Rebuy Satellites

Not everyone can afford to pluck down $ 10,000 for a big poker tournament or even $ 215 for a Sunday major. There are numerous satellite opportunities available at the various online sites and one that is increasingly popular is the rebuy satellite. Some players will buy in for just the initial cost while others will fork out half of what the actual seat costs. There are three very distinct stages in a rebuy satellite and this article is going to discuss these three stages and the different strategies that are typically employed.

Stage 1 The Rebuy Period

The strategy you employ during the rebuy period will usually depend on one thing – how much money you are willing to put in. If you are looking to get in at a minimal cost, you will be best served following a very selective and tight approach. If you are willing to put in say four to five rebuys, then you can take a few more chances but you still have to be selective about how you play. If you’re willing to put in a ridiculous amount of almost half the value of the seat you are playing for, you’ll want to play a more aggressive style of poker. Let’s look at each of these strategies in a bit more depth.

The Tight And Selective Approach

This approach is best used by players looking to win a seat for a minimal investment. Obviously, the less you are willing to invest the lower your odds of winning a seat, but there are many successful players who regularly win seats only putting in one or two rebuys.

The main reason these players are successful is because they take advantage of the weak play that typically exists during the rebuy period. By limiting themselves to a very narrow range of hands (big pairs and big Aces) and playing these hands very aggressively and committing themselves pre-flop they are usually getting their chips in way ahead. There are, however, two problems with taking this line. First, if your opponents are paying attention they will know that you are playing only premium hands and will be much less likely to gamble with you. Second, the rebuy period itself is limited to a particular time frame and it is not impossible for you to go that entire time without getting one of the playable hands.

If your budget is limited, this is a good strategy to use, but it’s really the only time I would recommend playing this way.

The ‘I Can Afford A Few Rebuys’ Approach

This is the category that most rebuy satellite players fall into. These players don’t mind taking a few chances and are willing to put in some money in order to win a seat. This does not mean you should play every hand, but it does mean you should be more speculative to try to win a big pot.

Any time you can see a flop for under five big blinds and have a hand that plays well in that given situation you should do so. For example, suited connectors are a great hand to play in a multi-way pot but are not as profitable in a heads-up situation. A hand like A-10 or pocket nines plays much better against one opponent than it does against three or four. Post-flop you should play very aggressively. If you flop top pair or a draw, you should not be afraid to push your hand hard. If you call and lose the hand, that’s fine, that is after all why you are playing a rebuy.

Say, the blinds are 25/50 and you have 1,500 in chips. A player has raised to 200 and three players have called. You are on the button with 7-6 suited also call. Five see the flop of 9-5-4. The initial raiser bets 400 and is called by one player. Push all-in here. Just calling would be terrible. If you don’t hit your draw you will have leaked a significant portion of your stack and you want to make sure that if you do hit it that you receive the maximum for doing so. There’s also the possibility, although slim, that your opponent will fold.

Here’s another example. The blinds are 25/50 and you have 1,500 in chips. A player has opened the pot to 200 and two players have called. You have pocket tens in the big blind. There are three options here: fold (yuck); call (not a terrible option normally but a rebuy tournament is not the place to set-mine); or raise. Raising is the best option. You’re likely ahead and you want to thin the field down. There are no guarantees but the beauty of the rebuy period is that if you lose you can just get more chips. Use this to your advantage.

The Maniac Approach

This approach is for people who hate money. Well, not really, but it will seem like they do. These players will typically push all-in pre-flop numerous times or if they do see a flop push all-in with any tiny piece. While this strategy would be a huge loser in normal tournament or satellite play, there is some merit to this strategy in a rebuy satellite because your main goal is to win a seat for less than it would cost you to buy in directly.

If you can do so by playing like a maniac for half the price then this is obviously a +EV strategy. The biggest problem I see with players who employ this strategy is that they don’t know when to shift gears. If you’ve increased your starting stack by five or six times, there is really no reason to continue gambling so much. Tighten up and take advantage of the very loose image you have established. People are not going to notice that you have shifted gears and are going to pay you off because they think you are still playing recklessly.

Keypoint
Know when to shift gears. If you’ve increased your stack by five or six times tighten up and take advantage of your loose image

Stage 2 Rebuy to Bubble

One of the biggest mistakes people make in rebuy satellites is failing to make an adjustment after the rebuy period. They’ll play too loose, calling too many raises and re-raising too much. In a rebuy satellite survival is key. You’re not playing to take home first place but to share first place with a number of other players.

There are winner-takes-all satellites, but most of the time there are a number of seats up for grabs and you should adjust your play accordingly. The key is to play your normal game. Don’t go risking three-quarters of your stack with A-K. Steal the blinds from the players you can steal from. Play your big pairs aggressively. Race in situations where your opponent’s stack only represents a small percentage of yours. Try to play a lot of small pots and only play big pots when you know you have the best of it.

Let’s look at some example scenarios when holding A-K. In each case there are 100 players left with the top 20 winning seats. You have an above average stack of 50,000 and the blinds are 500/1,000. You are in the big blind.

Scenario 1 A short-stack has moved all-in for 9,000. Everyone else has folded. This is a perfect situation to play with A-K and you should call.

Scenario 2 An early-position player with a 60,000 stack has raised to 3,000. A middle-position player has moved all-in for 30,000. In a conventional MTT, you can make a case for playing A-K here. However, in a satellite this is a situation you should probably avoid. While there is a chance you are ahead, the fact that the call is for more than half your stack – as well as the fact that you still have the open-raiser to act behind you – make this a clear fold.

Scenario 3 It is folded to the button who makes it 3,000 to go. The button has 40,000 behind. You re-raise to 10,000. The button moves all-in. A call is favourable here. Your hand is good against the wide range of hands the button will be three-bet shoving here. He may think you are on a re-steal or just applying pressure. Even if he does have a hand, unless it’s Aces or Kings you’re not in bad shape. Win this hand and you can cruise into a seat.

Stage 3 The Bubble

Playing the bubble is much easier than people make it out to be. Your goal is simple. Outlast other players. Let them make the mistakes. I can’t tell you how often I see people putting their satellite lives at risk in situations they should avoid. Here’s an example that I see all the time. It’s folded to the button who has 12 times the big blind. The tournament is three spots from ending and the button has more chips than eight of the remaining players. The blinds have about the same size stack as the button. The button looks down at A-9 and decides to try to pick up the dead money knowing they will fold nine times out of ten. He moves all-in, runs into pocket Kings and is eliminated. Unlike a tournament, chip accumulation during the bubble is not crucial. Survival is. While open-shoving with A-9 on the button with 12 big blinds is often a no-brainer in a conventional tournament, it’s not the case here.

It’s a different story if you are one of the shorter stacks on the cusp of elimination. Here, you can’t wait for people to bust out because they are doing the same thing as you. The key is to look at your chip position and compare it to the other players. If you are in comfortable chip position, there is no need to get involved with all but the best of hands and only against stacks that can’t cripple you. If you have an average stack but are above the threshold needed to win the seat, again there is no reason to get involved. If you are in danger of being eliminated, don’t be afraid to play some hands. If you aren’t in danger, let other players panic and make the mistakes. Trust me, they will.