Joined: May '11
Location: Netherlands
Age: 50 (M)
Posts: 198
Hi pokerfriends
Personally I like to register early, so that I can pick up chips and built up a healthy stack. But I also know there are people who prefer to register as late as possible.
I was wondering what you all think about late registration for MTT's? What do you prefer, late registration or not? and why?
Joined: Mar '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 1646
If its a non turbo rebuy then I like to register right at the end of the rebuy add on period. So I get two rebuys and an add on. Which normally is around the average stack at the time so I miss out on all of the rediculous donk action from the previous hour. Sometimes you can Benefit from all those idiots but most of the time I don't lol. But If its a normal freeze out tourney then I like to be in it from the start.
Joined: Nov '12
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 4675
Posted by PokerDonV73: Hi pokerfriends
Personally I like to register early, so that I can pick up chips and built up a healthy stack. But I also know there are people who prefer to register as late as possible.
I was wondering what you all think about late registration for MTT's? What do you prefer, late registration or not? and why?
G'day mate
I like to register on time and build as many chips before the end of the registration period as possible. There is a point when it is just stupid to bother registering into a tournament because of the short stack you will be starting with compounded with the larger blind killing you way to fast to allow good poker play.
Joined: Feb '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 1886
I would always prefer to register on time but sometimes I miss the start so I like late reg as an option, except in gtd's where the pot to player ratio gets lower the more players register. Often I will see a tourney starting in half an hour that I fancy but I won't register in case I change my mind so I often miss tourneys I wish I'd registered for. Also sometimes you get knocked out of one mtt just after the next similar mtt has started so it's good to be able to just join in.
But if it's been 20 mins or more since the start I won't late reg as I feel it's a disadvantage joining a table where the average stack is higher.
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 3361
I definitely agree with bullettooth1 on the late registration when it comes to rebuy games. I always register at the last minute and get the rebuy and addons and it's seem's I place in the money more by doing this. Also, missing out on the players who constantly go allin and then rebuy when they lose their chips.
As for bounty rtype games I register on time to capitalize on building a stack and knocking out players when hands allow.
Therea re some MTT's that I wait to register and others I don't. This depends if it's starting with a deep stack or not. If I can register halfway through late registration and start with 5000 or 10,000 chips I'll do this to allow some of the impatient players to get the boot.
So it does depends on the type of game I'm going to play as to whether or not to register late.
Everyone has their own take on this so whatever works best for you. Good Luck All!
Joined: Mar '11
Location: Canada
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 1490
Im somewhat surprised how many people I am seeing who do late reg.
Imho, late regging costs you value for a few reasons:
A) You miss out on that donk phase. Yes, I know that sounds wierd, but those donks have big juicy stacks they want to give to you, why would you want to miss out on that. The best strategy to counter the biggest donks, is just wait for a big hand. If they suckout move on, but if they don't you've got a massive stack to sit on.
B) The later you reg, the bigger the blinds, and thus the less value your chips have. Level 1 is often 1500 chips at 10/20 blinds giving you 75bb. Regging during level 4 gives you 1500 @ 25/50 giving you 30 blinds. Essentially you're losing over half the blinds at that point. If you reg at the 50/100 level, you're basically forced to play shove fold right off the bat, with no time to wait for a good hand. So instead of being able to wait out the shove fest, you're forced to play in it.
C) Bullet said he likes to join in when he can do a rebuy and 2 addons. This means you're essentially paying 4 bi just to get an average stack. To me that's just throwing money away.
But that's just my opinion. I personally think it's not worth regging after around the 4th level, but to each their own.
Joined: May '11
Location: Netherlands
Age: 50 (M)
Posts: 198
Thx for all replies.. I think it was good question and hence some interesting and different arguments. After reading all replies so far, I believe Retribution's 3 argument on why not to reg late, sounds very solid and logical to me.
Joined: Feb '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 5712
As usual Retribution is full of common sense, and of course it is to each, their won, but much has to be considered of the game type, the blinds and starting chips and also the value of the rebuys and add ons. One of my best successes has come from regging late at minute 54 of a 55 minute late reg, missing the blinds and just adding on (due to the size of the add on). I then went on to win. I take Retributions point that we could have built the same stack for nthing, but the cost is (especially when there are unlimited rebuys) that your tourney life could end on a monster hand that gets beaten by a dionk with a lucky board. I also agree though that you win some you lose some...so its all about assessing the whole game.
Joined: Mar '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 1646
Retribution definitely makes some good points and I would definitely recommend playing in the early stages against the donks if you hav good dicapline to not get sucked into playing like they do. However I don't and I end up losing my patience and start to play way to lose to try and get lucky like they do. Lol. So I lke to reg late to take that scenario out of the equation.
I don't always reg late tho and I do play nice and tight and (sometimes) do well against them. Just depends what I'm feeling like at that time.
Joined: Mar '11
Location: Canada
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 1490
Posted by damosk: As usual Retribution is full of common sense, and of course it is to each, their won, but much has to be considered of the game type, the blinds and starting chips and also the value of the rebuys and add ons. One of my best successes has come from regging late at minute 54 of a 55 minute late reg, missing the blinds and just adding on (due to the size of the add on). I then went on to win. I take Retributions point that we could have built the same stack for nthing, but the cost is (especially when there are unlimited rebuys) that your tourney life could end on a monster hand that gets beaten by a dionk with a lucky board. I also agree though that you win some you lose some...so its all about assessing the whole game.
Well, in the situation where they do suckout and win, there's always the option of rebuying, so long as it's not a freezeout.
Joined: Nov '12
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 4675
Posted by retribution: Im somewhat surprised how many people I am seeing who do late reg.
Imho, late regging costs you value for a few reasons:
A) You miss out on that donk phase. Yes, I know that sounds wierd, but those donks have big juicy stacks they want to give to you, why would you want to miss out on that. The best strategy to counter the biggest donks, is just wait for a big hand. If they suckout move on, but if they don't you've got a massive stack to sit on.
B) The later you reg, the bigger the blinds, and thus the less value your chips have. Level 1 is often 1500 chips at 10/20 blinds giving you 75bb. Regging during level 4 gives you 1500 @ 25/50 giving you 30 blinds. Essentially you're losing over half the blinds at that point. If you reg at the 50/100 level, you're basically forced to play shove fold right off the bat, with no time to wait for a good hand. So instead of being able to wait out the shove fest, you're forced to play in it.
C) Bullet said he likes to join in when he can do a rebuy and 2 addons. This means you're essentially paying 4 bi just to get an average stack. To me that's just throwing money away.
But that's just my opinion. I personally think it's not worth regging after around the 4th level, but to each their own.
G'day mate
Thank you for taking the time to better state my above point in an easier to understand point format. Your response although having the same mean as my own is actually better simply because it is simpler for some people to follow. Well done sir.
Joined: May '12
Location: Belgium
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 275
My opinion is the same as those mentioned by retribution. Better to register from the beginning, and start to build yourself a better stack before add-on. It is not always easy, many times u'll stay with average stack but at least u have the opportunity to gain a descent stack (more than average one).
One other thing I want to talk about is the rebuy/addon. I personally like to register in the tournament and directly rebuy since it gives me an edge against the players who didn't rebuy (I have 2 x more than their stack). If I lose all of it then I may consider to double rebuy again but it depends on how I feel. I always try to pay the add-on too.
Joined: Feb '12
Location: Canada
Age: 64 (M)
Posts: 6036
By registering early on time it's cheaper to get in on 'MORE' hands,...which obviously will give you a better chance at building a bigger stack. That's just going on all the games I've played starting both early or late.
As mentioned above,...if you register really late,...you've only got a few hands to make it or die...
It's sort of valid what Bullet says,...but that's just all the more money you have to make back,...but I have done just that and came out ahead.
Discipline naturally comes with playing tight,...so avoiding donks and bingo queens really isn't an issue.
Joined: May '08
Location: Lithuania
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 10090
registering late is only +EV if you see that the guaranteed amount is not gonna be reached, so you join just because it's valuable. other than that i do not see any advantages of joining late- you put yourself at a disadvantage compared to other players...
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Australia
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 6483
Posted by manuste6: i like to join late somtimes as the blind are at a better level and less idiots in the game
This is a very common reason for wanting to join late and as is already covered above, it is extremely flawed.. Waiting until all of the weak players (idiots) have already busted and donated their stacks is massively -EV.. I know it is frustrating being donked out, but that doesn't happen that often, if you're a good player, generally you'll win the allins with your dominating hands and chip up in the early stages vs the loose-donks.
Anyway - my opinion on late-registration is that basically you should almost never deliberately join a game late, sometimes you miss the start for whatever reason and you join late and that is fine, but if you can start on time, then you should do so..
About the only exception I've found is on PKR, there is a tournament called the Gold Rush - 1000 starting stacks with unlimited rebuys for stacks under 8000 chips and an addon worth 5000 chips after an hour.. If you join in the last 5min, rebuy max + take the addon, you'll generally be in the top 30% of the field with more than half the field already eliminated - personally, I still prefer to join this on time and attempt to build a massive stack and get into the top 5% of the field, but I think in this instance the late-reg, max-rebuy option is a valid strategy, though not one that I use myself.
The only other time I deliberately late-reg has to do with sync breaks on PKR, their sync breaks are a bit fucked, if a game is still on level 1 blinds, then it doesn't break, which is really annoying, so sometimes if I'm already in a few games and really need to take the break, I'll late reg into a game once the break is over, effectively missing part of the level-1 blinds, which is annoying, but until (and if/when) PKR fixes the sync break issue, this continues to be a suitable alternative.
I think you can reg late if you get online and your favorite tournament is still regging and the stack is not too diminished as per the above posts, good players can still take advantage of the remaining donks and short stacks under pressure. Turbo's have normally killed the stack value, so no late reg there, FL can be ok, PL not so much, with re-buy tournaments I much prefer early reg, no re buys no add on unless it is more than 40% of my stack and tight tight tight play at all times until you get past the optional RB and AO, then good solid "normal" poker begins. All that said, some MTT satellites you can almost reg late, play tight, win one largish hand and basically sit out (or tight tight tight play) and win a ticket to the target event, so there may be some value there.
Lastly, ensure you reg early for The Rigged Place home game on PS this Easter, as I want all your chips as early as possible so I can compete with Pochui and Ronin on at least level terms, lol.
Joined: Nov '11
Location: Estonia
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 614
well if tourneys are 1-2 usd only its better to reg late and cross ya fingers if ya day u win anyways if bigger buy in then 100 % early start at least for me
1-2 usd buy in tourneys are pretty much same style as brm freeroll or 100k privilege freerolls everyone showes call with any cards soo as well can late reg
and I end up losing my patience and start to play way to lose to try and get lucky like they do. Lol. So I lke to reg late to take that scenario out of the equation. 
