All-in or fold tourney--how to play it?

Rivers in Pittsburgh has a kind of tourmament I have not seen before. It is called "All-in or Fold." Basic rules are for the first 2 levels you must do just that, put your whole stack in or fold. Rebuys are unlimited and only $10. After the first 2 levels it is a normal tournament structure.

Bankroll-wise I would look at it as same as putting $50-100 in a tourney buy-in. It looks like a fun format to at least try once. My question would be how should one's strategy change here? No need to worry about suck-outs as if you are called you are called from the get-go so you cannot build a pot then force them out. Any ideas here?

I have never played in one that reverted to a regular format after a certain amount of time. I would think the strategy would be to pick up a monster or fold. You could probably loosen up a bit at the cutoff. There is little reason to bluff in these because the blinds are of little value during the first few levels so you better have AK/AQ/AA/KK/QQ and maybe some holdings just below that in later positions. You will have to loosen up a little bit after after the blinds have gone up a few times because these hands go fast but there is no reason to take chances in the early levels. The field should thin itself a lot in 2 hours.

I typically play these in more of a joke field in a semi private drinking setting. I have never seen one of these played live in any type of serious way.

I think pokerstars or full tilt had these tourneys online. It depends how deep your bankroll is to how you want to play them. Suited connectors can also be semi premium hands. As far as I know there is no hard and fast strategy. Too tight and you have to push with rubbish, too loose and your bankroll is gone.

The way I played them? if I liked the look of a hand or had a good feeling, I went with it.

Your choice as to whether to play a hand or not depends A LOT on your position, and how many have pushed before you. If you are in late position and no one has pushed yet, you can lower your standards. In the extreme case, if you are SB and everyone folds to you, you can push with anything above average.

Early position, I would only play monsters, unless it's clear the table it tight after a few hands. Then you have at least one chance to get away with a bluff.

Quote: AZDuffman

Rivers in Pittsburgh has a kind of tourmament I have not seen before. It is called "All-in or Fold." Basic rules are for the first 2 levels you must do just that, put your whole stack in or fold. Rebuys are unlimited and only $10.

It's called "push or fold". They are pretty common online, I'd suggest practicing in a few to get a grip on the game.

The strategy is very different from normal poker... It's difficult to explain, but it's extremely intuitive if you practice. There's either no post-flop play possible or almost no in practice.

Is the buy-in also $10 or higher? Assuming the same. The general strategy is the same as short-stack, with a tourney twist.
If you are playing for maximum ROI - can be far above 100% for a player employing this strategy - you get a massive advantage by playing conservatively and not rebuying. But it's far too volatile and the gain is too low in absolute terms to bother.

If you are playing for maximum EV, largely the opposite strategy should be used: Push every time it's +EV. That means you push with any hand in the top X%, offering sufficient chance to beat the opposition. The exact value of X depends on how many players are in the pot and on the average pushing ratio.

I think there are articles on this and it's easier felt than expressed mathematically. Still I'll try... Generally 100/N<X<100/n, where N is total on the table and n are already in. Observe first to learn what is the average pushing hand (Y). If Y<100/N, disregard it and still have X>100/N. Triples and quadruples are fairly common, so you don't need 50%+ win at showdown, but you still need a better hand than for one opponent, so for a pot with players in it Y/n<X<Y.

Don't get too carried away with playing your opponents, unless you identify a gambler pushing every hand or a rock that tries to maximize his ROI instead of EV. Stacks don't matter much either, you can rebuy if you get stacked, so just focus on playing the odds.
Identify what % of players on the average is weeded out in the push/fold stage. After a certain point your rebuy stack is no good anymore, if there's less than half left you probably shouldn't rebuy anymore, if playing for EV rather than entertainment.