What do you think your ROI is max late regging tourneys vs regging on time? I'm beginning to wonder if personally my skill edge in tournaments can compensate for the huge EV advantage of buying in late. And if max late regging is worth so much in EV that EV has to come from somewhere right? The on time players. Regging early you get to play deep and really exploit any skill edge but regging in the middle I think is just a really bad idea. Or at least it is for me. What do you think?

Good luck!

Hey ChipWynn ! First off thank you for the good luck.

There is a big debate regarding playing from the start vs max late reg. Personally I refuse to buyin at the first level in mtts with 4 or 5 hour late reg. I do not study 200-300bb chip ev poker. Most of our mtt grind will be <50bb ante poker. Where you make the most $$$ will be at the end of the tournament <30bb. This is the area to study the most imo. Just get extremely good at 30 bb and less and ofc ICM. People just lighting money on fire in icm spots. Jans Arends aka Graftekkel, one of the best mtt players of all time, put me onto this when he spoke about the topic. Essentially he was saying that our chips are worth more $$ wise when we buyin late bc half the field has already been eliminated and so the icm value of our chips has increased.

Just in terms of $/hour also. Like if we have to spend an extra 4 hours of late reg with a table on our screen, we will make less than if we max late reg. We will be giving up some roi% in the game bc we don't get to benefit from the bad play at the early levels, but that still doesn't make up for having to play an extra 4 hours of an mtt. The hourly works out higher in terms of raw $/hr if you max late reg and this has been proven by many high stakes players. However, you will experience more variance bc of playing shorter stacks in general.


Also the more you play deeper in mtts with less of the field remaining, the more experience you have in an icm environment where all the big money decisions are being made. You will be less tired deeper into the session bc you haven't been grinding 4 or 5 hours of late reg to get to that point. This is all just my opinion on the matter. Many others like to play from the start and build stacks. I just think it will hurt your bottom line vs late regging and studying <30bb poker and icm.

A lot of the global mtts are only one hour late reg so I'll play from the start of some of those but I have never(and never will) played an acr tournament from the start with their structures. Barring the odd satty to a bigger event where you are forced to.

That's was a bit muddled as I worte my thoughts from my phone just now but hope you get something from it. GL

I'm Team Play From The Beginning although, like you (I think), I only play on one site with deep stacks and super long late reg so the number of games that I do that for per session is like 4 or 5. My logic is that you don't have to put in 100 hours of hardcore solver grind in order to figure out how to make an insane profit off of people willing to stick in 500bb pre with AK, or will call down three streets of 125% pot bets with middle pair+. You have a strong point about fatigue, that is real, but personally if I'm sitting down for a session, I understand it's going to be a long one, and a lot of the deep stack ones you can just throw in a corner and wait for value hands to hammer with until close to late reg ending.

Yep that's a fair enough point Rolled High. Your bb/100 will defo increase playing the early game. This will mean a higher winrate in said game. You will have less variance as you have come to the end of late reg with a bigger stack on average. However, I still stand by saying your $/hr will still be lower than max late regging. Just my opinion and I may be wrong. Just going by what most of the HS players concensus is on the discussion.

For the $55's and $33's freezouts on global I often play from the start as it's only 6x 10 min levels of late reg. In this instance, I think regging early may actually produce the highest hourly given it's only one hour extra in a 4 hour mtt. But on ACR, I can't justify playing a 10 hour mtt instead of playing 5 hours. I don't think we profit 2x more/per game buying in early vs max late reg.

Ofc it also depends on your skillset. If you are very good at deepstack poker/ have cash game experience, then it makes more sense to buy in early. It's a topic that will continue to be discussed for sure

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to say, but $/hr is different than $/table/hr. If you are sitting down at 2pm and regging until 10pm, the only reason to late reg a game that starts at 3pm is if you don't have the screen space for it. But obv I'm not suggestion you start your sesh 2 hours early in order to early reg a 22.

https://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/c...nrate-_122775/

https://blog.gtowizard.com/the-icm-b...r-tournaments/

Here's a link to 2 articles that should explain it

To your point about the only reason to late reg a game is if you don't have space for it, that's it in a nutshell. If everyone plays a 10 hour session and everyone plays 10 tables then why do some people make more money than others? It's simple. The guys max regging make more money. They play a 10 hour session just like the guys playing from the start of the mtt. But they obviously get to play more mtt's bc each one takes less time as it's at the end of late reg. They have a higher hourly. Their winrate in terms of bb/100 will be lower but they will make more money in raw dollars.


"I estimate that max late regging gives me a 10% equity boost but more importantly it means I can play twice as many tournaments. So let’s say my winrate per tournament has gone from 30% to 40% by max late regging, but I can play twice as many so that is effectively increasing my hourly from 30% to 80%."

"Late registration is undeniably profitable, but if you play poker for enjoyment or want to play many hands, then it might not be for you. If you are a high-volume player who wants to maximize their hourly, it is perhaps the most profitable single decision you will make every session."

"You can win equity in tournaments when you are not involved in a hand
Late registering means you start closer to the money and gain equity from all the players who bust before you
You get more equity late registering in flatter payout structures
You get more equity late registering in larger fields
You win the tournament less often but win more money overall when you late register
Shallow stack depths are easier to play
Registering late also boosts your hourly meaning you play fewer hours or can play more tournaments
Late registering a PKO tournament is a bad idea, but late registering a Mystery Bounty is usually profitable."

17/28 $5,400 up top. Nice sweat

Nvm. Out in 26th for $114.52. Maybe made a bad call but not sure. Called a 3b with AJhh vs a whale. Flop K76 with backdoor hearts. I called a small c bet and they shoved Jc turn for less than pot. I called with pair of jacks but i think it's pretty punty. They had kqss and held. FWIW the guy was a complete whale cold calling 3bets and doing all sorts of dumb **** so I guess it can't be that bad. His bluffs come from Ax club draws and AQ/QT type hands. Vs whale you will see the odd random hand also like 44-99 even qjs there sometimes too. Kinda tilted though. I lost my composure as I kept having to raise fold very standard opens. There were 2 whales to my direct left (inc the one who ko'd me) and I guess they were interpreting me as getting out of line. I know they were going wide but what can you do...I think the hand that cost me was I open 99 in hj and then 70% vip whale click to 5.5bb in co, btn whale who knocked me out cold calls and then I just call. I think I should just jam pre here for 30bb. Solver would for sure like to just flat call but vs 2 whales I think jam is the play. Definitely not happy with my composure levels there for the last hour

Besides that mishap, it was a successful day. Played the early morning/afternoon grind today bc i'm going out for dinner in a couple of hours. Started with an $11 6 max 2x chance on global. Won it for $200. Heads up I opened QJo 40bb effective. C bet on Q93 and villain leads Q turn after check calling flop. I raise to 4bb with trips and they shove their remaining 35bb in there dead with 96ss. Nice



Stone bubbled the $55 4k on ACR Ajo no good versus 86ss bvb had to call it off.
6th in the $11 rebuy 6max for $55
11th in the 16.50 2k on ACR
15/156 in the $55 6k on chico. Shoved 44 b v b for 17bb into KK and then lost Ak<Kq for my last 10bb...gonna win this one very soon. Keep knocking on the door. $116.22


Managed a second W of the day in the $5 rebuy and addon lunchtime brawl on global for $312. I love these $5 rebuys



I honestly felt I played one of my best days of poker ever today... right up until that high equity spot right at the end. Poker is a funny game. Felt super in control, taking my time with decisions, thought process super good. But then one lack in concentration likely cost me $500 in EV...Oh well. Just gotta keep showing up and putting the work in. Big scores are definitely coming soon.


At peak profit right now for the challenge:




Month To Date:



Happier with the volume so far this month

your killin it. you should swing over to NJ and play a Sunday there so you can fire an online bracelet event

Thank you Dizzy. Yea strongly considering moving to NJ for a year as I'm not working a job in Manhattan right now. I'm married so that makes things a little more awkward when making these decisions. But it would open way more potential for a poker player.


Took a day off yesterday to visit my uncle upstate. Busy this morning with some things but hopefully fire up a session this evening. If not it'll be 5 days Ina row on the grind starting tomorrow