GGPoker will soon randomly distribute seats to late registrants in a tournament to prevent maximum late registration collusion. [Image: PokerGO.com]
A “more decisive” solution to the problem
GGPoker has announced an upcoming software update designed to prevent collusion. In a post on its official subreddit, the world’s largest online poker room said the update, which aims to prevent late registration abuse in multi-table (MTT) tournaments, is on the way “sometime this month.”
More common among regular MTT members than people who are just recreational companions
The Poker Room said that “predatory behavior” — groups of friends or colleagues who register at the same time in order to sit together — is more common among regular MTT users than among people who are merely recreational buddies who happen to register together.
“GGPoker has been warning players suspected of this behavior for some time, and our warnings are usually heard and acted upon,” the poker room confirmed, adding that a software update would resolve the issue “more decisively.”
Collective stalling tactic
This issue is called “Maximum Late Registration,” and it occurs both live and online. This is basically what it looks like: A player registers for the tournament at the end of the late registration period. By doing this, they start playing closer to the money bubble at the expense of having a shorter stack compared to the blinds and other players who have stacked chips.
In GGPoker, groups of players have been known to take advantage of late registration in order to put themselves in a prime position to collude. By purchasing at the end of the registration period when all the tables are full (or perhaps when there is only one seat open), they are all seated together at a new table. From there, they all go into the pot, then use the maximum amount of time allowed for each decision while checking it.
Take a look at this recent post on social media, which seems to show this tactic in action in a GGPoker tournament:
The hand is on the river, no one folds, and the size of the pot equals everyone’s big blind plus two ante bets. They bet as little as possible and take as long as possible to try and sneak into the money.
random!
GGPoker’s solution is to change the way players who register late are seated. Once the update is implemented, players will be seated randomly, even at full tables.
As GGPoker explained in share reddit, In both live and online MTTs, tournament directors (or software, in the case of online poker) will usually place the late-registering player into an open seat, if available. With the update, the software will pick a random table and if there is no open seat, it will move someone to an empty seat elsewhere. This way, those who want to collude with the late check-out cap tactic won’t be able to do so, as they will be spread out across many tables instead of all sitting at a new table together.
Although the issue here is with online poker tournaments, the late registration cap is a very common strategy used by live pros, not only to join the competition closest to the money, but also to avoid the stress of a long first day.
GGPoker said it understands that some tournament players may feel frustrated if they have to move to a different table before their table naturally breaks, but it “believes it is necessary to ensure the integrity of the game.”
