Satellite Tournaments

A satellite is a tournament in which the prize is an entry into a larger tournament. It can be less expensive to enter a satellite than it would be to enter the main tournament directly. BetSharks runs one-table and multi-table Sit & Go satellites, which you can find under ‘Sit & Go’ and ‘Tournament Tab’ in the BetSharks Poker lobby.

Multi-table satellites also are scheduled as regular tournaments, and the sign-up details and play are identical to other multi-table tournaments, with one important difference – the tournament will only play down to the number required to award all of the equal-value seats.

Many of the satellite poker tournaments offer great value and give the average player a chance to get into the big marquee tournament. What do you need to know when playing in a satellite poker tournament? 
The first thing you need to be aware of is that these tournaments take a lot of time to play. You are not going to be done in just an hour or so. Many of these tournaments can take anywhere from 4 to 6 hours to complete.

How do you improve your chances for winning one of these satellite poker tournaments? The first tip is to be aggressive. You just can’t sit back and wait very long. You don’t have to immediately take chances in the early rounds but you must take chances somewhere. The reason you have to take a shot and be aggressive is that to win one of these events you have to get a stack big enough to survive. Some players are going to play very carefully trying to survive, while others will be taking huge chances in these tournaments. Identifying these types of players is very important to you.

An example of how satellite tournaments works

The buy-in for the larger tournament is $100. The buy-in for the satellite is $10. If there are 10 entrants (into the satellite), first place will get a $100 entry to the larger tournament. If there are 20 entrants, then 1st and 2nd places will both receive a $100 entry to the larger tournament. If there is any leftover prize money, it will be distributed to the runners up as per the satellite’s payout structure, which is available through the tournament lobby.

In most tournaments that are named, the buy-in and fee is combined for the sake of brevity in the title. For example, if it were a satellite to the WSOP (for example), would likely be named ‘WSOP: $110 satellite’. Detailed information on the breakdown of buy-in plus entry fee is shown in the tournament lobby.