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That is the question. I’m typically not a big fan of rebuy tournaments. That being said when I think about it, every single Cleveland Poker League tournament that I play in (which constitutes 98% of all my poker playing these days) is in fact a rebuy tournament. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the CPL rules, let me explain.

Players get a starting stack of $2,500 tournament chips for their buyin ($15). One time (prior to the 5th blind level) players have the option of a one-time rebuy ($5) for another $1,000 chips. You can do this whether you’ve busted out of the tournament or not.

So the question is… do I rebuy up front, or wait until later in the tournament? I’m not sure there is a “correct” answer to this question but I thought I’d pose it. I typically get my rebuy up from so I’m starting the tournament with $3,500 in chips rather than $2,500. This essentially turns this rebuy tournament into a standard freeze out style tourney. I do this because it give me the advantage of putting those players who have NOT done the rebuy at the beginning of the night “all in” from the first hand. That being said, I think the earliest that someone has ever busted out was hand #4 or #5.

On the other hand, I do like the fact that if I weren’t to get my rebuy up front then I’d have a $1,000 “safety net” so to speak if I made a bad play and was out early. Personally I don’t play all that aggressively early in a tournament so this whole post is probably a non issue but I thought I’d bring it up.

I suppose it does indeed depend on your style of play. If you’re the type of player that might just indeed bust out early then you may want to think about not rebuying right up front. If you’re a tighter player (especially early in the day) then might as well get the extra heft to your stack from the beginning.