Satellites
The idea of holding smaller preliminary tournaments to select a few players who would then advance to a more prestigious and high prize-pool tournament for free, is not a new one. It first surfaced when WSOP organizers thought of a way to grant access to their most hyped events to poker nobodies, regular people who might’ve found the actual buy-in required way too prohibitive.
Made popular by Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer (two WSOP main event winners who made their way into the event through online satellites) poker satellites soon became something every respectable poker room offers as part of its promotions-package Not all satellites are for the WSOP or for certain WPT events, regardless, they always lead to some extremely high-profile live event, like a Mediterranean poker cruise, a tropical poker event with a massive prize pool, or something of the sort.
Chris Moneymaker
The idea behind the poker satellite is the following: there are countless online and live poker players out there who might be more talented than some of the cream of today’s professionals, yet they never get a chance to show the world what they’re capable of, because they’re prevented by material factors.
Nowadays, a talented poker player will sooner or later find his way up the ranks because online poker rooms do not only offer some outstanding bonuses, rakeback, and who knows what other edges, but a host of satellites as well. Direct satellites themselves usually feature about a tenth of the buy-in of the tourney they’re shipping players to, but even that can be more than affordable for most people. Therefore, sub-satellites are offered as “satellites for the satellite” making it possible for the organizers to further break down the buy-in and, eventually, to offer the chance for any player to take a shot at the big leagues for some loose change.
Some of these sub-sub satellites even go as far as to offer qualifying opportunities for FPPs or APs. (Frequent player points or Action Points).
Now that you know what satellites are, and what they’re meant to achieve, you might want to know a few strategic considerations regarding them. Playing in massive MTT-formatted satellites is always a long-shot. Why is it so? Quite simple: there are far too many competitors to beat to the prize (which may only be a seat in another sub-satellite), to offer you some real odds. Super satellites come to correct that shortcoming by offering several seats to higher-level satellites or to the main event itself. Under such circumstances, winning is no longer a priority for any of the players as – if there are 6 seats awarded for the first 6 finishers – there is no difference whatsoever between coming in 1st and 6th. That will have a huge impact on the strategic approach most (good) players adopt.
Above all else, it means that playing loose poker with the motto “ I need to double up or go” doesn’t make as much sense as it would in a real MTT. Even there, deal-making often occurs among the last few players, so the all-in, hand after hand “strategy” is definitely not a lucrative one.
Greg Raymer
The beginning stages of such satellites and even plain MTTs are fraught with such overly loose bad play. That is when you can make the most of your poker skills, that’s when you can make them pay. Don’t join the collective tilt, keep a cool head instead, play solid hands only and make sure you are there when the last 4 players begin to bargain. In the closing stages of MTTs, the blinds keep the pressure on players. As strange as it may sound, solid poker is no longer at home there. Don’t get me wrong, people who do make it there are probably all good players with some solid skills but the escalating blinds will force them to go for many coin-flip situations. The value of skill in the closing stages is not all it’s thought to be. Use skill in the beginning instead. That’s where it has the potential to make a real difference.
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