How come ACR has such long registration periods?

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blazer1027

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I'm playing the 11 cent $25 GTD freezeout and it's on the bubble, but there is also 17 levels of registration remaining.

Can someone register after the bubble bust and be considered in the money at that point? There are people still registering now, which seems like an easy way to possible make some money?
 
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I'm playing the 11 cent $25 GTD freezeout and it's on the bubble, but there is also 17 levels of registration remaining.

Can someone register after the bubble bust and be considered in the money at that point? There are people still registering now, which seems like an easy way to possible make some money?


There is no "bubble" until the prize pool consolidates, which happens when the late registration closes. :
 
Raccoony

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Yes, I don't like this and that's why I don't play in such tournaments. Two or more hours of late registration is just too much for me.
 
Shrops

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Not good

I don't care for ACR's long registration periods. I think they should be two hours or less.
 
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blazer1027

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Yeah definitely not playing in those anymore. Doesn't feel like real poker at all.
 
RimworldDoctor

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It's so fish have more time to donate their chips to you :p

In all seriousness, I think it's just a way for the site to make more money. Players rebuy more, other players buy in late at a chip disadvantage, etc.

The long wait periods annoy me too, but when I want to play a fast tourney, I play turbos or Sit N' Goes. Long tournaments are a test of endurance (which is a skill in and of itself).
 
BigCountryAA

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Definitely not a fan of the super late reg tournies at ACR...especially for micro stakes.
 
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skaterick

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cant stand long late reg . just more cash for the site .

poker is turning into bingo ! although i will admit to jumping in late when the bubble is near
 
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BIGAUS

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I definitely am not a fan of long registration periods as well for many of the same reasons listed earlier.

As for your example from earlier, I believe ACR doesn't allow that to happen. What I mean by that is if there is a big jump in paid places (for example, 108 to 180 places ITM is a common one) and if before that change happens there are less than 180 players actively playing, they will close registration early right before that jump from 108 to 180 places happens and keep it at 108 get paid.
 
BlackIce

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I don't care for ACR's long registration periods. I think they should be two hours or less.


IDK. I think two hrs is too long mabe like 1 her or even 1 and a half. The reason they do it is the rebuys and the donks. Shoot if I play $1 tournaments I’ll pretty much push any decent cards all in until late reg is over. Which is exactly what the site wants you to do it seems.
 
Alizona

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The reason late registration goes on for so many hours is so ACR can put larger guaranteed prize pools on their tournaments... and larger guarantees means they attract more players, and attracting more players means the site generates more rake for themselves.

So its all about the money, which is ALWAYS the case in our modern society. poker sites aren't there for our entertainment, they're not "nice guys", they simply want to make as much profit as possible, which is the sole goal of all corporations.

They honestly don't care if we don't like 4-hour-long or 5-hour-long late reg, all they care about is that enough players show up to meet their guarantee and generate maximum rake for themselves.

As always, our only means of "fighting back" as consumers is to not participate... and quite honestly, poker players aren't willing to do that. In fact, it is literally the exact opposite. If a tournament has a guaranteed prize pool which hasn't been met by the time it gets close to the end of the late registration period, poker players (who are very good at math) will ALWAYS realize there is an "overlay" and there will be a big rush of players who pile into the tournament in the last level or two... and somehow, magically, the site usually gets very close to their guarantee for this reason. Sites are very good at pushing this guarantee as high as possible, right to the limit of sanity, and ACR has been very successful over the years by having the longest late-registration of just about any site out there.

I agree it is quite the grind, and I also agree I don't like it very much. The late reg is only the start, too... if late reg is 5 hours long, it means a massive number of entries, which means the tournament will likely go for another 5 hours if not far longer - a 3:30 pm start time might not determine a winner until the sun has risen the next morning... its a pretty brutal length of time to stay focused and alert and awake (especially if you work a day job!). Sometimes I'm laying in my bed with my eyes closed and listening for the sound alerting me that it is my turn to act. LOL Deep runs are usually not much fun, and that's when all the big money is on the line, of course. I often won't even bother playing if I know I won't be able to stay up for that long... but I'm no spring chicken anymore. This is one reason why poker is a young kid's game and not an old man's game. When I was young I could stay up all night no problem, but not anymore. I don't even bother with evening tournaments anymore, I just play the CardChat freerolls which only take 3-4 hours to finish and that's enough of a "poker fix" to satisfy my desire most nights. It won't pay the rent, but oh well. :)
 
Alizona

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I'm playing the 11 cent $25 GTD freezeout and it's on the bubble, but there is also 17 levels of registration remaining.

Can someone register after the bubble bust and be considered in the money at that point? There are people still registering now, which seems like an easy way to possible make some money?

When the tournament money bubble bursts, the late registration closes instantly at that point, no matter how many levels were left in late reg. So the brief answer is, no, this cannot happen.

This is very rare and almost never occurs, its a very special case that I've only seen happen a few times, and it is always in very small tournaments. The big money tournaments never come close to the money bubble before late reg ends.

But if this situation does occur, poker players are good at math and will usually try to enter, play a hand or two and double up real quick, and make an easy cash... it really isn't fair to the players who were there from the start, it is aggravating to play for a few hours only to get knocked out just short of the money by someone who has only been there for a few minutes... but that's poker. :D
 
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fundiver199

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The reason late registration goes on for so many hours is so ACR can put larger guaranteed prize pools on their tournaments... and larger guarantees means they attract more players, and attracting more players means the site generates more rake for themselves.

Having many levels of late registration is for sure a money maker for poker sites, because it allow more people to enter or reenter late. But the main reason, why some tournaments on ACR have such long late registration periods, are long blind intervals. For instance at 2 pm CET there is a 2,2$ 800 guarantied MTT with 15 minute blind intervals during late registration and 16 levels of late registration = 4 hours and 20 minutes of late registration due to the breaks.

And I just dont see, how such a tournament is a good money maker for the site. The slow blinds mean, people play longer on average, and if they busted faster, they would probably buy into another tournament. After all this is why, some people beleive, the RNGs are rigged to favour the big stack.

And in my opinion each player buying into more tournaments would more than compensate for the fact, that a faster tournament with 8 or 10 minute blind intervals might need to have a lower guaranti like say 500$. Sure there might be some players, who look very much at the size of the guaranty. But there are many others like you or myself, who dont want to potentially play for up to 8-10 hours, when we are only playing for 2,2$, regardless if the guaranty is 500$ or 800$.

ACR is also pretty alone in the business with these very slow structures. On pokerstars only the "daily marathon" and some special events during series like the current "Winter Series" run that slow. Everything else is 10 minutes for the vast majority of "regular speed" tournaments, and even Sunday Million only has 12 minute blinds until the final table or something. And when 888 Poker changed their tournament schedule last year, they made most of the smaller buyin tournaments 8 minute blind intervals and shortened late registration to 70 minutes.

So if these very slow tournaments are a brilliant money maker, then everyone else in the business are missing out, and only ACR have seen the light. And I guess, its probably more likely, its the other way around. I dont know, how the tournament schedule was on ACR before, like when this post was made in 2020. But right now most of the tournaments have 8-12 minute blind levels, and there are only a few of those left with 15 minute blind levels. And when I played the said 2 pm CET 2,2$ event, it ran with an overlay despite 4 hours and 20 minutes of late registation, so ACR did not make a single dollar on it.

ACR is also currently promoting their "on demand" SnGs, which are turbos with 5 minute blind intervals. So I guess, faster games are after all more profitable for poker sites, and that even ACR has come around to realise this. And for the meantime people playing there just need to look at the structure before buying in, and personally I am probably not going to play that 2,2$ tournament again. Or if I do, it will be in the form of a last minute registration, if I spot a potential overlay ;)
 
Alizona

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You make an excellent point, fundiver... but I would just speculate that the structures can be very deceptive - for instance, a site could have long 15 min levels but then make the blinds go up much quicker with each level jump... this may actually be a faster structure than another site which uses 10 min levels but their blinds go up more slowly each level. I have not analyzed this across the various sites, but this is my initial reaction to your post.

I think the large guarantees is essentially a form of advertising for a site, ACR loves to promote their OMG! 10 MILLION!! Venom... my take on big guarantees is that it only make the site a bigger target for governments like mine in America who may not like its "free" (LOL) citizens playing on offshore sites. The bigger a site gets, the bigger the target on their back. Its terribly wrong for governments to act this way, and I'm not saying ACR is wrong to do it, they don't reside in America and obviously they are "free" to do whatever they want to do... but it just makes me fear that one day they will be targeted just like poker stars was targeted a decade ago, causing us to be banned from the biggest poker sites in the world. I know my words fall on deaf ears but it does change my own actions - for instance, I won't deposit to sites any longer, I simply make a fun game out of running up some small freeroll monies since that is zero risk for myself. If I lose it, oh well. But of course it also means I'll never be playing in the biggest money tournaments with a quick deposit of funds, so I suppose that makes me biased against them. But I do see the potential for it to ruin all our fun, and that is why I suggest sites don't run big guaranteed tournaments, just be happy with smaller ones and smaller profits... but I'm sure comments like mine just get laughed at in our "money-is-everything" world. LOL
 
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fundiver199

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You make an excellent point, fundiver... but I would just speculate that the structures can be very deceptive - for instance, a site could have long 15 min levels but then make the blinds go up much quicker with each level jump... this may actually be a faster structure than another site which uses 10 min levels but their blinds go up more slowly each level. I have not analyzed this across the various sites, but this is my initial reaction to your post.

That is true, but this is not the case with those 4+ hour late registration events on ACR. They really are very slow tournaments also after late registration close. Late registration is dragged out very long, but its not like, a starting stack is only 2BB, when it closes.

I think the large guarantees is essentially a form of advertising for a site, ACR loves to promote their OMG! 10 MILLION!! Venom...

I certainly think, there is an element of advertisement to it, when it come to those very big events. There is also a lot of prestige in offering the tournament series with the largest combined guaranty. But like I said already, I honestly dont think, most microstakes players care, if their 2,2$ MTT has a 800$ or 500$ guaranty.
 
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yes it is very disheartening when you've been playing forever and notice people can still enter, and I find they start going all in cause they are desperate to catch up
 
GODZZ

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I Play the late night games . I usually join with 4-5 levels of Reg left , this works for me but i play PLO8 . In a NLH touny i would join much earlier and in a KO tourny i would join at the beginning

GLGL:D
 
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Seems to be a good business model for the sites as it allows greater prize pools and more donks to rebuy.
 
Havik

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The long late registration is brutal.
 
MikeCarasone

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Unfortunately the hi pay out guaranteed prizes wouldn’t be reached if there wasn’t long registration periods. Luckily they now have added some 2 hour registration with decent prizes. Those long 5 hour times can be brutal.
 
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As it was stated higher GTD with reasonable BI would need long late registration to allow have a number of entries to increase the prize pool. This marketing tool has been implemented by WPN (ACR), Iggy\Bovada, and other sites.

I would agree $25 GTD MTT would have 90 mins or less late registration.
 
takinitSLEAZEE

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I think the late-reg periods exist to generate enough $ to cover the guaranteed prize-pool. It also allows players a chance to re-enter multiple times. ACR/BCP seem to do well, here. I'm no mathematician but at 10-20% of every trny entry online poker is not going anywhere and neither are longer registration periods. ;)
 
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Long registration means more money for ACR or for any other site
 
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i know some of them real long but they have bigger prize pools then
 
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I don't like it, which is why I don't participate in events like this. In all honesty, I believe it is simply a means for the site to increase its revenue. Players rebuy more, while others buy in late, putting themselves at a disadvantage in terms of chips. When you've been playing for a long time and discover that people can still enter, it's quite upsetting and I find that they start going all in because they're anxious to catch up. :(
 
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