Hi everyone, my name is Craig MrCasinoGray. All year, I have been ranked very high on PokerStars and the PLB; due in large part to my success in the daily $100 re-buy tournament. This year I spent over a month at the World Series of Poker, and it was the first time that I played in the $1,000 re-buy tournament. In the past, I hadn’t been interested in playing this event because I didn’t want to risk having to re-buy multiple times, and I hadn’t had enough experience or success in those tournaments. I just didn’t feel confident about my chances. Although, after my success in the $100 re-buy on Stars, the $1,000 re-buy became the tournament I was looking forward to playing in the most.

I went into this tournament with the mindset that I would play exactly how I would the $100 re-buy on Stars. I ended up taking 17th place the first time I played. Along the way, though, I realized there are some major differences between each. The experience in this tournament specifically woke me up to those changes. I’m going to share with you my complete experience throughout the $1,000 re-buy tournament: interesting hands I saw played, and which adjustments one should need to make to be as successful live as he or she is online.

To Gamble or Not to Gamble?

In the $1,000r at WSOP, all re-buys are purchased using $1,000 chips. Therefore, I came to the table with my seat card and $10,000 in $1,000 chips. I figured that I would probably be getting invested for $5,000 – $7,000, as my average in the $100r is about $500 – $700. Although, by the end of the re-buy period, I was invested for $11,000 and pretty much held the bare minimum of $7,900 in tournament chips. I had gambled quite a bit: getting all in pre-flop with hands such as QJ, 44, J9s, etc. At the end of the period I was informed that we could get a double add-on. This meant that for $2,000 we could receive 4,000 in tournament chips.

After playing through this tournament twice, I now think that it is a big mistake to gamble too much. Without any gambling, and playing solid and tight, one can just do a double add-on and for only $4,000 have at least 8,000 chips. I don’t mind gambling some, for instance shoving all-in with KQ, 77, 88, or any hand in which you flop a good draw, but I’d try to minimize gambling to hands that have a decent chance of winning, and not just throwing chips in the middle and praying, as I was doing.

Early Patience

I felt that the field in the $1,000 re-buy was the toughest of all that I entered this year, but that’s not to say there weren’t any weak spots. Once I made it down to the last 45 players of the tournament, however, I would say that only two were fish. In fields like this, I feel that playing a solid game is best. Tough players aren’t going to let you run them over, and at the same time you aren’t going to win very much (get much value) off of them in each pot.

Therefore, my strategy here, as I normally do online early, is to sit very tight in early levels (the first five levels of an online tournament, and almost all of the first day live) until I either have a big stack or have a really good feel for the table. Then I may decide it’s time to open up. The only time I deviate from this is when I felt that a weak opponent is in the pot, because I know that if I get lucky it would be more likely for me to stack him. Also, in live tourneys I am able to interact with my opponents and see every move and mannerism they make, which allows me to make tough decisions that I normally don’t have enough information to make online.

After the re-buy period I sat with 7900 chips, which was basically the lowest at my table, but still a deep stack as the blinds were only 100-200. I usually see a lot of people in this situation play poorly because they’re either the lowest stack at their table, or lower than average in the tournament. I want to emphasize that it doesn’t matter how your stack compares to the field. The only thing that you should take into consideration is how you compare to the blinds. How long can you afford to play for? Can you wait for extremely good hands, or is it time for you to make things happen? I think that too many players try to just “make things happen” instead of letting the cards do the talking early on in a tournament.

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This is Part 1 of 2 of Craig Gray's article on rebuy tournament analysis.Read Part 2

* Craig "MrCasino" Gray represents a group of six professional poker players called Final Table Team. Their website,www.FinalTableTeam.com features player bios, blogs and updates on their progress in live and online poker tournaments.

Final Table Team Members

Craig MrCasino Gray
JasonGray
billywestom
Jordan Octavian_C Rich
Kyle thetruth503 Zartman
Eric jakzpoker101 Crain

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