Is it optimal to register as late as possible for a tournament?
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 2,277
If not, when is the appropriate time to register?
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 6
In my opinion, it's best to register as early as possible, if they're turbo/hyper format. Then you get a good chance to increase your stack for when late reg is about to end and can call off 8bb~ short stack shoves with marginal hands without having to risk tournament life. If the tournament is a deep stack, regular speed tourney, then late registration isn't as punishing as it is in a turbo or hyper, and you get to survive plenty of orbits with a short stack.
But it all comes down to preference, as late reg can be very tedious for those who lack patience, but then again, if you lack patience, why play tourneys in the first place?
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 6,376
If you're a winning player, in theory it will be profitable to register at any time. However, be aware of the fact that max lateregging will in general increase your variance as you'll be starting with quite a short stack and you'll likely need to win some flips to survive. But if you're a properly rolled winner, you can reg anytime.
Regging from first level gives you more time + deeper stack to exploit some skill edge and accumulate chips, so it's also totally fine.
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 3,360
If you have edge, the more you play the better I guess.
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 3,621
Start as early as possible imo.
The very worst players are going to be trying hard to bust as soon as possible.
A lot of players wait to register because they don't like playing against these bad players who just play with any two cards and constantly go all-in.
If you're any good at poker you should realize how bad of a strategy it is to wait for these players to bust.
You could say it will lower your variance, but it won't, it will lower your winrate and thus increase your variance.
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 13,256
Some mathematical models show it IS actually better to late reg in some MTTs, due to ICM factors, and it's definitely the case if you're a 15bb pushbot wizard (as opposed to being a deepstack specialist). (In certain satellites I've played, the best strategy is to register with 1 second left on the clock, as a 10bb stack might be "worth" more than it would have been at the start of the tourney. There have been times when I've late-regged, won 2 flips and booked a profit, which does wonders for my hourly if nothing else!). It's generally a very bad idea to reg late in games with bounties, however. It's advantageous to have other people (e.g. the late-reggers) covered in those.
You'll learn more about poker as a whole by regging early and playing all phases of the game. Indeed, by playing a variety of games, you'll learn which aspects are more suitable for your style or skillset, and also which aspects you need to get better at. e.g. You might find playing slower/deeper structures suit you better than short-stack turbos, and then you can build your schedule around the formats you prefer or do best in.
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 17,939
A pretty important question is what you want to maximize. If it's your hourly earnings, late regging might be beneficial even if you give up a decent amount of EV by not playing the early stages against really bad players.
If there's a one hour window to late reg, you can use that time to make money either by playing other poker games or work a different job.
Also, especially during long mass field tournaments, starting 1-2 hours late might mean you don't get tired as early as someone who started at the beginning. That's especially true in live tournaments, the WSOP grind is a great example where you can almost tell somebody is a recreation player or overachiever if they're seated at noon for "shuffle up and deal" in a $1000 or $1500 event.
should be called sevenfour
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 75,303
I usually late reg as:
a) deepstack poker is boring
b) not likely to miss that many huge opportunities to get chips
c) my shortstack game is better than my deepstack game
d) the single most important time in any donkament is at the final table and cutting off a couple of levels with micro blinds at the start will keep you fresher at the end of it
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 1,513
I think some guy did a study on this, & found that if u max late-regged you were more likely to cash, but less likely to win
For that reason, because of the flat payout structure, it's definitely better to max late reg satellites. Even then though, if fish are spewing off chips early on then u also want to be in early to capitalise, so nothing is set in stone
