What do you gain from late registering?

[NateVest]

As many poker players know, the average tournament requires you to be registered on time or else you can't play. However, there are also an increasing number of late registration poker tournaments these days, which, as the name implies, allow you to enter a tourney late with a full starting stack.

The most obvious benefit to registering late is that you still get to play in a tournament, despite not registering at the official start time. And this works out great for those procrastinators and/or busy people who just can't make a certain tourney on time.

Aside from the perk of playing in a tournament after it is already begun, some players want to know if there are any other benefits to late registration. The reason why is that it seems like you might gain some sort of advantage by jumping into a tourney when plenty of opponents have already been eliminated. But while this thought might seem logical, the truth is that you are actually hurting yourself with late registering, as I will explain below.

Missing the Fish

The first problem with late registration is that you will see fewer fish after jumping into a tourney later. On average, more fish are going to bust out in the early going, and so it's nice to get involved quickly before they are gone. And while some bad players will survive into the later levels, the number will not be as significant as in the beginning.

Starting with a Handicap

The point of poker tournaments is to finish as high as you possibly can to win the big prizes. However, you make it that much more difficult to do so by late regging since you're basically starting with a handicap. Sure you begin with a full starting stack; however, many of the surviving players are going to have bigger chip stacks than you by this point.

Beginning Deep Stacked

One more perk of registering on time is that you are deep stacked right away and can patiently wait for your chances. Contrast this to late registering, where you're immediately behind the top players and you have less big blinds. It?s never fun to start with this kind of pressure, so it's recommended that you sign up on time.

While normal registration is preferable to signing up late, keep in mind that many poker sites do offer later registration in case you're running a little behind schedule.