Rebuy

Also known as: Re-buy, Rebuys

Buying more chips during a defined rebuy period — after busting or dropping below a threshold — without leaving your seat. Cheap chips encourage looser early play.

Reloading at the same seat

A rebuy lets you buy more chips during a fixed early window (the "rebuy period", often the first 1–3 hours), typically when you bust or drop to/below the starting stack. You stay in your seat and simply reload.

Because chips are cheap and replaceable in this phase, rebuy events reward looser, more aggressive early play — gambling for a big stack is +chipEV when you can just reload a busted shot. This is the opposite mindset of a freezeout.

Rebuy vs re-entry — the key distinction:

Rebuy — same seat, same table; you often top up while still seated (e.g. below starting stack), and the rebuy clock is short.
Re-entry — you actually bust out, leave, then take a brand-new entry and get reseated randomly.

Most rebuy structures also offer a one-time add-on when the period ends — usually a strong +EV chip purchase.

Example

A $50+$5 rebuy event starts everyone with 5,000 chips; any time you're at or below 5,000 in the first two hours you may rebuy 5,000 more for $50. You shove A♠K♦ into Q♥Q♠ on level 1 — losing only costs you another $50 reload, not your tournament, so taking the flip is clearly correct here. Contrast a freezeout, where the same shove risks your whole event.