Top up or not top up, that is the question

strewelpeter

I played the IPC qualifier in the Red Cow last night. Didn't do too well so I'll put that down to the consistency of the absolute goo I was getting all night but I enjoyed it and got four hours of poker for my money which will have to do .
I thought the event was very well run and I'll play it again if I get the chance.

I have a question for the more experienced tournament players, is there a useful calculation to help decide whether there is any value in buying a top up ?

The structure here was 50+15 for 4000 chips one rebuy or topup allowed at 50+10 a rebuy before the break got you 4000 and a top up at the break bought 5000.
The BB's are 50,100, 200, 300, 400, 600, up to the break and then 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, 4000, 6000, 8000, 10000, 15000 etc.. every 20 minutes which was usually about one spin of a full table.

Culchie

If the top up adds 30% to your chips, it has value.

That seems to be 'rule of thumb'

strewelpeter

Thanks, thats more or less what I was thinking.
Buy with about 5 to 15K in hand and not to bother over 25K with a grey area between 15 - 25K depending on how I felt.
The other thing was that I didn't see the point in a 4K rebuy in the last two rounds before the break but loads of people were doing it. They were buying into a position maybe 50% below average stack and heading into a couple of steep blind increases. You are going to get better value if you sit out and play one of the 50 +10 stt's they run after the break.

Culchie

strewelpeter wrote:

You are going to get better value if you sit out and play one of the 50 +10 stt's they run after the break.

No, you will get better value if you go home and play a $50+$5 STT on-line.

A 20% fee on a STT is steep.

strewelpeter

The only problem is I'd have done my money by losing 5 stt's in the time it took to play out a live table

True 20% is a lot but when you look at all the effort and cost that the boys running that tourny go to for what they get out of it I'd say its a fiver well spent.

Waylander

To be fair, I think the stt's were €50+€5 but I am not sure, perhaps Fintan could confirm.

RoundTower

If you're at least as good a player as the rest of the field, and you are getting your chips cheaper at the top up than you did for the initial buyin, then it is usually good value to take the top up. Even if it's four big blinds extra.

Pokerevents

Waylander wrote:

To be fair, I think the stt's were €50+€5 but I am not sure, perhaps Fintan could confirm.

All stt have 10% rake. 50's are 50plus5