F
fundiver199
Legend
Loyaler
The number of big blinds that I’m willing to buyin for varies greatly based on the buyin.
For tourneys well below my average buyin, I’m sometimes okay with playing for as little as around 20 bbs, but for tourneys at the top of my buyin range It would be very unusual for me to start late-especially since I often base my whole day around playing them!
Pretty much agree with Katie. If I am playing a tournament near the top of my buyin range, why would I want to give up any edge by not being there from the beginning or at least very early like within the first 1-2 blind levels? I can also learn something from watching, what other good players do. If however I just started my session, or perhaps I busted from some tables shortly after each other, then I will sometimes add new tournaments, which are already running, rather than wait for the next one to begin, if these are in the middle or bottom of my buyin range.
OP also asked about R+A tournaments, and these are something completely different. When the add-ons are purchased, the value of each chip in the tournament goes down. So in these events its a completely viable strategy to register in the very last moment, fold 1-2 hands and then purchase the add-on. In this way you will have paid less per chip than its ICM value, and this compensates for giving up on skill edge by not being there from the beginning. If you are not sure, you even have a skill edge, this is actually the optimal strategy. Which in a way makes the format a little bit silly. It also seem to be going out of fashion on pokerstars, while 888 Poker still runs a lot of them.