With unlimited rebuys for 4-6 rounds its pretty clear that calling/reraising standards need to be loosened up to respond to the Axo and any 2 suited cards that are often played all in during the rebuy phase.

How far do you go though, not knowing any of the individuals?

An alternative would seem to be tightening up, surviving with close to your intitial buy in until the last rebuy round, then taking a rebuy and an addon. With nearly triple the buy in you are somewhat above average in chip count, although at a fairly steep cost.

Any other strategy thoughts?

I usually play very tight in the early stages, and only loose if I'm up against a maniac. Just don't put a lot of your chips at risk unless you have a premium hand.

I think these tournaments, people think they have to gamble like crazy in the beginning to build a huge stack because the chip leader after rebuy period usually has a lot of chips.

But the great thing is, if you play a really solid game, only rebuy right away and add on during the break, and consistently build up your chips against the loose donkeys, you will have a good stack in contention and be getting a hell of return on your money because everyone builds the prize pool up like crazy.

I don't take hardly any risks at the start of the tourny. I just start out like a regular tourny when teh blinds are small.

IMO, adjusting b/c rebuy isn't too necessary, though I could be totally wrong. It may completely change when the buy ins are much higher against more skilled players, but I think kthe lower buyins, you don't need to adjust. Anyone agree or disagree?

I vote no to this alternative - if you do this, you will find yourself way behind the leaders although your stack would be ok compared to the average.

I typically loosen my standards like you suggested in the first part of your post taking into account that many players will be much more loose and aggressive since they can reload if they lose.

I think loosing up comes into play 2 ways. One- lots of your opponnents are overplaying bad hands. You can take advantage.

Two- you can make the call on a questionable bet easier. If you have Jacks pre flop, and 3 little cards come but 2 of them are suited and connected, go ahead and call the allin bet. You may get out drawn, but if not you have doubled up.

If you do this, eventually you will win one of the races and double up.

Once I am up, I continue to play aggressively, pushing draws and playing suited connectors. The rebuy period changes your play. If I bet $2000 tournament chips and lose, I rebuy $1000. Therfore, I am getting 2 to 1 in a sense on my bet. I still don't play into disaster boards, but I am looking to be an action junkie here.

If I get up to 4 times the orginal chip stack, I revert to a more normal style of play. At this point, losing all my chips would be painful. I still watch the other playes to see who is overplaying their hands, but I now longer am. Some players will repeately push nearly any 2 cards and rebuy when they miss. I am not afraid to play a premium hand against them.

It only makes sense to add on when you reach that point. The extra chips give you a nice advantage going into the normal tournament. Tournament chips are worth the very most right after the rebuy period and before more players drop. You want to be in a strong position at that time.

Once the rebuy period is over, see how quickly some people can change gears. Good players will be able to modify their play, bad players will still play the same way. So if mister all in pusher still pushes all in, I suspect he might be weak. I try to not put too much stock into how players played during the rebuy as it appplies to after, a good player may play very differntly after the rebuy ends.

After the rebuy period, you are now playing a regular MTT. Hopefully you have an above chip stack and that is a huge advantage in a MTT. From there you play a normal strategy for MTTs.