Are Re-Entries Ruining Tournament Poker? The Debate Continues
6 minutes
Last Updated: April 30, 2024
There used to be a time when poker tournaments were split into freezeout and rebuy events, with most major championship events played as freezeouts.
This meant each player gets exactly one bullet in a particular tournament. For that reason, all the players were forced to preserve their chips and cover their stacks, as the risk of elimination was very real.
Fast forward to today, and most live poker tournaments allow re-entries, with many allowing an unlimited number of re-entries and some only offering one or one per starting flight.
For the top pros, this means they can have multiple chances of chipping up in a single event, while for many recreational players, it may mean they have to contend with the pros longer, as eliminating them once is not enough.
Most recently, the re-entry controversy has shown its ugly teeth again, with a particular case involving Shaun Deeb prompting some in the poker community to call the pros out and question the legitimacy of re-entry tournaments.
Yet, with the current poker climate, it seems like re-entry events are here to stay, and there is very little hope that more events would want to revert to the freezeout model anytime soon.
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Shaun Deeb Enters Texas Poker Open 13 Times
The 2024 Texas Poker Open brought many of the world’s best players down to Texas for a highly competitive week of poker that culminated in the $3,300 Main Event.
The event saw 735 entries made in total, but one interesting detail is that 13 of those entries belonged to a single man, namely Shaun Deeb.
Deeb has made a name for himself as a tournament poker expert, amassing over $12 million in tournament winnings and capturing numerous major poker titles, including six WSOP bracelets before turning 40.
While his success and skill are undisputable, Shaun has also become famous for often pushing his edges to the limit and looking to build up a big stack in the early stages of re-entry tournaments with highly volatile play. If he busts, he simply re-enters.
Of course, each entry costs more money, which is why many in the poker world see nothing wrong with re-entries, but others see unlimited re-entry as ultimately bad for poker.
In this particular event, Shaun needed 8th place or better out of 735 players to break-even, which he eventually failed to do, coming 15th on his 13th bullet and cashing for $27,000, losing almost $20k in the process.
The title eventually went to another notable player, Ren Lin, while the likes of Brent Hanks and Ryan Reiss also made their final table appearances.
Norman Chad Continues to Call Against Re-Entries
While many in the poker community have been critical of the re-entry model over the years, one man has stood out with his criticism above all others.
Legendary WSOP commentator and sports columnist Norman Chad has been very consistent in attacking the idea of re-entries via his social channels, namely his Twitter profile.
When poker media came out with the story concerning Deeb’s 13 bullets in the Texas Poker Open, Norman was quick to give his take on the situation.
According to Chad, unlimited re-entries have turned tournament poker into a junkyard jungle and taken the skill element out of the game.
Of course, many in the poker space disagree, as they argue bad play on part of the pros looking to build up a stack only benefits the recreational players who get to capitalize on their mistakes and volatile plays in the early stages.
As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle, as both sides of the argument hold some sway and make sense to a certain degree.
Why Re-Entries Are Good for Poker
Regardless of any arguments Norman Chad or anyone else can make, the truth is re-entries make poker tournaments bigger, lead to more substantial prize pools, and sometimes even allow players to play the way they want to without the danger of elimination constantly hanging over them.
While tournament poker is certainly in part about survival, it should not be only about that, and the re-entry model allows players who want to take some chances to do that at the cost of potentially having to pay another buyin to keep playing.
On the other hand, re-entry events mean that more players are willing to travel out to poker tournaments, as traveling across the world to enter a tournament, bust in the early levels, and go back home, does not make too much sense.
Instead, players now get a chance to fire several bullets in the same event, either on multiple starting day or within a single day 1, and have a more reasonable chance of making day 2 in a major poker event.
Are Poker Pros Abusing Re-Entries?
On the other hand, there are definitely some problems with the re-entry tournament model as well. For one, poker pros with substantial bankroll will often have more of an opportunity to re-enter than recreational players.
With more pros choosing to use the re-entry option, the tournament fields are becoming tougher, and that’s especially the case when the buyins get more substantial.
It used to be that once you eliminated a player like Shaun Deeb or Daniel Negreanu, the rest of the field could breathe a sigh of relief, but that is no longer the case.
Instead, they are only a few of the players who choose to use their re-entry option to the maximum and will often re-enter as many times as necessary to make day 2.
Since they believe every bullet they fire is +EV, they don’t have a problem with paying as much as necessary in every particular event they play.
Yet, according to Negreanu, his last year was very unprofitable at the tournament circuit, in part because he was firing too many bullets and playing too many events without bringing his A game to each of them.
What Should We Do with Re-Entries?
There is no perfect answer to the re-entry dilemma, as it seems that both sides of the coin merit some consideration.
The poker community seems to be heavily divided on the topic however, with some players heavily in favor of re-entries and others hoping to see them abolished.
The abolishment of re-entry events is unlikely to come anytime soon, but some major events are only allowing one re-entry at a time, making the playing field slightly more even.
At the end of the day, players always have the ultimate choice which tournaments to play in, but it would be nice to see major poker tours offer some alternatives for players with both preferences.
For the time being, it appears that players like Shaun Deeb will get to continue re-entering as much as they want to, and perhaps buying some poker silverware in the process as well.
Yet, the important thing to remember is that while the pros who pay multiple buyins in every event may have a hard time actually breaking a profit, despite cashing and making final tables more often than the rest of us.
