Satellite Poker Tournament Strategy

Live on Kevin Martin's Twitch channel, satellite specialist Dara O'Kearney coaches the partypoker pro on satellite strategy. He reveals a lot of secrets from. Online Poker Tournaments: This section picks up where the last left off, covering multi-table tournaments from the smallest buy-ins through to the 'Sunday Majors', the biggest weekly games of all. Tournament strategy gets complex, and I have it all covered here from the building blocks through to.

• Satellite Poker Tournament Strategy Games
• Satellite Poker Tournament
• Live Satellite Poker Tournament Strategy

Satellite Poker Tournaments

Satellite poker tournaments have become increasingly more significant as the number of players have increased over the years. The reason for this is because many of the high priced poker tournaments now have online and live satellites in which to gain entry. Only a few years ago there were merely a couple of hundred players in the high stakes events. Now those numbers continue to grow due to the influx of online qualifiers via satellite.

Another reason why satellite poker tournaments are so popular is because they are inexpensive. Typically a satellite tournament will cost 10% of the buy-in for that particular poker tournament. This means that you are getting a tremendous bargain whether you are in a multi-table satellite or a single table satellite. Satellites also change your approach to the game as well. The idea of survival is even more apparent in these kinds of scenarios than most.

Lastly, satellite poker tournaments are a tremendous way to help you manage your bankroll. They also have the potential to have a huge impact on your bankroll should you go on to win the big tournament. Just ask Chris Moneymaker.

Now that we have explained the benefits to playing satellites I am going to go more in-depth in how you should approach them to maximize your edge.

Single Table Satellites

Single table satellites are just that, they are one table satellites with 9 or 10 players that usually pay 1 or 2 seats into the main event. This means that you are going to see some extremely aggressive play and you need to play these tournaments to win them. There is definitely an approach to playing and winning these kinds of satellites. The typical poker strategy you may use in a normal poker tournament does not apply here. Aggression is extremely important even to the point of taking a big flush draw with 7 players or less left to position yourself to finish in one of the top two spots. I do not encourage slow play in these tournaments for obvious reasons. You are not going to be the only one that is hungry for a shot at the big money.

Tighten up early and allow other players to bounce around and get knocked out unless you are picking up premium hands. The real satellite play doesn’t start until things get short-handed at 6 players. Then the more astute players get more aggressive and pick up the blinds and antes if there are any. This is extremely important at this stage because the structures are usually so fast it becomes an all-in fest because the levels are only 10 minutes or less. You also need to open up your hand selection when you are short handed as well. If you are not a very good short-handed poker player then I would stay away from single table satellites. Conversely, if you are comfortable playing a fast structure with 6 or less players then you will likely do well in single tables.

Multi-Table Satellites

Multi-table satellite poker tournaments are my favorite. Why? Because they usually pay out multiple seats into the main event and I can usually put myself in position to win one of those seats if the cards break even. Most of the larger online poker tournaments on various sites get the majority of their players by running these low cost high reward satellite poker tournaments.

The approach taken in these kinds of poker tournaments is a little different than in a single table format. First, you do not have to “win” the tournament and that takes a certain amount of pressure off. However, this does not mean that you can be lackadaisical in your approach. You still need to accumulate chips as the tournament progresses. Unless you have a monster stack with only 1 or 2 players left before winning your seat you are going to need to be smart.

My approach to these kinds of tournaments is a little different. Instead of laying back and waiting to open up as in single tables I prefer to play a lot of hands early in hopes of accumulating lots of chips. Once I do so and hit the break with a better than average stack I will usually slow down a bit unless my table is so passive that it would be detrimental to do so. I also try to stay away from players that can seriously hurt me unless I have the nuts. Again, the idea here is to get the seat and not necessarily to win the poker tournament.

Ultimately, you have to find the platform that fits your game best.

Curtis Mayfield III

You started playing online with a deposit of $500. Through study, hard work, and careful bankroll management, you've grown your poker bankroll to $5,000. When playing large-field multi-table poker tournaments (MTTs), you've decided on a bankroll management strategy that requires you to have at least 200 times the buy-in in your bankroll to enter a tournament. That means you're now playing $20 MTTs on a regular basis and occasionally taking shots with buy-ins as large as $50 if the field is small (you'll have lower variance in small-field tournaments) or the opportunity looks especially profitable.

Meanwhile, the regularly scheduled MTTs at your local brick-and-mortar casino are beyond your means, so you haven't paid them much attention. But you recently received an advertisement in the mail for a special $430+$50 tournament with a guaranteed prize pool of $10,000. It sounds exciting, but it's so far outside of your bankroll that you can't seriously consider playing it.

Then you notice that the casino will be running satellites in the weeks running up to the event. A satellite tournament is a qualifying event that serves to offer players a less expensive opportunity to enter a bigger buy-in event. Satellite winners usually win the buy-in to a larger tournament. The satellites at the local casino will include daily $40+$10 events where one out of every 12 players who enter will win a seat in the main event. You've taken shots in $50 MTTs before, and you know that these will have far smaller and softer fields than what you encounter online.

Time to start grinding the satellites, right? Not so fast.

What Makes Satellite Poker Tournaments Attractive?

Many players are drawn to satellites because they seem to put exciting, high buy-in events within the reach of smaller-stakes players. Like the promises of medieval alchemists to turn water into gold, this seems too good to be true because it is. Satellites enable poker players to deceive themselves about the true cost of entering a tournament, but if you're trying to be diligent about bankroll management, then you can't afford to fall for this trap.

When you enter a satellite, you aren't buying an entry into the target tournament. You are buying a chance at an entry into the target tournament. Here, you can either buy a seat in the main event for $480, or you can buy a 1-in-12 shot at a seat in the main event for $50. A little multiplication ($50 x 12) demonstrates that playing the satellites is functionally equivalent to paying $600 for a seat in the main event. Not only is that far beyond your bankroll, but it's quite a bit more than you'd pay if you bought in directly.

That difference is the 25-percent rake you're paying in the satellites. The rake is the commission fee taken by a card room when operating a poker game. The rake is the card room charging the poker players a fee for hosting the game. It is most commonly taken from each pot, and it usually ranges from 2-10 percent, with a predetermined cap on the maximum amount.

Now, in actuality, your chances of winning a seat in the satellite are probably better than 1-in-12. Let's say that you're so much better than the local competition that you can expect to win a seat in one of every eight satellites you enter. In that case, entering via satellite means you're paying $400 for your seat — a nice discount compared to buying in directly, but still far more than your bankroll can justify.

The Problem with Satellite Poker Tournaments

The problem with satellites is that when you win, they don't pay you in cash, they pay you something that is worth much less than cash to you, which is entry in a different poker tournament. How do we know that entry in this tournament is worth less to you than its face value in cash? Because you have $480 in cash, yet you are (wisely) choosing not to exchange it for an entry in the tournament.

Winning $480 in a satellite doesn't magically make it a good idea for you to buy into a $480 tournament any more than winning $480 in any other tournament (or inheriting $480, for that matter) would. If you win the satellite, your bankroll is $430 bigger than it was before, but still not nearly large enough to justify entering this tournament. The problem is that, although some winning satellites tickets can be sold or transferred, most require you to play the bigger event.

If you're able to sell the seat at face value, as can be done online or at the World Series of Poker, then it's a different story. (Technically the tournament lammers used to pay satellite winners at the WSOP are not supposed to be exchanged for cash, but in practice it takes very little effort to sell them for face value.) Playing the satellites themselves could be a good idea, though you still wouldn't be advised to enter the target tournament. Instead, cash out your seat, rinse, and repeat.

Satellite Poker Tournament Strategy Games

Making Quality Use of Your Time

Finally, remember that satellites require time and money that could be invested elsewhere. If you are adequately bankrolled for the $480 tournament, you'd probably be better off buying in directly than playing the satellites, even though you'd have a positive expectation in the satellites. This is because, instead of wasting your time on a $50 MTT, you should be using that time to play larger buy-in tournaments where you'll have a higher hourly rate.

Satellites don't create money out of thin air. They are like any other poker tournament except that they structure their payouts in a unique way. If you're dead set on playing a tournament outside of your bankroll, then play it, but don't pretend that winning a satellite turns it into a responsible decision.

Be sure to check out Andrew and Nate Meyvis on the Thinking Poker podcast, and for strategy articles, reviews, and more from Andrew, check out the rest of The Thinking Poker website.

Satellite Poker Tournament

Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!

Live Satellite Poker Tournament Strategy

• Tags

  tournament strategysatellitesbankroll managementThinking Poker