In a rebuy tournament, you have the opportunity to buy back in if you lose all of your chips. You cannot rebuy indefinitely. All casinos and online poker rooms will specify the rebuy period - which is the amount of time that a person can rebuy. Usually, the rebuy amount is equal to the regular buy-in, without the house fee. For example, if you play in a $30+3 rebuy, you can rebuy an additional amount of chips for an additional $30. Make sure you know how many chips you get for your rebuy fee. Sometimes it is the same as your original buy-in, but often you receive less chips. A common amount of time for rebuys is for the first hour of the tournament. Please note that rebuys are optional and you are NOT required to rebuy if you lose all of your chips.

One additional term you will hear in a rebuy tournament is the "add on". An Add-On is another amount of chips a person can buy at the end of the rebuy period. Like the rebuy, the add-on is optional. The amount and number of chips are predetermined as well. You can think of an add-on as the opportunity for everybody to buy an additional amount of chips regardless of their chipstack.

One disadvantage of playing in a rebuy tournament is that it encourages poor play. People will take unnecessary risks that they normally would not take because they can essentially come back into the tournament.