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BGonline.org Forums
The Case Against Rebuys
Posted By: Phil Simborg
Date: Monday, 12 April 2010, at 5:20 a.m.
A threat about rebuys in the Riviera Cup caused several of us to have a conversation about rebuys. I believe rebuys are a bad idea for several reasons:
1. with rebuys, it is possible that the winner of the event will not be the one with the best record. Is that fair to the player who won his first 3 rounds and went on to lose in the finals to someone who lost his first round but bought back in? Some say it is fair, as everyone has the right to rebuy at the beginning of the day, but the truth is that the player with more money to spend is favored, as people with less money may be discouraged from buying back in.
2. rebuys give the better players an even bigger advantage, as it greatly behooves them to rebuy. A player at the bottom of the seeding is generally making a far worse investment by buying back in.
3. If rebuys are relatively low, as they will be in the upcoming Chicago tournament, then you almost have to buy back once you've paid the initial entry fee, and all that does is potentially make the tournament a more expensive proposition than it already is.
4. Rebuys messes up the accuracy of a ranking system, as a player who is willing to spend more is more likely to win matches and tournaments and be ranked higher. In my opinion, even if a player is allowed to rebuy and win money and win a tournament, he should not be allowed to get the credit for his rating for any victories after rebuying. Points should not be "bought" but earned on a level playing field.
So why have rebuys? It puts more money in the pot for the tournament directors. It also puts more money in the pot for the winners, and we all know that even though anyone can win, the better players have stronger odds of winning, so again, they are favored by rebuys even if they are not the one to do the rebuying. But for most people in the tournament, it's just an added expense and another way for the better players to overcome some of the luck factor and get back in and beat them.
When I play golf or bowling for money, I get a handicap that helps me have a more reasonable chance against a better player. But there is no handicap in backgammon, so anything that is done that gives the better player an even bigger edge is even more unfair to the lower-skilled players. In my opinion, that's one of the things Rebuys does.
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