Newbie Q: Buy Back

hey there - I'm new-ish to texas hold em, but we have a home game going.
We are thinking of starting to allow a buy-back, and some discussion has arisen as to how this should be tackled.

We're thinking a 90 minute buy back option, but we're not certain about how much/how many chips should be bought.

If the buy in for the game is $10 and you get $300k in chips, should the buy back be:
1 - $10 for $300k
2 - $10 for $150k
3 - something else!

We think it should be option 2, but just looking for informed opinions on the 'norm'...

thanks,
Frank

I think you're talking about a rebuy here in that you can purchase a new stake if you bust out. Generally, rebuys cost the same and have the same number of chips as the buy-in. Since this is a home game, you can set the rules however you want but a good compromise might be $10 for another $200k...

Wow! Fast reply - thanks IrishDave! Yeah, that's what I'm talking about alright...
So re-buys are usually the same as the initial buy-in?
That's interesting. Doesn't it give someone who bust out an advantage when they re-buy?

No, because the other players can buy-in as well.

frankp said:

Doesn't it give someone who bust out an advantage when they re-buy?

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No, because (a) everyone has the same option, and (b) a player who is rebuying is rebuying for less than what the average stack will be, whereas initially players buy in for the exact average stack.

Not a big fan of rebuys myself but I'd recommend you put a limit on the number, say 2 and that's it. I heard that Daniel Negreanu once rebought 27 times - and ended up winning the tourney.

IrishDave said:

I heard that Daniel Negreanu once rebought 27 times - and ended up winning the tourney.

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Did Negreanu book a winner for first? Seriously, not all of his rebuys went to first. Some piece went into the pool for 2nd, 3rd etc. So could he have actually been a net looser? Guess it depends on how many other rebuys the tournament had.

BTW Tom McEvoy points out that rebuys have one advantage over a normal buy in. No entry fee. 1 buy-in + a rebuy costs less than a rebuy to 2 tournaments. Something to consider when playing satellites.

Good post Frank,

I have a few questions before i answer your question.

Is it a tourney (i take it that it is) ?? What are your blind levels, and level times ? Is your prize money adjusted according to the amount of buy ins ? How many re-buys are you prepared to accept ?

Plus as the game goes on your chips lose value. 300K starting chips does not have the same value as 300k chips in the last few levels when the blinds are high. So maybe bear this in mind or put a time limit on re-buys

Good points all - thanks!

tenbob... good questions.. let's see how many of them I can answer!!

If by tourney you mean play until someone wins all the chips then yes, that's how we play!

Our blinds go up every half hour, but I currently can't remember the blind values...

Prize money adjustment isn't something we had thought of... how might this work?

I think we are looking at one rebuy allowed per person and only within the first ninety minutes of play...

The game is organised by a couple of friends of mine, they would probably have the answers I am missing at the moment - in case you thought it was odd I didn't have answers!
We changed our chip allotment/value recently so I forget what blinds we're on...
I'm afraid I'm one of those players who turns up and has to relearn the values on the chips every time I play!!!
We've a game on Friday and everyone who plays is going to vote on the rebuy situation, so I'm doing my homework!!!

Very good point about the value of chips as game progresses... an obvious point I had of course missed...

This forum is great, I didn't expect such a great response so quickly.
Thanks everyone, keep em coming!

ps - plus, learning that the term generally used is rebuy allowed me to find lots more useful stuff on Google too...!

Wow sounds like your games go on all night Frank. LOL

What I would suggest is to allow 1 re-buy per person, and only allow that for the first 2 levels (ie the first hour of your game)

Depending on how your prize structure is will depend on how you adjust winnings. In our game we never give anyone less than their money back. So if you have 9 players, that gives you a $90 prize pool, payout something like 60-20-10, then 2 re-buys would give you an additional $20, so i would suggest a payout like 60-30-20. And ALL additional rebuys going to first place.

Im not a fan of re-buys myself but sometimes in home games especially they are part and parcel of the night. Watch for the small stacks trying to either double up or bust out just before the re-buy period finishes, It can be a nice little earner beacuse you will see a lot of big betting with very marginal hands.

Thanks tenbob,
I think you've hit the nail on the head there in a few respects...

I think the reason the lads are thinking of introducing it is twofold - 1. to encourage looser play in the early part of the game, as you describe and 2. as our game is every two weeks it will mean nobody waits two weeks to play for thirty minutes!!

Our games CAN tend to go on a bit alright, and having now done some research on rebuys, I'm leaning toward not adding rebuys to our game - but I think I'll be outvoted

Thanks to everyone on this, all valuable pointers!

Ok Frank, maybe your problem is that you game goes on for way too long..

Why not change the entire structure, put the blinds up every 10-15 minutes and drop the buy in to $5.

That way you will easily get 2 or maybe even 3 games into your nights

we're ok with the length of the game at the mo, but that's after some work on figuring out the blinds etc... I just think that introducing a rebuy will make the game longer again - just when we are managing to get home before daylight... barely

We're going to take a vote on it when we get to the game Friday, but I think the vote will go in favour of 1 rebuy possible per person up until the first hand of fourth blind.

We'll see how it works out!