Is it best to register for a tournament before the tournament starts, in the middle of late registration or at the end of late registration? Or maybe it doesn't really matter? What's your opinion?

Good question I believe that you can enter the tournament according to the late registrations.
You have a disadvantage as well as a benefit. If you enter late deserts, then you have to play a lot of tight because the big blind is at a big level on that scale. My point is that if you enter late deserts, then you should play on the card and fold it completely on small leaves. And there are very few chances to win the tournament.

It would be preferable to register at the beginning of the tournament to evolve gradually, otherwise if you register at the end of the registration you do not have too many chips to play and you are forced to risk what you have, now everyone sees the game, it is not a rule

I very hate when late registration goes several hours as it happens on ACR. Howerer, in some rooms you can get some bonuses for early registration like extra chips or bubble protect. it is very usefull

Kenny Hallaert, a top poker pro who also happens to work as a Tournament Director in a Belgium casino, did research into this topic, and the paper detailing the results is posted on Google Docs, hopefully I can post this link to it because I don't know the rules about posting links on Cards Chat.

It's not a copyright or anything so I don't see why I can't post his conclusions here:
Summary

• Late registration is open for too long in my opinion in a lot of events
• Late registration benefits late entrants directly in a financial way
• Players are getting encouraged to register late with the current state of late entry
• Players that are playing from the start are getting a huge disadvantage
• Creates an unfair environment

Here's the URL to Kenny's paper:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...kvpDR0lx4/edit

And then let me add my own opinion on the matter:

I have confidence in my poker game, and so I ALWAYS want to be in my seat from the very first hand of the tournament.

The early stages of a tournament are all about accumulating chips. Yes, Kenny Hallaert's paper does show correct math for late reg, and yes, I understand and agree with him that very long late-registration can be taken advantage of by good players who understand how to play shorter-stacked poker... but for me, I would much rather accumulate chips slowly but surely over those five hours of late registration... and when those good players do jump into the tournament right at the end of late reg, well at least I've got a pretty large chip stack advantage over them by that point. To me, this MORE THAN evens out the equation, even if I fully admit that my poker skills might not be quite as good as those good players who are late reg'ing.

So I am always in my seat at the start time, or else, if I'm not, then quite often I won't even bother to register for the tourney at all, I'll just wait til tomorrow, or next week, when I can play it from the very start. It just depends if I'm bored or not, if I have nothing else to do that day, then I'll register late, its not like I'm afraid to late reg, I just don't see it as a huge advantage to wait (for me, personally). Hope that helps. Good luck at the tables!

I prefer not to use late registration in tournaments. In the early stages of the tournament, there is more opportunity to increase the stack. At the end of late registracion , the blinds are so big that raising is like an allin. An error is equal to leaving the tournament.

I think for super aggressive players it doesn't matter when to go in and play) for a weak player,the best option is to start playing from the start of the tournament. This is a great opportunity to get a feel for the table and start studying your opponents. The start period of the tournament is small blinds it's good to play bolder poker, play a wider range of hands and get less trouble when trying to increase the pot, for the later stage of the tournament. I think the beginning of the tournament is a very good way to start

There is no correct answer to the question, it all depends the situation and the structure of the tournament. Normally I myself would not do it, but have found certain instances that it’s a no brainer to late reg. For example my local club had a late reg until the first break then you could also do an add on so would end up sitting down with 30 BB.
I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer but even I can see that as a +ev situation.

I will enter a tournament in late registration if the tournament hasn’t been running too long and the blinds aren’t too high. I don’t like to join if late registration is several hours and it’s near the end of that time as the blinds are so high and often you end up on tables with players who have a large chip stack so you are forced to go all in pretty much straight away. This has happened a few times to me and I was forced all in first hand due to blind levels and lost so I only played one hand. I think late registration that is for a long time longer than 20 minutes is generally a disadvantage however it can be an advantage to very aggressive players that like to go all in on a lot of hands provided they get a couple of wins straight away and can keep themselves comfortable with blinds. I dislike long registration tournaments for this reason as you can be playing for a couple of hours conservatively slowly building chip stack and potentially get knocked out by someone who has been playing for five minutes.

It depends. Sometimes I observe myaelf not beeing focused enough in early stages, late regs seem better there.

But if you are the better player, more hands give you a better edge.


Plus... late reg is only there to rip off the ppl anyway, when tournaments seem zo have an overlay and than ppl can register three days later...

Presently I like late reg. I know I will be shorter stack. But I play better tight at the start as long as I have a chance to play and don’t blind out right away and force to play

no you are smallest stack if you make this better start play start time !

When I started playing, I used to start at the beginning. There were times when I busted all my 3 re-buying in the first hour, because LAG were getting lucky (or me, not having a good preflop strategy yet). Then, I started entering about 1/3-1/2 before the late registrations ends. I still end up with the decent stack (half of SS), and everyone is settled in. I try enter few at the late, but its's a crap shot when you have less than 20 bb, and the table deemed as standard to open up with 3bb. It's a shove/fold scenarios, and there is plenty of huge stacks that can call you loose and suck out. Work with what you comfortable with. Having long late registrations can help you practice the mental game. Think of those as marathons, not sprints. And personally, beginning of the tourney I usually play REALLY TIGHT. Small BB, small risk/reward. You can't win the 6-hour long tournament in the first 2 hours, but you can certainly loose it. If I start at the beginning, my first hour-goal is to play only premium, position, and learn the players. Playing premium and position helps me exploit the "young guns" who want to double up in the first 25 hands, bluffing with their missed draws.

at the beginning of a tournement there are many not so gad players and loese playing players so it is eaeyer for you to get a big stack ,but the late registration is lond most 2 houres ,at the end of the late registration there are many smal stacks and you can bluff them out in the middle of the late registration Ithink it is not so god to begin

I prefer enter in the beginnning. I see many players entering at the end of late registration, just to try get some bonus, many times they don play

In live tournaments I always wanted to be there for the opening gun because the first round always featured a "high hand" contest where you could win back your entry fee. Online I'll enter late but usually not past the fourth or fifth rounds.

This does depend on the blind level situation at the end of registration. In my opinion, it is extremely beneficial to have enough chips to play poker. Of course, what I mean is, we want bets, raises, calls, shoves to all still be available to us. We have full chip utility and can actually play the game. If we wait too long, we have one choice, shove or fold. This is no longer poker, but closer to bingo. Many players are OK gambling in this manner, and that is OK for them. In addition to having enough chips to play poker, there are probably going to be more fish around in the early levels, and we should probably be there for that.

I also hate the 5hr or so late registration periods at ACR. Lets just play poker for crying out loud.

For me, I will look at the average stack and the blind structure at the point of entry. I want to have at least 25bb in my stack when I start, but I prefer 35bb. I will also make sure the average stack is not more than 2x my starting stack. Getting to an average stack with a single double up seems reasonable to me, but needing 2 double ups seems like a bad investment.

Good luck and God bless

hi,in my opinion I don`t like to enter a tournament with late registration,I play tournaments from the beginning,where the weakest players are and we can get their chips from them.

I like to register at the start, but sometimes I get late.
But basically I prefer initial registration.

Originally Posted by NWPatriot

...
I also hate the 5hr or so late registration periods at ACR. Lets just play poker for crying out loud.

For me, I will look at the average stack and the blind structure at the point of entry. I want to have at least 25bb in my stack when I start, but I prefer 35bb. I will also make sure the average stack is not more than 2x my starting stack. Getting to an average stack with a single double up seems reasonable to me, but needing 2 double ups seems like a bad investment.

Just ran across this Upswing Poker article - it seems to support a lot of the thoughts in this thread. https://upswingpoker.com/late-registering-mtt/?inf_contact_key=2ab9a7588734516d7ff3c4b5440bb65b7e470d92b8b75168d98a0b8cac0e9c09

late registration is only for knockout tournaments, for freezeout tournaments I prefer early registration.

Always try to join the tournament as soon as it started. At the beggining there will be way more bad players and you will be able to fight everyone from equal to equal since you have the same amount of chips. Having that in mind it's not always bad to join a tournament near it's end either, if you don't have time to play the tournament you can cut some of the time by registering late, but if you do that you will propably have to risk all your chips fast, since your stack will be way below average.

If this is a tournament with knockout rewards or a turbo turnar structure, then I prefer to register from the very beginning, but if this is a regular tournament then the main thing is that I have at least 20bb !!!

I prefer to register early. I see a lot of loose passive play early in tournaments. And if you know how to take advantage of that, you have an opportunity to build your stack up. If you know how to pick your spots, you can steadily increase your stack while others are bleeding chips, and you'll find yourself at a chip advantage as registration continues.

Coming in late and starting with a chip disadvantage doesn't allow that opportunity. Late registration forces you to use a riskier strategy. The later you register, the riskier you'll have to play as the blinds increase. That's not to say that I have never entered a tournament well into late registration and quickly built up a sizeable stack. But when I pick a spot to get my chips in good and end up losing, I don't feel like a gave myself the best chance to succeed by coming in late.

It depends on how long is that late registration. But indeed you would start totally conditioned by the blinds and your opponents chip amount. I often enter tournaments a bit late and I'm not feeling uncomfortable, but thats just me. I think most of the people would prefer start the tournament on the very beginning.
If you are a good player and you play a good poker, the early registration should be better.

In turbo and hyper-turbo MTT late registration does not make sense, because your ctack is very small.

I like to play with 40bb That's when I like to enter

early, you can play a lot more hands with the small blinds

30 minutes just in time

I prefer to catch the start of the tournaments, because I make some notes of some players that may serve me in the future and the possibility of making a chip is better !!

This is my opinion. There are a few factors when considering whether to register late for a tournament or not. One and I think is most important you're starting chip stack is a very big issue in that cuz if you get too late in there then starting stack is not going to mean anything. Number two is the blinds in relation to the starting stack that may be a more critical determinant where you register for the tournament if you can't get there on time or maybe you just miss a level that could be a huge factor in this also this is just my opinion in my opinion only.

registering very late can be an advantage sometime, you are fresh and is easier to double up if you start getting nice hands, but should be avoided anyway

Beginning play is aggressive has chance to see lot of hands

Middle login is risky so has to sit right

Late login is all in every hand

I don't like the late registrations, especially when you get involved all the time when they take your chips
having a lot of money in his bank, almost every hand will always go online

i late register into all my mtts now. i prefer having at least 20 bbs to start with, but it doesn't really matter. i'm fine starting with 5 bbs as i am starting with 25 bbs.

I don't think there is a correct answer to that question, I already had good rewards writing to me at the beginning of the tournament and also at the end of the late registration.

I think it is better to start the game from the beginning of the tournament, in deep stacks You have the opportunity to maneuver and build profitable traps, and if you start with short stacks and wait for playing cards, then any bad beat can knock you out of the tournament.

Been entering at the very last minute for a trial for a week in online tournaments.
Not much fun as having to play extremely tight and choosing the right hand to shove.
It is an adrenalin junky's hyped out affair.
Sometimes I don't even get to play a hand till I hit the big blind and it goes all in.


50% chance of going out.
50% chance of getting in the money. Mostly just a bit over the registration fees paid to get in.
A few times fourth or fifth pay level up and once 18th out of 4,000 plus.

Once in the money it is still a struggle against big stacks. Had to stay tight the whole time and consistently get bullied for blinds.

Don't really enjoy putting myself on the disadvantage and playing that way.

Won 2 tournaments playing from the early stage. Think I will stick with that.

It is your choice, so good luck at the tables.

I prefer reg at the beginning

For me it depends on the blinds, if the tournament is turbo, I register from the beginning, I do not like to wait long because I feel more pressure when playing, but if the tournament has like 3 hours of registration I hope that half or a little more passes of the registry, I feel that I enter in good time and without much pressure. I know there are people who like to enter the last minute and play push-fold, but I guess it depends on the strategy of each player

So i late-registered on ACR to mtt called BOTLADY FREEBUY, and i had 1.6bb.
- Okay, i thought, thats enough to play like couple hands
And then i noticed there is still 7 freaking levels of late registration
What? R u serious? So on the last level you buy in for what? 0.1 bb? to put 1 ante and go broke?

It doesn't matter to much to me. Sometimes late gets the all in players gone (not that i dont mind ) as I am game unless it is a serious game

late registration is not bad at all, only that it tends to be the worst when it lasts for a long time or a long period for which I see more convenient that only the minutes of the first blinds should be taken into account

On this issue, my opinion is unequivocal. You need to register and start participating in the tournament from the very beginning. Any late registration reduces your chance of staying in the game and not crashing in the next few minutes. Entering with late registration, you become like a hare among a pack of wolves. The players have already pumped up their stacks and roughly understand each other about the tactics used in the game.

Originally Posted by Alizona

And then let me add my own opinion on the matter:

I have confidence in my poker game, and so I ALWAYS want to be in my seat from the very first hand of the tournament.

The early stages of a tournament are all about accumulating chips. Yes, Kenny Hallaert's paper does show correct math for late reg, and yes, I understand and agree with him that very long late-registration can be taken advantage of by good players who understand how to play shorter-stacked poker... but for me, I would much rather accumulate chips slowly but surely over those five hours of late registration... and when those good players do jump into the tournament right at the end of late reg, well at least I've got a pretty large chip stack advantage over them by that point. To me, this MORE THAN evens out the equation, even if I fully admit that my poker skills might not be quite as good as those good players who are late reg'ing.

So I am always in my seat at the start time, or else, if I'm not, then quite often I won't even bother to register for the tourney at all, I'll just wait til tomorrow, or next week, when I can play it from the very start. It just depends if I'm bored or not, if I have nothing else to do that day, then I'll register late, its not like I'm afraid to late reg, I just don't see it as a huge advantage to wait (for me, personally). Hope that helps. Good luck at the tables!

I have leaned towards always register early aswell. First half usually is a good time to build a stack, the "loose" havent got busted yet then 😀 and I am mote often in the money this way. More littery if you register late in the long run

In my opinion, this is a risky strategy, but often effective because often the blinds are already high and there is a good chance of tripling your stack. I often guarantee that you will get paid seats in tournaments.
I rarely use late registration, but I was able to earn a lot of $ thanks to it several times.

I do not like the very early stage of tournaments, because in deep stacks, weak players try to create all sorts of nonsense and sometimes they succeed =) it makes me nervous and I become irritable, which has a very negative effect on the quality of the game. So I try to skip the first 30-40 minutes of the game

Mostly I register at the beginning and try to build up a stack by playing tight, to have pressure against the stacks of the late regs. With late reg., depending on the blind speed, you need very fast a good hand.

Recently I went in a freeroll MTT right before end of reg., lots of players were already busted, I did nothing, folded every hand and reached ITM.

i use late reg when start stack > 30bb