Late Tourney Registration

Hi everyone,

This is in reference to tourneys with a $5 to $25 buy-in standard blind levels and stacks and normal speed--no hyper or turbo.

I can't afford anything higher than these buy-ins yet and do not care for the faster tourneys. But I don't mind deep-stacked tourneys.


Should you join a tournament at the beginning or should you join later during the registration period? Some tourneys on ACR have 5 hours of late registration. I would think that it would be unwise to join so late but what about 1-2 hours after the tourney starts? Is there a better time? How do you figure that out?

Are there any benefits? I think it would be beneficial if you have a hard time being patient or tend to play too loosely with the low blind structure. Also, it may allow those crazies to depart before they can suck you into their madness.

How about consequences? Of course it depends on the blind structure starting chips and speed of the levels, but you will probably be below average in chips. Also, you do not get the benefit of watching the other players and learn how they play? But my question is this: does this really matter? Most players tend to shift gears once a the blind reach a certain level, don't they?

Personally, I like to sit down when it starts and bide my time. But it is hard to call from middle position knowing there may be maniac waiting to raise right behind you.

Looking forward to learning more as I play.

Thanks,

Sully2112

As I always like to say this is relative. Each player sets your initial strategy and especially the play mode, as you already mentioned. The ACR that has exceptional late register in different levels.
As you commented like in earlier in the tournament, I think many players too.

To avoid the "crazies" in the beginning, on the other hand, will face good players forward, with shorter stack.

Join as early as possible. You want big stacks in relation to the blinds, which is what you get early in a tournament. This favors skill rather than luck.

It is better to get in their early if you are feeling patient pick your spots and grow that stack while blinds small but at the same time it is better late than never get in there go crazy and take that tournament down good luck.

I do noticed the more success rate in late registration rather than early to avoid some crazy players cost your stake significantly in early stage. It is also depends on the players you are facing at the table at anytime. Regular tourneys tight aggressive possibly works better. Good Luck.

I like to get in early and take down the crazies who go bust early. You don't get as many later in tournaments so in my opinion it's worth it just to try to catch some easy chips.

Thanks for all of the replies.

I think I will work on being patient and, as HK says, taking the crazies out by using a tight aggressive tourney strategy.

it's like you say that everything depends on the initial stack and the change of levels, when the tournament has a lot of late time and the change of the blinds is very slow I like to register when half or more than half of the time is late, personally I do not see any sense in risking when the blinds are so small, and also I'm not sitting so many hours in the tournament, because imagine 3-4 hours later, what's left of the tournament comes a point where tiredness wins

I always late reg, cant stand early levels and small pots. There are more bad players early in the tournament.

Late registration allows you to skip the time of crazy moves ...
But u has less time to fill the bankroll ...
Each decides by its game system how convenient ...
:icon_stud

For Turbos and Hypers I NEVER late reg.

For other tournaments I will late reg as long as I can come in with 20 BB or more

In tourneys with too many hours of late registration I prefer to register after the second or three hour.When the blinds are 200/400.The pots are in good amount of chips and some players will be short stack and shove with low pairs;this is the right time to register in my oppinion.

If the late registration time 30-60 minutes I'll generally start at any point. For some specific tournaments I always register early and play from the start.

For some of the ones with 3-5 hour late registration I've come to the conclusion that 75% of the time I will be around or less than the starting chips when registration closes. If I'm going to be short stacked at that time anyways I find I do better jumping in right as it ends.

A few times I've only had to survive one or two revolutions to be ITM and double the buy in. FWIW

The first problem of late registration is the smaller number of remaining phishers. Usually, weak players fly out in the early early stages of the tournament. Therefore, the earlier you start the tournament, the better. Although some weak players also reach the late stages, their number is not as significant as at the start of the tournament.

The essence of poker tournaments is to occupy the highest possible place. But because of late registration you give odds to other players. Of course, you will start the tournament with a full starting stack. But by this time the stack of many of the remaining players will outperform your stack.

Another bonus from timely registration is a deep stack, allowing you to wait patiently for your chance. Compare this to late registration when you play with the best players and have fewer big blinds. Starting with such pressure - sad, so register on time.

If you late reg, especially in a lot of those ACR games, you generally have to go to shove or fold style to try and make in the money. I'd say the best for those is maybe the third level to reg by. You want to reg at a point where there's not so much donk play but where you can still take advantage of the fishes that remain. Registering earlier also gives you a better chance of building a steady stack and making it deeper into the money.

thatguy6793 said:

If you late reg, especially in a lot of those ACR games, you generally have to go to shove or fold style to try and make in the money. I'd say the best for those is maybe the third level to reg by. You want to reg at a point where there's not so much donk play but where you can still take advantage of the fishes that remain. Registering earlier also gives you a better chance of building a steady stack and making it deeper into the money.

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I hate late registration that last 9 levels or more. I'd rather see late registration for 4 maybe 5 levels. I'm just getting used to playing different speeds cause there is another variable man so many to think about to win

Joining during the beginning is always more optimal for a strong poker player. Good poker players benefit from playing more hands and bad poker players have more chance to get lucky the fewer hands they have to play.

If you're post flop game is pretty good then you should buy-in early and try to get a head start on all the people who late reg later on. Having a big chips stack is always nice, especially around the bubble when a lot of players are just trying to survive and make ITM.

I prefer to buy in at the very beginning while the blinds are still low that way I have the advantage of a high chip stack relative to the blind. You can call hands that you might normally fold on giving you the opportunity to see more for less $. But you have to be wanting this kind of action to really enjoy it.

We all hate the never-ending late reg on ACR but its important to register early and try to build a stack. I wouldn't register later than level 4 or 5 so you still have a decent stack to play with (30-50 BB depending on starting stack and blind structure). Also factor into your buy-in and bankroll management whether or not (and how many times) you're planning to re-enter.

At late registration your stack is already below average, and it's a bit annoying. I think that tournaments should be played from the very beginning, because it allows you to increase your stack due to weak players.