Sit-Outs

You've seen them in MTT and freerolls and I'm not talking just Titan. Shouldn't they make some kind of rule like if you don't sit in by the third blind raise, you're out. Pokerhost (even though it's a horrible site to play) has a rule that if you don't sit in by 5 minutes, you're out. I'm referring to when the tournament starts. You need to sitout sometimes for whatever the reason (i.e. snack, bathroom). What do you think?

Some other sites like Ultimatebet remove sitters after a short period of time (20 mins or so).

I don't really see why many so many people seem to have a problem with free blinds though.

Free blinds, & if people want to donate to the prize pool & then not play, what the hey.

the only time i really mind having sitouts is when there are more than FIVE of them at a table (cough cough - CC FREEROLL - cough cough)
other than that, i agree; if they want to put up a buy-in and sitout, then all the power to 'em

Depends where they're sitting. If you've got 4 sitouts to your left, you're at a big advantage over your opponents.

I honestly don't mind the sitouts all that much except for these reasons:

In cases where it's coming down to the bubble and the sitout at places like Titan can win an allin situation.(happens all the time)

When someone allins almost every hand from the beginning of the tourney to gather a chip lead then sit out until the final table or till they are completely blinded out. And only for this reason. It makes the tourney twice as long as it should be in the first place.

If it's only you and one or two others at a table with the rest as sitouts, drives me crazy with one of the other players allining so they can get all the blinds(especially if you aren't getting any cards)

you see what online poker has done to the game?
there's even strategy for having four sitouts at a table...

I hate playing with sitouts, it always seems there to the right of me, if they were on my left i wouldnt mind, like rob said,on your left is an advantage, but i think if someone is not there buy the first time around with the blinds they should be tossed out, also if someone sits out for 10 minutes or more toss them out too. buck

Learn to play Shorthanded.
9 seat table with 3 sitting out?
Now you are playing a 6 handed table with 3 auto-folds.
If you can't beat someone sitting out, exactly how do you expect to beat a full table of players?

Free blinds are great, but when you are in a >250 capped MTT, another player more worthy of playing the game is being kept out because someone is sitting out. Not all sit outs irritate me, just the ones sitting out for > 25 minutes or until they're blinded out. Every tourney I know has an unregister button, which is an option some should consider. I know things come up, making it impossible to unregister, but the chances something comes up every tourney are slim. Just be considerate when sitting out!

I think sitouts are fine on the whole. If you've tried posting and folding from the outset to see where you come in a freeroll, generally you don't get that close to the money, although in some (like the 32red 9:45 $1000 freeroll), if you build up your stack to perhaps 5000 chips, then you may be able to then post and fold into the money, which would make the all-in, and then post/fold if you get lucky approach possible.
Most freerolls don't pay enough places for the number of entrants for even this to work - you'd have to play for a while to build up a good stack of chips, and then (having played well so far) decide to just abandon your shot at the much juicier top places in favour of just placing barely in the money.

In the occasional SitnGo it's more funny, though, when you get someone posting and folding, and the other players are aggressive enough that they end up in the money. The thing is, if you regularly get to the money, then even these players are good, because there's no way they can win, so it gives you a better shot at 1st.

With the other tournaments, where players have bought in and are just sitting out, then they've contributed money to the pot, but aren't likely to get anything back except in the most loose, aggressive games, so they're just making it more money in the prize pool.

I'd not considered the positional advantage related to the sit-outs, though - it is interesting to think that it effectively gives you the button extra times, so you have a nice positional advantage... if you're still mainly playing the cards rather than playing positional advantages, then that won't mean so much to you (except for the occasional free set of blinds when everyone else passes), but if you do play position, then it would help you more if they're in the right place...

I signed up for Titan the other day and registered for my 1st freeroll. it was mid morning here but i had been up really early as i was unable to sleep. i had settled down in bed with my laptop and a cup of tea beside me. i finished my tea and was just waiting for the tourny to start when i woke up around 2pm. i was still logged in so i checked what happened in the freeroll and i made it to around 350th out of 1000, not bad, beating 650 people in my sleep .

There was another freeroll about to start so i registered, wide awake and not sitting out i made it to around 150th out of 1000. I wasn't near the money but i was just glad to be higher up than where i finished while i was asleep.

I found the 'sit-outs' to be quite frustrating at times but when you can pick up their blinds uncontested they can be useful to build up your stack.

I get that it is annoying when people regsiter and just don't turn up, or make a big chip lead and can't be bothered to play until the final table (so as to get a bigger return on a smaller investment of their time) etc etc - but can players who have paid good money justifiably be kicked out? I mean would they at least get their money back? (Is that how it works on pokerhost?)

I can't see it happening. I am sure for those who are sitting out of a Real Money MTT are even more gutted that they have been antied away than we are that they have been wasting our time - even if it means it is taking longer, at least the prize pool is bigger - and it is nowhere near as annoying as people who choose timeout everyhand and click "sit back in" so they can time out again the next hand... because they think it is bringing closer to insode the bubble. Don't they get that all the tables move hand by hand?

I saw the positional advantage of being in the right place compared to a sit-out at a Sit-n-Go the other day... someone got a big chip lead, and then just sat out (this was in a 9-person Sit-n-Go). I had played tight and missed a few hands in a row, and therefore had a pretty small stack, and trying to at least make sure that I made 3rd place for the money. I wasn't too worried about the sit-out initially -dead money. Then I spotted that as the players got down to 5, play got very tight, and while 2 of us were having to fight to at least keep the blinds, if nobody much liked their hand the players either side of the sit-out could just pick up 1 set of blinds a round.
The chip leader became a bigger chip leader as a result, and the short-stack could sit tight, and didn't have to worry as much about the blinds. Because the other player not being gifted one lot of blinds had a lot more chips than me, and was trying to sit out waiting for the money, I was forced to gamble a little to make the short-stack defend his Big Blind.
It was then that I realised how frustrating the sit-outs can be. Fortunately I managed to make the most of the tightness of the other players and steal a few hands despite having only a couple of Big Blinds-worth of chips, and made the money before I ended up in confrontation with the chip-leader who made a hand when I missed. At least I made the money and the sit-out didn't.