Late Registering - As a strategy

[swingro]

Never register late. If you do you will find yourself shorstacked in the middle o a field of average agressive players who will kick your ass like is no tomorrow with their big stacks.

And i think the post was about freerolls from a beginner point of view. Late reg is even worse there. Being the tiny stack and getting called from all positions is a horible way to play.

 

[Mr Whatever]

ive heard raymer say he loves playing the weaker opponents early in a tourn so wouldnt miss out on the early stages. ive heard hellmuth avoid the early stages of a tourn because he doesnt like the bad beats from the the less experiesed players.

i guess it depends on ur personality-on whether u feel its best to wait out the really bad players and make it up on the later portions of the tourn or can u strive on the really bad players early.

and of course it depends on the structure of the tourn. can u really afford to sit out because of the blind/ante structure of the tourn?

when i used to play the omaha freeroll on full tilt id sit out and wait a few levels then wait and be very disciplined and play only hitting a set or better right there on the flop. u cant really mess around if u decide to sit out.

 

[AtiFCOD]

I agree with c9h. Registering on time is the best option imo.
To tell the truth I dislike late reg tourneys cos it's hard to predict the number of players.

 

[sbarrera]

I think that it is both a advantage and disadvantage. I mean if you get laid you have a closer chance to cashing in but at the same time you have to be a donk to make it

 

[c9h13no3]

It's a discussion forum, what a boring world it would be if we all thought the same.

I think 4 is a larger number than 8, just my opinion.

 

[bullishwwd]

In all things there are advantages and disadvantages and Poker is no different...both ways one will need some good luck to win.

Overall, if tournament is Turbo or a re-buy, then you are at a big disadvantage by registering late as you will likely be up against some major large stacks. A large stack generally will trump even "position" when the large stack decides to be a bully.

Wally

 

[NoWuckingFurries]

I think 4 is a larger number than 8, just my opinion.

I've been using binary and hexadecimal in my CCNA course, gives considerations such as that a whole new dimension...

 

[Egon Towst]

I see EgonTowst as being very much a tournament player, although I could be wrong - I often am!

You are right. Over 90% of my time at the tables is spent in tournies.

I also understand your point about bankroll. A modest bankroll tends to encourage one to play conservatively. For those who are concerned about the risks of early tourney play and the danger represented by schools of (rather than single) fish, it`s worth bearing in mind that being seated at the table does not place you under any obligation to play hands or to take any risk at all. Choose your spots.

During the early levels, if surrounded by wild players, I will play almost no hand other than from late position, and even then my range may be very tight. At a manic table, it wouldn`t be unusual for me to play only one or two hands in the first hour, but to get to the first break with my stack doubled by some fool who failed to notice that I was folding everything but big pairs and went all-in with me while an 80-20 dog.

Now, of course, that kind of play means I will be knocked out in the first hour one time in five. Even so, it has to be worth it for the chance to play with a double stack the other four times.

 

[NoWuckingFurries]

EgonTowst, I concur.

Thanks for the welcome.
I'll be posting as time permits.

You are welcome, but it would be preferred if you could make your posts relevant to the thread that you are posting in. Although I am arguably not the best person to be giving out that advice!

 

[Johnnybmoto]

If you are a +EV player then registering late is a -EV move.

 

[SavagePenguin]

Advantages of registering late:
1) Some people are already eliminated.
2) Nobody has a read on you when you show up. (Doesn't matter much at low stakes)

Some advantages of registering on time:
1) You get to use your skill advantage over a greater number of hands.
2) You have longer to develop reads on players.
3) People begin to get reads on you, which you can exploit. (Doesn't matter much at low stakes)
4) You come in with a higher stack-to-blinds ratio.
5) You are in the game when fish are still around, spewing their money away. If you wait 20 minutes some of the biggest fish will be gone.

Things to note:
Registering 20 minutes late does *not* mean you'll last 20 minutes longer (tournament time). The blinds will be higher so they'll eat into your stack quicker. So maybe you'll advance another 10 minutes, and that is not going to get you significantly closer to cashing.

Chips = power. So while coming in late might mean that some people are knocked out, coming in as a shorter-than average stack is a bigger disadvantage than outlasting those people who went out early.

 

[Sixes Full]

I might late register on the Super Turbo (300 chips) tourney because it is a shovefest.

 

[dj11]

SP wrote;

Things to note:
Registering 20 minutes late does *not* mean you'll last 20 minutes longer (tournament time). The blinds will be higher so they'll eat into your stack quicker. So maybe you'll advance another 10 minutes, and that is not going to get you significantly closer to cashing.

This is true, however, We will have let 20 minutes go by with others doing the inevitable busting of the lagtards which I for one am glad to do (allow others to do the 'heavy lifting' if you will). Also, any sit outs are likely to be marked as such and they won't be slowing the game, and boring me to death.

When I play on time, I often finding myself playing looser than I want and shrinking my stack as a result in the first few orbits. I have gotten used to coming back from a short stack situation. I don't relish it, but it doesn't panic me anymore.

Balancing those things with what SP wants us to consider as disadvantages makes me think they balance out, almost all the way to the end of late registration.

Which brings me back to the defacto overlay we may find by registering late. At the end of most late registration periods yeah, we will be shorties, relatively, but close to half the original field may already be gone. If it is significantly more or less than half the field (approx 50% of every MTT field goes by the end of the first hour) we can make some interesting decisions. Often the dynamics of the tourney have increased the payoffs so that those who register early actually ended up with less of an even chance to excel, while the late folks end up with more of a chance based on overlay vs stack size dynamics, but less of a chance based on initial stack size that still works out to be better than starting on time.

The one thing that will be missing to late registrants is finding the rhythm of the game. Each MTT has a rhythm, from the start. It will change fast as those lagtards fall away, but by sitting patiently at the tables, observing, you will get the rhythm and its flow changes faster than a late registrant.

IMHO, it is slightly +EV considering what I think are the negatives of early MTT play. I have not run it thru an ICM calculator, and probably should.

Somebody get on that K?

 

[CheeseMaker]

I like to register late, mainly because nowawdays tournaments extend registration for 60 minutes. That is 1 hour less that I will have to play, and I prefer playing when the blinds are higher.

 

[pol_92121]

i preffer register on time and although the pro register before the start of tourney...

 

[aprig]

Registering late=mising alot of hands,no knowledge about ur oponents,second level blinds and a stack a little below average.I always register at the begining of a tourney.

 

[zippo5667]

How do you prefer to enter the tournament, as soon as he starts or do you almost always take advantage of late registering?
There are advantages in that you start the tournament 20 minutes later, when you can see if there is a astronomical cheap leader.
On the other hand has the disadvantage that you are missing hands and maybe you were playing and accumulate knowledge about the players on your table from the first hand.
I was wondering if you use this strategy.

I've tried both ways and it does not seem to matter.

 

[spunka]

I don't register late on purpose, but also I don't like the options of registering late, some sites lets you register late for up to 1 hour.

I find it unfair that players who register late gets the full chip stack, I think it should be like in real tournaments where you pay from chipstack even if your are late, I also know it will be very hard to handle for the rooms.

But with fast blinds and a flat payout I think it might be +EV to register late.

As other players points out the possible overlay of the tournament is hard to figure out too.

In rebuys tournaments I sometimes buy in late especially if the addon is big, so double buyin and a big addon, and I have saved an hour and will have a decent stack also, and rebuy maniacs are gone, and I know how much it will cost me to play the tournament.

 

[kmixer]

Situations in which the field is cut down so drastically early on that you're in - or almost in - the money from the point that you register.

Actually had never thought of it that way. It is almost like sitting out but you don't have to pay the blinds. Interesting enough. I still think it would be best to be sitting there and clicking fold to see if some premium hands show up.

This sounds like a new challenge for me. Enter the same tourney for 50 days. For the first 25 I will register on time. For the second 25 I will register just before the late registration closes. See which 25 I do better in. Of course there are other factors involved but hmmm sounds like fun.

Also we must consider that the OP never spoke about how late of a registration we are talking about. At stars some are tn minutes and some are 60 minutes. Is it safe to assume that OP was talking about the 60 minute late registration?

 

[Extreme Fishing]

I like to play as many hands as possible. Obviously you play tight through add on.

 

[timboslice4]

i dont hesitate in entering any tournament. If I can get in before it starts i willl, but i never turn down a tournament because it has been running too long. however i do think it is an advantage to see hands early in tournaments because you can see cheap flops and get just as much chips as you could when the blinds are bigger

 

[Daniel72]

If you are late registering, you are behind in chips. Okay, you still have your starting stack, while other players are eliminated or crippled. But you missed cards, value and so on. Late registering is no winning strategy in my opinion. But i heard of it in hyperturbo sats ?!

 

[ph_il]

I like registering late during rebuy tournaments during the pokerstars 1R1A MTTs right before the rebuy period ends.

Tournaments usually start you off with 3K chips + 3K rebuy + 5K add on, giving you an 11K stack (around average) to play during the mid-late stages of an MTT. I find this to be a bit of an advantage if you're late game is strong.

 

[dmorris68]

As philthy points out, rebuys are good tourneys to register late for. Deepstacked tourneys are another.

I don't make a habit of late registration, but I do it occasionally. For instance last night I decided at the last minute (literally, <1 minute before it closed) to play the $35K Guarantee on FT. It's a 3000 chip double-stack tourney. When I registered, with less than a minute left, the average stack for the remaining 1400 players was less than 3600. So basically I started with an almost average stack -- not in terrible shape at all. In fact I sat down as like 4th stack at my table, since most of the others had lost some of their starting stack. This also tells you that not many people had been eliminated by that point, since by definition eliminations are what increase average stack size in a non-rebuy tourney.

I went on to finish 93 out of 1656. Not a bad run, more than doubled my buy-in, and avoided an hour of play. Had I registered early, maybe I would have won. Or maybe I would have busted out early. Who knows? But that's a results-oriented way of looking at it.

But a regular 75bb or less fast tourney, especially a turbo, then no, I think late registration is -EV. Coming in at well below average stack when levels are increasing at turbo speed is just not a good spot to be in. I'd only do it if I really wanted to play the tourney, or had a seat/ticket that I would lose anyway, and couldn't be there on time for the start.

 

[KINGSIN]

Its not a strategy at all, but i like late registration, cause i usually playing live game, or already rushing home to play a certain, tour. And joining late, my most recent is 55 min late registration in which i cashed, but i still rather had played from the start, cause i entered low csi state fast, and luckly my pushes weren't called or held up when called. not the way i really want to play poker.