Small buy-in vs Freerolls
Publish date: August 25, 2021

Hey, poker playas!

When poker started out in Metro Manila. they were actually quite lucky. ask any of the OG and they will tell you that.

Tournaments had a simple structure. actually, there was only 1 structure. the difference was only the minutes allocated per level and the number of chips.

Back then 15 minutes was still considered turbo. but it still had only one structure.

Back then, it was the standard. nowadays 15 minutes is too long especially online.

If you were to share structures with some of the OG back then. they would be shocked.

They would complain this is already bingo and no longer a real poker tournament.

How things used to be live poker tournaments.

Looking back at it now, times were really great back then. Imagine weekly there was the freeroll of Master poker room in Malate where they had to place a cap on players wanting to join.

People were racing towards the room 1 hour before the tournament starts. the blinds were great compared to the blinds now. 15k PHP GTD every Sunday.

There was even a group organizing satellites to big tourneys. But then came the international organizers who decided to take roots in the Philippines. 

In one of the satellites of the poker group. A manager level of the international group commented that 

Such a good structure for a small buy-in? that is crazy!

That was how they viewed it. If you wanted to play in a good structure. You have to pay for it. 

NOW!

Are they right? should big buy-in tournaments can only have decent structure?

what about the small or new players?

But then some players really do love faster blind.

The change of freerolls

As we have shared, freerolls back then were real freerolls. no, re-buy or add on.

But then slowly a new system came in. A new standard. the first entry is free. but then you have had a small stack. there is an option of double re-buy. and then there is an add-on period. 

From an OG perspective. it would be like turbo on steroids.

Why would they do it? why such things? it is because anything free does have the tendency to attract people. 

Choosing to buy in instead.

Buy-in tournaments have a better structure. it’s still fasting. but you have more chips.

Why is it important?

It gives you more time and breathing space. although not much. but it is still good.

Should you buy in instead of playing freeroll?

With freerolls having a rebuy and addon thing- in reality, there are more crazy players in freerolls. There are times players rebuy more on freerolls than actually playing on a small buy-in tournament.

Tournaments with buy-in also have better structure and Guarantee. 

Pokerista “The Raid”

Pokerista organizing the raid this week. we already have 10 volunteers that would raid a poker site hoping to take down one of the small buy-in tournaments. As they are still organizing the details. we are hoping to hold it regularly.

If there are players who would want to join the raid. just join pokersita.

here is a link to their Facebook. click here. 

Stay safe poker playas!

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