[Mason Malmuth]

Suppose you were to play in a tournament that consisted of just one hand. You would have absolutely no edge and would clearly be better off in a tournament that lasted much longer.

The proper way to answe this question is to attempt to compare specific tournaments, and to make reasonable assumptions about them. This will give you a better understanding of what your expectations for different events might be.

Now, in the general case, I suspect that just the opposite of what Caro says is probably correct. That's because most short tournaments have rebuy structure with progressive rebuys and multiple add-ons (at the break) which should dramatically increase the short term luck factor and also lower your long run expectation. (See our book Poker Tournament Strategies by Suzuki where these tournaments are addressed.) On the other hand, the quality of player may be weaker in these short term events and this may counter balance to some degree what I just stated.

Best wishes,
Mason