How Do You Feel About Late Registration?

[Ivan Basic]

Hi folks,
in my opinion late registration isnt a bad thing when it isnt open for 2-3 hours and tournament usually takes for example 6-7 hours to final table or end.
Sometimes for me it is very helpfull when i use late registration, for example tournament starts at 8pm and late reg is open till 8.30 and usually i finish dinner a few minutes before 8pm, so i have time to prepare my poker session with a drink, chewing gum and other things i can reach from my poker place.
Additional i would say it is also positive if you start the tourney a few minutes before late reg. end and you try to find a fish where you can easy double up ya stack and get in good position - this is an option for me when im not seriously interested if i get into money or not(freerolls or ticket entries with low value).
Good luck ;-)

exactly this. they always love to put 200 minutes of late registration, and that is 140 minutes longer then it should be.

 

[Ruslan L]

I pay more attention to tournaments without late registration. But if I win a ticket in a satellite, I will play in any tournament of any format and structure. The advantage of late registration is that there are more players, a larger prize pool and more prize places, which in my opinion are quite serious arguments.

 

[Kasztor007]

Personally, I like to register somewhere in the middle or last third of late registration.
On sites like 888 Poker, late reg is sometimes open for almost 2 hours, which feels way too long for me.
I don’t mind late reg itself, but when it lasts forever, the tournament doesn’t really feel like it has started yet.
Registering later also fits my schedule better and helps me avoid grinding the very slow early levels.

 

[mr.fers_one]

At MTT, late registration is part of the game, but if it's not there, the game turns into an SnG (handicap game) format... However, I don't really like late check-in, as I believe half an hour will be enough for those who missed the initial registration period... Similarly, offline, since there are fewer hands per hour, an hour of late registration is enough to sign up and play the game.

 

[fuzzycatdaddy]

A lot of the tournaments that I play on WPT have 2-3 hours of late reg, and I usually can't dedicate 4-5 hours to a single game with only 5 minute breaks at the top of the hour. So I usually prefer to late reg with 30-45 min remaining as long as I have at least 20 BB.

Their "rocket" (1 hour tourny) and "hyper" (2 hour tourny) modes also typically start you with <20 BB which immediately puts you in the position where you have to shove or you get no equity from your stack so I typically avoid those if I can.

I played a tournament the other day where it started on-time, but they have everyone 6000 BB with 1 BB ante, but the min raise was 19 BB to start the tournament so it made the blinds completely meaningly because every pre-flop raise was between 20-40 BB. I basically just crashed out and rejoined "late" when the blinds actually made sense.

If there were more "happy medium" tournaments with blind structures that actually made sense leading to the tournament wrapping up in 2-3 hours, I would always prefer to play right when the tournament starts but with how it currently is structure on the platform, I'm often going to be a late reg.

Also, some of the games get very little action in the first hour or two if it starts "on-time" and I don't really like playing heads up for an hour when I'm supposed to be in a "tournament".

 

[BrunoFabri01]

Although I've already won a tournament that I entered late, I don't really like that option.

 

[hajaehyun]

It's not good
It removes room for confrontation
There's probably no one who just expects luck

 

[Dmitriy_rus7]

I've been using late registration a lot lately and I like it.

 

[schtiuky]

some times it helps but i dont see its purpouse when you can register after more then 30 min. for me late is 30 min tops whats the poit of register after one hour and a half?

 

[tihomir_kula]

I have noticed that when I enter 22 min after start off the Courchevel hi/lo tournament and Horse late registration-60 min., I`m always in money. May be because all amateur raisers are already out. It`s not quite obvious.

 

[mattiebumpo]

I have mixed feelings about late registration. I prefer late registration to unlimited rebuys, but I do think it goes on for too long. I think the late registration should be closed at the end of the first break.

 

[Matt_Burns88]

Great question!

I personally (and cynically) think that late reg was created by poker sites to increase fields and reduce the chances of missing guarantees. I used to hate it when I'd pre-register a tournament thinking there was loads of value available only for players to still be registering 2 hours later and I'm staring at a 4am finish time.

However, I do think there are some major upsides to late-regging, especially max late-regging, if you are at least reasonably competent at short-stacked poker.

I disagree with the old adage that you should always be there from the start because that's where all the fish are and they'll all have busted long before late reg ends.
1. Fish can late reg too
2. Some fish can run up huge stacks early doors only to punt it off later.

Major pros to late-regging:

• There's no need to study deep-stacked poker - 40bb and less is plenty
• Less need to study post flop play
• Lots of players have no clue about ICM
• More time efficient
• Higher earnings per hour
• Avoid the constant multi-way pots against loose spewy players in early, deep spots that makes every hand a marginal decision

Major cons to late-regging:

• Lower ROI
• Increased variance / bigger downswings
• Miss out on higher edge spots against weaker players when deep
• Harder to build a dominant stack

Ultimately, late reg isn't going to go away, so it is player preference as to when they want to enter the tournament, or if they will skip a tournament because the late-reg is too long.

 

[WellAA]

Sometimes late registration can be a way to give just one shot, and forcing myself to play on the edge all-or-nothing, sometimes give a chance to steal the blinds.

 

[WladiYoga]

Y

For you, what are the advantages and disadvantages of late registration for a tournament? Do you avoid these types of tournaments or not?

Personally, I prefer tournaments that don’t have late registration, but I don’t mind it too much. I will always start on time, and appreciate the extra money into the prize pool. But I also feel that the “real” game doesn’t start until late registration is over.

Yes, you are right, the real game starts only after late registration is over AND all the low chip folks who are blindly going All-in trying build a stack are gone. Id you are there from the beginnning, you have a real big advantage since you can collect a lot of chips. But a late registration needs to exist at lear for 15 minutes, otherwise not everyone who wants to participate, can make it. Some people register during their breaks at work for example, sit out and play while driving home in the suburb. You need to give those kind of people at leat the opportunity for a small registration window, otherwise they are gonna be frustrated and not play anymore or change Plattforms.

 

[Macaroon]

When I first started playing online poker most tourneys were Freeze-outs, with just five minutes of late registration, and it's noticeable that I did better than I do now, when almost all have late registration around two hours (which I hate). It means that to win takes five to six hours. If I was paying $100 to enter then the rewards would be worth it, but if it's a micro tourney it's a lot of work for very little.

 

[armoko]

It’s really hard to avoid tournaments with late registration, simply because almost 90% of them include it. Personally I prefer tournaments with a short late registration period no more than one hour, or even less, but it’s quite difficult to find good tournaments that fit this preference. Long late registration often changes the dynamics of the game and makes it harder to reach the actual tournament.

 

[NENMEMBA]

I don't. I get a better feeling for the tournament if I am early access - early bird - I want that BUBBLE! =)

 

[Pabloro10321]

I don't think it's bad, although some of them seem excessive to me, I think that in free tournaments they should be, but at most half an hour.

 

[steve01991]

I dont like late registrations.

 

[yomyyomy]

That when you come in late with two or three hands you level up and when you start almost everyone plays strong.

 

[thejuice1]

i dont mind late registration.... within reason of course... id say the ideal time is 60 mins of late reg... perhaps 90 mins tops... but honestly i like the 1 hr late reg. gives plenty of time for many people to join late still and add money to a prize pool.... as others have mentioned, the main reason why excessively long late reg (anything over 90 minutes imo) is terrible is because it adds hours of time to 1)make the money in a tournament and 2) for the tournament to reach end. why should it take more than say 4-5 hours or so for an online tournament to end?

 

[theStarfish]

I like the option of Late Reg as long as it is not open for several hours like in the big tournaments. But sometimes I use the option myself so I am not complaining too much.

 

[ramdon p358]

Late registration for tournaments is normal; everyone does it as they please. In my case, I usually register halfway through the late registration period. If it's a tournament with a bounty for elimination, I register at the first level.

 

[Sebbour]

One of the advantages of late registration is that you use less time by playing a tournament and disadvantage is that you start it as a short stack.

Personally, I don't like tournaments that have late registration longer than 5-10 minutes. But, that doesn't mean I don't play them. I'm playing GGPoker CC Silver and Platinum freerolls and usually I register at the last moment of late registration. That's 60 minutes after the start. Since those are freerolls my opinion is that I'm saving time by not playing first 60 minutes. On the other hand, if I would pay for some MTT I would like that it has as short late registration as it can be, preferably up to 10 minutes.

 

[miklcct]

I now register most tournaments (except bounty tournaments) as late as possible, usually wait until the last second to register, because it is +EV and much easier to cash.

Basically what I do is that I late-reg at the very last moment, wait for a premium to shove, repeat the process until the bubble bursts and min-cash it.