In case the player gets the option of Add-On and he cancels the popup by mistake, player can click on ‘Add-On’ button available till Add-On period Auto Add-On: It allows the player to bring more chips and add to his stack automatically. This feature will appear only when the. The best tournament poker strategy is to recognize the three stages of any poker tournament and to have a distinct tournament poker strategy for each of the vital crunch times during a poker tournament. There are two approaches you can use when playing the early stages of a poker tournament. The first is the conservative approach.

In general, you should always re-buy and add-on when possible. So why not just stop there? Well, I think there is some strategy to playing and winning re-buy tourneys. First, we have to segregate the tourneys into manageable chunks.

Here is how I divide them:

• Freerolls with re-buys.
• Buy-in with unlimited re-buys in the first hour.
• Buy-in with limited re-buys in the first hour.

For paid re-buys, consider the initial pot of money to at least double in a re-buy tourney without increasing the number of places paid.

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Now that we have that settled, let’s take a look at the differences...

First off a re-buy will generally allow you to add-on chips during the first hour if your chip count falls below your starting chips. The strategy here is to play the first hand that is not raised before you make your play and add-on right after that hand. This will give you the chip lead at your table or will put you near the chip leader board at your table right away.

Second, anytime you fall below the starting chips, do an add-on. You will need these chips to help build your stack.

Freerolls with re-buys:

Most players in a freeroll re-buy tourney will not re-buy. You should always re-buy in these tourneys. Freerolls with re-buys will generally have unlimited re-buys for the first hour. For freerolls, consider the tourney to be volatile until the end of the re-buy tourney. You can also be pretty loose during this period since you can always buy back in if you go out. So what does it mean to you? Is it worth it to re-buy 10 or 12 times in a $1 freeroll that has a total prize of $1000 with $200 as first place? You would have to get to the final table to make your money back. From the pure money standpoint I would say no. From the standpoint of final table play or making it to the final table, I would say this is worth the price. Consider the $12 an investment in experience on playing in high stakes (for this tourney anyway) poker.

So the hand selection for re-buy tourneys would be to add to your normal hand selection (consult the tourney hand selections from this site, either mine or p-s.org’s) calling with any paint or any suited hands. Also, call with any Ace. If you hit top pair you should go all-in. If you have any pair, go all-in pre-flop. Once you get to double the starting chips, then play your normal strategy with an eye to a little looser play since you can always re-buy.

Buy-ins with unlimited re-buys:

These tourneys have a little more commitment. There will be more players that re-buy than in the free-roll. Much like the free-roll, play your first hand that you can and fold so you can re-buy. Again, being chip leader at the table is important, even with a re-buy tourney.

In addition to your normal strategy, I would play mid to small pairs strongly along with suited hands that have a 10 or better in them. I would also play any Ace suited or not by limping or calling 4x the big blind. Post flop play can be tricky, but betting big with high pairs, 2nd pairs that are paint and 4 flush hands is something to do. Try to drive limpers out. After all, you can re-buy.

Buy-ins with limited re-buys:

This type of tourney generally allows 3 re-buys and one add-on at the end of the first hour. I would employ the strategy of playing the first hand for the big blind and folding so I could add-on right away and be the big stack at my table right away. I would then play my normal strategy with the following modifications.
Adjust to your normal strategy when you are down to one re-buy.

• Go all-in with any pair if only limpers or all folders came in before the flop. Call any raise up to 8x the big blind, otherwise fold.
• Go all-in with any 2 cards that are paint before the flop unless there is a 6x raise in front of you, otherwise fold.
• Raise 4x with any Ace if no raises in front of you, otherwise fold.
• Call with any Ax suited as long as the raise is less that 50% of your chips.
• Consider that you can add-on if your chips fall below your starting chips.
• You should call if you fall below the chip starting point since you can add-on or re-buy.
• Evaluate your hand after the flop to decide if you want to go on.

After the end of the re-buy period there will be an add-on period. Take advantage of this unless you have so many chips that you don’t need the add-on. As a general rule, if the add-on will give you less that 10% of your chips or if no-one can pass you as the chip leader then do not add-on. If you can become the chip leader or if adding on will increase your chip stack more than 10%, then go ahead and add-on.

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Once the re-buy/add-on period has ended, go back to your normal tournament strategy.

Fred's orignal post in our forums - Please post your comments and results here.

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Please let me encourage you to reach out to me with article ideas and questions for future columns. You can tweet to me at @FossilMan, or send me a message at info@fossilmanpoker.com.

For two dozen years, I have been part of a company of poker players known as ARGers. The origin of this group involves some internet friends from the old newsgroup rec.gambling.poker getting together in Vegas to play some poker. Later they decided to make it an annual get-together and called it BARGE (Big August Rec.Gambling Excursion). All these years later, we still gather for BARGE, and have other gatherings around the country. You should look into this group if your goal is to play your best, but having fun is even more important.

At the BARGE event last summer, Kevin Un and some others BARGErs developed a new form of razz. If you know razz, it is one of the least popular variants of poker. One thing players dislike is that when you are the bring-in (the player who is forced to make the first bet on third street because they were dealt the highest ranking upcard), this forced bet is essentially dead money. Meaning somebody is almost always going to complete the bet, and you are almost always correct to fold.

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When you are the bring-in in other forms of stud, especially stud hi-lo, there is a chance you have a very playable hand, and possibly even an extremely strong starting hand. In razz, this is almost never the case. Kevin made it his goal to figure out how to change this aspect of razz, and he succeeded in spades!

In this new variant, action razz, the game is played almost exactly like traditional razz. The highest upcard on third street is the bring-in. Other players can call the bring-in, or complete it to a full bet. The game has the typical limit betting structure of all stud games.

The only difference is when ranking your hand at showdown.

In traditional razz, you select five cards from the seven you were dealt that make the lowest ranking poker hand possible. For example, if your seven cards are A A A 2 3 4 7, your lowest ranking hand is to exclude two of the aces, and play the 7-4-3-2-A for low. If nobody else has a lower ranking hand, you win.

In action razz it is mostly the same, with one caveat. Before we select your five cards that make you the lowest possible hand, we look to see which of the players at showdown has a “qualifying” hand. In order to make a qualifying hand, at least one of your seven cards must be a paint card. That is, one of them must be a king, queen, or jack.

If nobody at showdown qualifies, that is, none of them has a paint card, then we use the traditional razz showdown rules to determine who wins. If everybody at showdown qualifies, all of them have a paint card, then we use the traditional razz showdown rules to determine who wins. If some player(s) qualify, and other player(s) do not qualify, then all players who did not qualify are excluded from showdown, and cannot win. We then look at the hands of those players who did qualify, and whomever makes the lowest ranking hand using any five of their seven cards, is the winner. You do NOT have to use a paint card as part of your winning hand.

Which Of These Hands Wins In Action Razz?

1) A 2 3 4 5 6 7
2) 3 5 7 8 9 9 K
3) A 2 4 6 6 10 J
4) Q Q Q Q J J J

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If it is just hands no. one and no. four at showdown, hand no. four wins! Even though this is a horrible low hand (jacks full of queens), it is a qualifying hand. Since the first hand is not qualifying, it loses at showdown to any qualifying hand. Even though hand no. one has the nut low of A-2-3-4-5, it loses to any of the other three hands at showdown, as they all qualify, and it does not.

If it is just hands no. two and no. three at showdown, hand no. two wins. Both hands qualify. Hand no. two has 3-5-7-8-9 for showdown, and hand no. three has A-2-4-6-10. Nine-high is lower than ten-high, so hand no. two wins. The fact that hand no. two qualified using a king, and hand no. three qualified using a jack, does not matter. Once a hand qualifies, it then gets to select its five best cards for showdown purposes.

Now, suddenly, being the bring-in can be a good thing. Especially if you are the bring-in with a jack as your upcard. When somebody else with a low card showing completes, unless they also have a paint card underneath, you might be the favorite to win. About one-third of the time, they will fail to catch a paint card entirely, and you win all those times. When they do catch a paint card, you can still win if you manage to make the lowest five-card hand. And if you have two very low cards underneath, you probably have the best starting hand.

Overall, this variation creates a fun new dynamic to the game of razz. It also adds some new strategy considerations. If you get to the river heads-up, and you have a qualifying hand, you are correct to call down the opponent if they aren’t showing a paint card, no matter how bad your hand is. How fun is that, calling somebody down with king-high for your low, or even a pair for low, and beating their wheel because they failed to qualify?

Poker Strategy Tips

If you play a home game, or any place that will allow you to try this game, I highly recommend it. Here’s to hoping this game catches on, and becomes a staple of mixed-game lovers everywhere. Maybe this could even become a bracelet event someday? How awesome would that be to win the first action razz bracelet a few years from now? Sweet!
Have fun, and Play Smart! ♠

Greg Raymer is the 2004 World Series of Poker main event champion, winner of numerous major titles, and has more than $7 million in earnings. He recently authored FossilMan’s Winning Tournament Strategies, available from D&B Publishing, Amazon, and other retailers. He is sponsored by Blue Shark Optics, YouStake, and ShareMyPair. To contact Greg please tweet @FossilMan or visit his website.

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