In Las Vegas there are tons of tournaments running every day with different structures, buy-ins, and starting chip counts. Cities across the world are starting to increase their tournaments as well, and it can sometimes be hard to evaluate which tournaments are best to play in.
There are several factors to take into consideration when finding a tournament to play in. For starters, players need to find tournaments that are easy on their bankrolls. Some poker pros recommend that you do not play a tournament that is more that 5% of your bankroll. Once you find tournaments that are in your budget, you should look at what the starting chip stacks are. Some tournaments offer 1500 in chips, while there are deep stack tournaments that will give 20,000 chips or more. Some players like to have a lot of chips so they have time to sit and wait for better hands. Other players like to have smaller chip counts so the tournament doesn't take as long.
Players should then look at structure. If a tournament has a bad structure then there is no point in playing it. Most tournaments publish a structure sheet which can be looked at prior to registration. Another element that players often forget to research is the player count and registration. If a reoccurring tournament has the best buy-in and structure, but they are not getting very many players, then it might not be worth your time to play.
After taking these factors into consideration it should lead you to a more profitable tournament experience.