Late Registration

Last year I wrote an article about the "Latecomer Celebrities."  The issue of entering a tournament late has arisen again, this time at the European Poker Tour (EPT) London.  Daniel Negreanu in particular has been "tweeting" his dissatisfaction with the EPT officials who decided that any late registrants would be penalized chips for their lateness.  He said:

@RealKidPoker: The buy in for the high roller is £20,000 but if decide to skip the early levels and rest EPT tourney directors will penalize your stack!
Players LOVE the option of late registration so MOST tours cater to them but not the EPT guys. They are driving me absolutely crazy.

Matt Savage weighed in on the subject saying that he thought late registrants should get a full stack.  He said:

@SavagePoker:  Late reg advantage/disadvantage too minimal to determine so allow most flexibility for players to get in (traffic, schedules, flights, other.)

At the WSOP they have a rule that if a player registers before the tournament starts, his chip stack is set out at his seat.  The blinds are paid from this stack and his hands are folded until he shows up.  On the other hand, a player who registers after the event has begun will get a seat assignment and a full stack of chips.  I see a problem when someone registers early, but for what ever reason shows up late, gets blinded off while the guys that don't even register until after the event has started get a full stack.  This seems to be very unfair to the players who are faithful enough to the tournament to actually send their money in early or avoid the crush of the long registration lines by signing up the night before.  The faithful get punished while those who don't commit until the last minute are rewarded.

First of all, the EPT and the WSOP need to get together and decide on the rules for late registration.  It would be nice if they all agreed to use the same rules whether hosting a Poker tournament in London or Las Vegas.

The WSOP rules state that any player registering after an event has begun will receive a full starting chip stack.  Registration remains open for the first four levels, except the Main Event where it is open for two levels.  It further explains that a player who is registered but does not show up will have their chips blinded off until they show up or until the start of the third level when they will be removed and entry fee refunded.

My view is that I think we need to be consistant - both for pre-registration / late registration as well as WSOP / EPT tournaments.

If the big name pros like Negreanu, et al think they gain a slight advantage by resting and entering tournaments late and not playing the "unimportant" first four levels, they why should we have them at all?  Why not just start the tournament with the blinds and antes at a level equivalent to that of level four or five?

Well, many think those early levels represent much of the "value" of buying into the tournament.  They like the idea of getting a lot of "play" for their buy in and being able to play for some time without feeling that every hand they get involved in is a "Shove or fold" situation.  Big Stack Poker is fun and Big Stack Poker is what you get to play at the beginning of tournaments.  Of course, the big name pros are not in it for the fun, they are in it for the money.  There is also the idea that many in the field have entered the tournament with the idea that they will be able to sit at the same table with and compete with some of the star players that they and their friends have seen on television.  Allowing players to routinely skip the first few levels without any penalty kills the idea that one of the draws to the tournament is the possibility that you might be playing with somebody famous.  In the large field events, doesn't much of the prize pool come from the large number of players who don't have much of a chance but want to try to catch lightening in a bottle?

I think the big name players owe it to the event and to those casual players to show up for those first "unimportant" levels and give the casual players their shot.  Odds are it would be profitable for them.  They are, after all, the better players, aren't they?

To the Tournament Directors Association, the WSOP, the EPT, Matt Savage and Jack Effel, here is my proposal regarding starting tournaments:

1. Pre-registered no shows and late registrants will be treated the same.
    
2. Chip stacks will not be placed at a player's seat until they have shown up to play.  This means that the only time a players chips are "blinded off" is when they have shown up to play and left the table.
    
3. There will be no penalty for any late entrants during level one.
    
4. Players entering during levels two, three or four will forfeit 5% of their chip stack for each complete level missed e.g. a player entering any time during level three will forfeit 10% of their starting stack.  The maximum penalty would be 15% of the starting chip stack.

 I think these rules would be good to adopt because they provide a lot of incentives that would drive desirable behaviors.  First off, people would not risk being punished for registering early.  This should help tournament organizers by increasing the number of players who take advantage of early registration and cut down (a little) on long registration lines immediately before the start of a tournament.  It would give the "famous" pros an incentive to show up and play the early "unimportant" levels which would increase the odds that the casual player would get a chance to play with a big name.  This should increase the desirability of playing in the tournament and increase participation.  Tournament Directors should like this plus the pros should like this because the more "Dead Money" you can get into a field, the better the payouts are when you cash in.  Players who desire to start late still can and while there is a penalty, it is not a killer.  In the typical $1500 WSOP event, the starting stack is 4500.  A player starting as late as possible would start with 3825 giving up 675, which is less than three and a half Level Five Big Blinds where the blinds are 100-200. 

Some will argue that any advantage to starting late is insignificant and even starting with a full stack it is smaller than an average stack because the average stack in the tournament is be slightly higher by then as some players will bust out during the first levels.  While this is true, there should be some price to pay for the priviledge of not putting any of your chips at risk.  The price I have suggested is less than a player would pay if their stack were set out and blinded off, losing the blinds as the button orbits the table at a rate of 30 hands per hour, but certainly more than the nothing that is currently used for late registrants.  It is also less than the penalty one pays to register early and show up late.

The procedure for dealers would be cleaner also:  Only put out a chip stack to a player who has shown up.  Anyone showing up during level one gets a full stack whether they registered early or late.