Live poker late registration strategies

Dara O'Kearney advises doing a 'pitch inspection' in live tournaments before you decide when to enter the event.

I have written a lot over the years about the benefits of late-regging tournaments (cliffs: it's a good idea), but never the mechanics of doing it in live poker.

The equity boost you get late-regging a live poker tournament is the same as that which you would get online, but you have more information at your disposal when doing it live. 

Before late-regging a live poker event I like to do what David Lappin calls a 'pitch inspection', which is where we walk around the card room, survey the field and make our decision when to enter based on that. 

The most important thing to be aware of is how many tables are full at the point at which you enter. If there are empty seats, you will fill those seats first. If every seat is taken, a new table will form for the next players to buy-in. 

You typically want to avoid creating a new table. The 'late reg table' is always tougher because it is full of regs that have also late registered. It might be worth waiting for a few players to bust instead. 

The 'pitch inspection'

If the field looks soft and there are free seats, it's worth registering as soon as possible. If the field looks strong then waiting is better, because you will come in at an easier-to-play stack depth. 

If the tourney is nine-handed, there are several tables with a seat free but one table with two seats free, you will be seated at this table first. It's worth checking the shortest table first to see how soft it is in this situation.  

There is also an energy conservation benefit to max late-regging. This is what David Lappin calls 'smugness equity'. If you come in at the end of the day, or even start of the second day, you will invariably be fresher than most in the field. 

Generally though, field composition is the determining factor. If it looks soft you should enter right away, if it looks tough then max late-regging is better.

Dara O'Kearney's new book GTO Poker Simplified is out now.