For the uninitiated, multi-entry tournaments are exactly what they sound like: tournaments players can enter more than once. Typically, live tourneys that use a multi-entry format allow players who bust out of one starting flight to try again in a subsequent starting flight. So, get knocked out on Day 1A and you can try again on Day 1B, 1C, etc., for the price of another buy-in. Once in a while, at the Bellagio, for instance, you see unlimited re-entries allowed in the same day up until some deadline, often the end of the late registration period.

Re-entry tournaments have been a source of controversy in the poker world, as many players of limited bankrolls don’t like the idea that deep-pocketed players have an unnecessary, and perhaps unfair, advantage. In an unlimited re-entry tournament in particular, the richest players can just gamble it up, hoping to hit a huge hand without really worrying about busting out.

For his part, despite his ability to buy the finest silks and furs, Daniel Negreanu (pictured) commented in a recent blog postthat he does not prefer multi-entry tournaments, saying, “I would rather play ‘good poker’ from the outset rather than gamble recklessly to increase my chances of winning the tournament.” Negreanu specifically focused on the WPT.

He said, though, that if multi-entry were allowed, he’d take full advantage of it in order to give himself the best chance to win. To him, winning is more important than making money at this point in his career.

He sees the increase in multi-entry tournaments as simply a business decision by casinos and tournament organizers. The casinos need the tournament to make financial sense, so allowing people to re-enter and therefore pay another fee to the house increases the casino’s revenue. On the WPT’s end, it needs to convince a casino to host a tournament, so being okay with multi-entry might be the way to cement a deal.

Negreanu, being an anti-multi-entry guy, totally understands why many players dislike these kinds of events. “A lot of players express concern that unlimited re-entry tournaments are bad for the game, discourage amateur players, and bleed player bankroll,” he said in his blog.

At the same time, he sees them as a potential positive for someone who travels from far away because it gives them the opportunity to play more poker if they bust out quickly. It is certainly no fun to travel for a full day, get knocked out within an hour, and then go home.

Negreanu saw what the European Poker Tour does as a solution to make everyone happy, while at the same time getting rid of multi-entry tournaments. As he explained, “They create a festival after the Main Event begins. For ages, tournaments in the US would run two to four weeks of prelims, then have a week long Main Event. Bust the Main Event, and there is nothing left to play. You could play cash games, but as mentioned, that isn’t happening.

Negreanu concluded, “That setup makes it good for the players, as they will get to enjoy regular freezeout tourneys plus have more opportunities to play if they bust out, good for the venue, as it keeps people shelling out money to play, and good for the organizers, as it makes it easier to market the tour to potential casino hosts.”

Negreanu added that while many of his readers may hate multi-entry tournaments, they should look at the bright side and think of them as an opportunity to take some chips off of someone donking it up in a tournament with an inflated prize pool.

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