Is Late Registration Good Or Bad?

October 22, 2013

To skip or not to skip the first hours of play?

Late registrations for online tournaments is now more popular than ever and while a great percentage of the field does it, the opinions on whether or not it is a good idea are divided. While some see it as a way to get in later in the tournament and thus be closer to making it into the money, others consider late registration to be bad because you are losing valuable hands at small blinds that can result in a stack increase.

Is Late Registration Good Or Bad?Multi-table online tournaments start at a pre-determined time but the major poker rooms give their players some extra time to sign in. This can go up to two hours and makes punctuality in poker tournaments seem overrated. Late registration is not just common for online tournaments but also for live events where players can arrive and take their seats at the tables during the first few levels. No matter if we are talking about live events, regular online MTTs or some amazing 3D online poker, late registration is not as easy as it appears.

Registering late for tournaments

When talking about live events, the advantages tend to focus more on avoiding crowds. The big tournaments will always have a pretty big crowd at the start, looking to get their info and take a seat. However, the main focus nowadays is in the online poker world and registering for a tournament on one of the leading poker sites can be done with just a few clicks. Since the registration process starts with an hour before the cards start flying, players should have enough time to prepare.

With that being said, there are still plenty of advantages that late registration provides for online tournaments. First off, it extends the time in which a player can sign up, from the regular one hour before the tournament to an additional one or two hours after the tournaments start. It mostly depends on the size of the tournament, but having more time to sign up usually means a bigger field and thus a bigger prize pool.

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Getting in later on the action also means that you are closer to making it into the money, but you will also have a smaller stack than the average and the blinds will be bigger. This can require a different strategy since you won’t have the same freedom that a deep stack provides but you will be able to take advantage of the bigger stacks at the table. The best way to see all the advantages that late registration provides is to get right into the action and see how it goes.

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Is punctuality overrated?

Being on time for a tournament means that you will be able to take full advantage of the first few levels when your stack is deep enough to take some risks. If you are confident in your ability to stack up chips, not being on time would actually cost you chips and put you in a bad spot if you sign up late.

Most professional players will tell you that registering late means losing value. Since the best way to take advantage of fish is when your stack is deep, the first few levels can be very important. Of course, busting out early never feels good but this is just a part of the game. There is always the saying that in big poker tournaments, you can’t win from the first day but that you can certainly lose. The same can be said about online events and the use of late registration in some cases.

Written by Beatrix · Filed Under Poker Articles | Leave a Comment 

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