Using Satellite Tournaments To Win your Way To The Top
By
Wesley R Young
As
theWorld
Series of Poker has become more popular,
the Internet based poker rooms have started running
Satellite Tournaments for entry into the
main event almost as soon as the previous years
series is completed. These satellite tournaments
come in many different shapes and sizes, with buy-ins
starting as low as a few cents at some rooms to
over $1,000 for the finals at others. These satellite
tournaments require a slightly different strategy
than normal tournaments, as the goal is not to win,
but to finish high enough to advance.
In
most of the multi table satellites, more than one finisher
will advance to the next round. For example, if the
top ten advance, finishing eleventh is no better than
last. So if you find yourself with one of the larger
stacks when the tournament gets down to twelve or thirteen
players, the best thing to do may be fold your way into
the top ten. In a normal multi table tournament, this
would not be correct, as it wouldn't give you the best
chance to win. To illustrate this example in more detail,
suppose the average chip stack is 50,000, you have 125,000,
there are twelve players left, only ten advance to the
next round and there are 6 players with less than 50,000.
You should fold every single hand even pocket Aces.
Though
the pocket Aces are a large favorite against any
other hand, there are always situations where they
will lose. You have a much higher percentage chance
of finishing in the top ten by folding them than
by playing them. If your goal were to finish first,
you would play them because of the same percentages.
If you are playing a single table satellite, often
only the top one or two finishers will advance.
In this case it is important to realize that a normal
money finish of third place is not good enough and
you will want to push smaller advantages for the
chance to greatly increase your chip stack. If the
top two advance, you will need to accumulate roughly
half the chips in play, so any small edge that you
can find to help you get there will be worth taking
advantage of.
Realize what your goal is before starting in any
tournament so you can make the correct decisions
throughout the tournament. Understanding what is
important can make the difference between tenth
and eleventh, and as you can see in the example
above, this difference can be huge. Until next week,
good luck in the satellites!
