Assume, for the time being, that the add-on is simply part of your entry fee. There was an article on Pokerpages a few months back that concluded that if you manage to build your chips up to 7-8x your starting stack before the rebuy, then the added expenditure of buying the add-on mathematically outweighs the benefit you get from taking it (assuming the add-on = the starting amount of chips). Personally, I've never cared for the author of that article and its rare you emerge from the first hour with fortune smiling upon you that favorably, so I'd just stick to the plan that you'll take the add-on no matter what.

Rebuys are a bit more dicey. Because they're offered, play will be looser. People will be willing to chase more. Take some extra cash for rebuys, but don't loosen your starting requirements too much. Instead, push harder when you have a quality hand and try to capitalize on other people taking greater chances. Remember, the re-buys are your security blanket for that first hour...if someone's willing to pay to chase a flush when the pot odds aren't there, great. If they miss, you get their chips. If they catch thin, then you can rebuy and get back in the game and they're still there with chips willing to chase. Just don't put yourself in a position where you've re-bought so much that even reaching the final table won't ensure you break even. One of my first MTT tournaments I made the final table...the guy who took fourth walked out money down.

A few quirks to watch for in this sort of set up. The very LAST hand before the rebuy period ends will be insane. I've never understood why, but people go nuts taking this last stab at winning chips with the safety of the rebuy. I wouldn't play here unless I had a very high hand or got mugged incredibly hard by the flop, because people just won't lay down here. Also, you will need to re-evaluate the playing style of everyone at your table after the rebuy period ends. Not everybody's playing style will change, but its a good assumption that AT LEAST 1-2 people at the table will alter their style now that the rebuys are done.

General MTT strategies...I like to envision the tournament in 3 stages, each defined by the number of people left (although the relation of blinds-to-stacks also plays a role). The first stage is survival -- your goal is just that, survive. If you sense that playing further in a hand might put you in a dicey situation, then lay it down and fight another day. The whole goal here is to let the action players who have no patience gut each other and get what chips you can when you're able. The "survival" stage lasts until 1/3 to 1/2 of the tournament field has departed or until you find yourself getting in a short stack situation. Stage 2 is selectively attacking...think Pac Man and pressure the smaller stacks. Be wary of anyone that can put you out, but bully the small stacks and exert pressure. Obviously if you've got a strong hand, you'll take on a bigger stack as well, but the goal here is to attack the people who can't do serious damage to your tournament survival. Depending on how fast people are dropping vs. the blinds and antes raising, stage 2 could last until the money line or you might have to transition when 1/3 of the field is left. It really depends on your comfort zone and the specific tournament situation. Stage 3 is the push to the finish -- here's where you're going to take a few more risks for the sake of positioning yourself for a run at the big cash. Ideally, you won't make this jump until you've reached the pay line and have your buyin money re-secured. Realisitcally though, you might have to make the move sooner.

Hope this helps. Best of luck and skill -- go win it!

mxp -- yes, you understand correct. In fact, I've had people at my table who had to post the blind on the first hand rebuy before they even received cards.

When the break hits, do what you need to in order to have the most chips you can in front of you. If that means a rebuy AND the add-on, do it. The goal is to be in the best position you can after that freeze-out break one hour in.

Um, as long as you have no more chips than you started with, you can rebuy, so assuming you post a blind, you can rebuy right away in most cases.

So Girevik, you're right as far as the rebuy is concerned-btw this is just to confirm what is written ^ up there...

Other than that, have a great game, and good luck!

I say consider the add-on+one rebuy in your entry fee. Make a rebuy when you hit the table. If you have to throw a few chips in on the first hand and fold to get below the max. stack to rebuy, do it. There are two generic ways to play a rebuy during the rebuy phase:

1.) Play super-aggressive with a lot of small bets keeping pot small and building your stack. Playing the flop, turn, and river like a ring game playing odds and draws aggressively while people are tight. Unlike a freezeout, when you're broke in this phase, you're not done. People will begin to play sherriff and you can back off a bit. As people are playing sherriff as you have fired up the table, they are losing chips and re-buying, putting a TON of chips on your table. This is good.

2.) Play tight as the beginning of any MTT. Overbet the pot with your large hands if your table is very loose-aggressive and the pots are big. When you win a pot, you'll increase your stack by at least 75% when you hit. When you get outdrawn, you can re-buy, but you're depending on the deck to give you the starting hand and to not screw you in the asson the board as people are playing very unpredictable hands.

Re-buy tournaments are my favorite tournaments at casinos because the rebuys and add-ons are usually cheap which is good for me because I tend to play similar to my first example and everyone else is willing to rebuy and add chips at my table. It's usually a curse to get lucky early in a freezeout and have a huge stack because your stack relative to the rest are so small that even as you steal, the pots are small and when people have hand, they make it very expensive or dance around with no in-between.

In rebuy tournaments, your stack can grow or fall really fast, if you're aggressive and you can re-buy and add on at the break if you're broke or are close to broke. If you're playing tight, just like ring, you just need one big pot to give you power after that first hour.