Whether or not to Re-Buy in a Poker Tournament

A lot of online poker tournaments at FullTiltPoker.com with large numbers of competitors will have a re-buy period where anyone is aloud to buy more chips to add to there stack. Generally a re-buy period will last for the first hour of a tournament with the last minute of the hour allowing anyone to re-buy chips. If you lose all of your chips before the hour re-buy period then you’re aloud to buy back in and receive chips too continue playing. Each tournament has a different setting for the re-buy period so make sure you take note on the guidelines for the tournament that you’re playing in. You’ll find that some tournaments allow one re-buy, some tournaments allow limited re-buys and some tournaments allow unlimited re-buys.

The best thing about playing in a re-buy tournament is that you’ll have a chance to add to your chip stack which in other tournaments you can’t do. The prize pool also increases as people re-buy which is another reason why these tournaments are very popular. If you don’t need any chips then you don’t need to re-buy into the tournament, and you shouldn’t be concerned about other players re-buying as there only re-buying because they’ve lost there chips already once. If you want to add to your chip stack then whenever the re-buy period is just about over make sure you take advantage of the option and add to your chip stack. I don’t recommend it if you’re in a good chip standing though because you’ll only get the starting stack amount added to your chip stack which might not make much of a difference. Below we’re going to look at some factors you need to consider before re-buying into a tournament.

Quality of competition

While you’re in the tournament at FullTiltPoker.net you should be looking at how the other players are competing and if the competition isn’t that stiff then you might want to consider re-buying into the tournament. If you feel you’re better then most of the competition you’ve seen while playing then chances are you could win some money by re-buying into the tournament. If the competition is stiff and you’ve been losing a lot of hands without showdowns due to the better play of opponents then you might want to consider joining another tournament instead of re-buying into the current tournament.

Unlucky?

A lot of players face bad beats in tournament play at www.FullTilt.com and lose there chip stack due to it. If you lose your chip stack because you we’re a victim of a bad beat then you’ll probably want to re-buy into the tournament since it wasn’t your play which caused you to lose. Bad beats do take place in poker and the re-buy option will allow you to continue playing. If you decide to continue playing and re-buy into the tournament make sure you forget about the bad beat and start playing as you we’re before the bad beat.

Do you want to continue?

You need to decide whether or not you want to still play in the tournament. If you’re going to buy back in the tournament just to go all-in again then you should just save your money and move on. If you’re committed to playing in the tournament still though then make sure you re-buy in while you have the chance and continue playing. Tournaments take awhile and you need to be focused on your poker game for hours on end.

Chris Moneymaker was never expecting to turn into one of the most recognized poker players in the world, but he managed to do this when he won the 2003 WSOP main event bracelet. Chris was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1975 and moved out to Tennessee before highschool. He then graduated highschool in Tennessee and went on to attend the University of Tennessee where he graduated with a Masters Degree in Accounting.

Chris then started working as an accountant in a suburban lifestyle which at the time seemed like the perfect life. Over the years Chris had always loved to play card including bridge, blackjack and poker. It wasn’t until later on in his life that he took poker seriously and started working on his game. When he wasn’t working as an accountant Chris would spend hours playing online poker at Poker Stars working on his game and making a nice side income.

Moneymaker eventually entered a satellite tournament on Poker Stars with the prize being a package to the 2003 WSOP main event. The tournament only cost him $39 to enter and he won first place and the prize package to go to the WSOP main event. When he went to Vegas I’m sure he had no clue he was going to make a run for the bracelet, but the underdog came through and surprised the world by beating Sammy Farha heads-up for the bracelet.

The WSOP main event was the first live poker event that Chris had played in at the time and noone had expected him to make the final table let alone win the event. His style of fierce betting and putting the pressure on his opponents held up though and it changed the whole poker world. Apart from the WSOP main event bracelet Chris has notched a lot more money finishes on the world poker circuit. This past year he also finished fifth place in the Online Poker Championships put on by Poker Stars.

Chris now spends time playing online poker with PokerStars.com who he is sponsored by and also works as a spokesman for Harrah’s Entertainment. Chris has also released in book in 2005 after winning his main event bracelet teaching other poker players how to turn $39 into millions. He has slowed down a bit in recent years and focuses mainly on large buy-in events now because he is spending more time with his wife and daughter.

If you’re a new poker player no matter what your age is then you should really read Chris’s book because it can teach you a lot. Chris has turned the everyday working class dream into reality and has gained a ton of fans in the process who would love to be just like him. Since 2003 the online poker world has seen massive increases in the number of players who play poker and this again is in large part due to Chris winning the main event bracelet. Everyone is trying to become the next Moneymaker and I don’t blame them at all as it’s the perfect story of the underdog coming through.

Patrick Antonius is another one of the young stud poker players who has absolutely hit the poker world by storm with his aggressive playing style and flashy appearance. Life wasn’t always lived in the fast lane for Patrick though and it started off slowly in Helsinki, Finland. Before Patrick played poker he was a great tennis player and he even coached younger tennis players the game. Antonius also spent some time modelling in Finland before deciding to play poker professionally.

Patrick learned a lot of his poker knowledge from Marcel Luske and Jennifer Harman as they both helped train Antonius when he was younger. Patrick is now a player that you see in every major tournament and on many of the television shows. Antonius started making noise in the poker world around 2005 when he won money in three different WSOP events and money in two WPT events. This was an incredible year for Patrick and helped him make his name a notable name around the poker world.

The year 2006 wasn’t as thunderous as Patrick’s 2005 year, but he did manage to finish on his first final table in a WSOP event. Antonius only manage to cash once throughout the 2007 season on the WSOP circuit as well and he has yet to win a WSOP bracelet, but I’m sure that will change any year now. Patrick has a total of twelve money finishes in WSOP events and seven money finishes in WPT events.

Patrick seems to have the most success thus far in his career when he is playing on the EPT. Antonius has already won one EPT title, made two final tables and finished in the money twice. Patrick isn’t only a Holdem player either and actually most of his success in poker has come from games such as Omaha and H.O.R.S.E. Poker.

Antonius also plays in many of the biggest cash games online and in land based casinos in Monaco and Las Vegas. Patrick is known to be one of the best heads-up players and many players fear him when heads-up against Patrick. He has an excellent ability to read players and usually stays out of trouble when playing heads-up which is half the battle to winning.

Patrick is apart of the Full Tilt Poker team and solely plays on Full Tilt Poker now, but in his early days he played on many different poker networks under many aliases. Patrick has also appeared on television shows such as Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker. He has seen success when on television as well and has won a PAD tournament and also came runner up in another PAD tournament only losing to Johnny Chan.

Patrick Antonius lives in Monaco currently, but he loves travelling and spends a lot of time in Las Vegas as well where he frequents the cash game at the Bellagio. Antonius still loves to play tennis when he can against other poker players and often makes wagers on the matches as well. Patrick has yet to win a WSOP bracelet, but he is still very young and only time will tell when he will win his first bracelet.

Why Online Poker is Better then Live Poker

· Since online poker only requires a computer and internet access you don’t need to go far in order to play some poker. You don’t even need to leave your house in order to play poker online and this makes it a lot more convenient than driving to a casino to play poker, as well as cheaper considering the high gas prices most countries are seeing currently.

· There is always a poker game online going on at FullTilt Poker.net and you won’t need to wait for players to fill up a table to play. There are thousands of poker players in numerous popular online poker rooms around the clock so no matter what time of the day it is you’ll be able to find action.

· You can take breaks whenever you want during your session and for as long as you want. Most casinos will allow players to take one hour breaks for meals, but any longer and you risk losing your seat and having to wait in line for a new seat again. You also can’t take relaxing breaks at a casino because all there is to do is gamble, whereas at your own home you can take a break and do anything such as getting work done, or watching television.

· Full Tilt Poker.com is a lot faster then live poker due to the fact that a software program does all the work online whereas in a live casino you need dealers to manually deal and shuffle cards. The action isn’t much quicker, but it’s definitely proven to be faster so if you don’t like the speed of live poker try online poker for a faster experience.

· When you play online poker you’ll find that the poker rooms have a lot more fish poker players then any casino would have. People who travel to a casino to play are either tourists or experienced players so you’ll find that most poker players at a casino know what there doing. Online players are often new to poker and have no clue about the strategy which means you can take advantage of looser competition online then you would when playing live.

· If you lose you don’t need to take the walk of shame out of the poker room instead you just need to log-off your computer. I know that I hate walking away from the poker table when losing at a casino and I’m sure most of you do, when you play online though you don’t need to worry about this.