How do you play this?

15-min Blinds, $10,000 chips, unlimited rebuys

I read that you can’t wait for premium hands, but then it seems like it’s just dumb luck if everyone is playing loosely. My table was full of calling stations and LP players, so I got drawn out on, even with premium hands. Should I just think of the buy-in as throw away money in this type of structure?

Thanks for your thoughts!

rachaelm said:

15-min Blinds, $10,000 chips, unlimited rebuys

I read that you can’t wait for premium hands, but then it seems like it’s just dumb luck if everyone is playing loosely. My table was full of calling stations and LP players, so I got drawn out on, even with premium hands. Should I just think of the buy-in as throw away money in this type of structure?

Thanks for your thoughts!

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15 minute blinds is long online but how quickly your stack BB's drop matters more
simple example 10k chips is 100bb =level 1--level 2 blinds double = 50bb stack
Even though the levels are 15 minutes you are playing mid stack poker at level 2 which completely changes your strategy

My point is to give you advice I would need more clear data

It was a live game at a casino. What other info do you need?

"I wouldn't treat the buy-in as throwaway money. In rebuy tournaments with loose players, variance is naturally higher. I would still play strong value hands aggressively and avoid trying to bluff calling stations. Staying patient and making good decisions over the long run is usually the best approach."

rachaelm said:

It was a live game at a casino. What other info do you need?

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The rake and the starting stack in BB rather than chips. 10.000 chips with blinds of 100/50 means starting with 100BB, which is fairly normal. But if it was 10.000 chips with blinds of 400/200, then you only started with 25BB, which makes this a very shallow and fast structure. And even with a 100BB starting stack, 15 minute blind intervals are very fast for a live game, so if the rake is high, the game is likely more or less unbeatable.

So the answer to your question of, "how do you play this", is likely, that you dont, unless you mainly want to have some fun. If the rake is low, or there is an overlay, then its obviously different, and you can practice for this kind of game by playing online hyperturbo games. There is going to be lot of preflop push-fold spots, so you need to study those with a program like ICMizer.

rachaelm said:

It was a live game at a casino. What other info do you need?

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@fundiver stated some further points that are good.

1 How many starting BB's is important
2 15 minutes playing live is quick so how may hands per orbit is important
3 What is the blind increase % of stack at each level specifically matters- How quickly will we be at 20bb's and thinking shove strategy only. this is the data that will help you know if you can wait for premium hands or not.
4 Table dynamics--How are the players playing this MTT---
5 What are the payouts is this a low buy-in big top 3 payout that allows for multiple buy-ins.---If you have to hit top 5 to get paid back for 5 buy-ins this is not a good MTT.

It's much more difficult for a tournament player to estimate their variance. We can't simply count how many chips we've won, as their value changes as the tournament progresses. Not only do blinds and antes increase, but our chips have no direct monetary value until we finish in the money. In fact, every tournament participant except the winner eventually loses all their chips.

rachaelm said:

My table was full of calling stations and LP players, so I got drawn out on, even with premium hands.

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Getting drawn out on is not something, you can avoid in any game. Even KK is only around a 70% favourite against any hand with an ace in it, and if the hand goes multiway, KK will commonly have less than 50% equity preflop. I know, it was a live game, but next time try to note down hands, you find notewhorthy, and then share them to the hand analysis section. Then I and others will be happy to give you feedback on, how you played these hands. Maybe you just got unlucky, but maybe there was something, you could have done different to improve your long term results.

If there are calling station in the table then I get it's better to show them aggressive play by 3 betting i guess when you have good hands

Winning or Losing cannot say, But will definitely get paid mostly as they are calling with their every hand

When playing against a table of calling stations our premium hands go way down in equity

example KcKd vs AsJs Villain- KK Equity is 67% add in V2 QThh KK=52% V3 65dd KK=36%

So the equity falls to 36% but you may be playing it like it has 70% equity preflop by standard size 3 betting or 4 betting and still being called by 3 V.
Or you open and are called by 3 players and do not think about that reduced equity post flop and do not adjust your strategy.

Variance increases when playing against "calling stations." In this scenario, it is important to select your hands carefully, focusing primarily on value betting, and not to overlook the importance of your bankroll, so you don't go bust due to variance.

Stay calm, have a lot of patience, wait for the right moment and shoot at a burning point with this “AK” hand.

In a structure like that, I treat the buy-in as part of the cost of playing. During the rebuy period, people are willing to gamble because they can reload, so you'll see a lot of loose calls. I still play fundamentally solid poker, but I'm happy to get my chips in with strong hands and accept the variance. Once the rebuy period ends, the game usually settles down and skill starts to matter a lot more.😅