others?

Hobbes

I generally only add on if it represents more than 10% of my stack and I am within about 25% of the average stack.

Eclipse

Investing an extra 50% for 10% more chips doesn't make much sense to me either... I would always make sure the # of chips I get is proportionally significant.

SirWatts

The usual argument is that the chips you add-on are cheaper than the ones you buy-in for (on Stars you get 2k in stead of 1500 for the same price) so adding on is basically always +EV. Rebuying and add-on logic is complicated but there was a post by Greg Raymer back in his 2+2 days that said unless you have an enormous stack (like average stack for the final table or something ludicrous) that you should always add-on.

OK after some thinking this makes sense: On average every 1500 chips you have is worth one buy-in worth of equity (ignoring skill for a moment). It's generally accepted that the more chips you have the less each individual chip you have is worth (this is basically since the tournament is not winner take all). But that early on in the tournament you have such a small % of the chips (even with a 20K stack) in play that the effect is not big enough to make up for the fact that the add-on is essentially buying you 1.333 buy-ins worth of equity for the price of one buy-in. Hope taht makes sense.