Find and Play Poker Satellites - Online Tournament Calendar

Chris Moneymaker emphatically rose to fame in 2003 after satelliting into the WSOP Main Event for just $39 and winning $2,500,000, giving him an ROI of %6,410156. He almost single-handedly catalysed the 2003 poker boom. Not every satellite will lead to such an astronomical ROI, but if used correctly, satellites can be hugely effective in helping with bankroll management.

What are online poker satellites?

Online poker satellites are simply lower-buy-in tournaments that offer entry to higher-buy-in tournaments for finishing ‘in the money,’ rather than cash.

Let’s say there’s a $100 tournament you want to enter, but you typically buy-in to $5-10 tournaments. There might be several different satellites available costing anything from $1-20 which you can play and if you finish in the top X% of players, you’ll receive a ticket to the $100 tournament.

For instance, if there is a $20 satellite for this $100 tournament, if we don’t take rake into account one in five entrants will win a ticket ($100 ticket value / $20 satellite buy-in). If the amount of buy-ins for the satellite does not equal the entry cost of the main tournament, the highest-finishing player/s in the satellite that does not win a ticket will share what’s left of the money in the prize pool.

Below is an example of the potential payout structure for a $20 satellite with 24 entries for a $100 tournament.

A key thing to note in satellites is that if there are 10 tickets available, there is absolutely no difference between finishing with 95% of chips in 1st, or finishing in 10th with 1 chip left (unless the satellite is also a bounty builder). Both positions payout exactly the same in the satellite tournament - 1 entry ticket to a larger tournament.

What is the purpose of satellite poker tournaments?

Satellites can seem like an unnecessary addition to a poker sites’ schedules, but in reality they are instrumental in many successful players’ strategies. Although the concept is the same as standard online poker tournaments, the flat payout structure (in that you either win a ticket or you don’t, there’s no extra reward for finishing higher than other opponents after the bubble) changes the dynamics of the game completely.

Here’s why satellites can be valuable to play for poker players.

• Experience tougher field - A loose concept in poker is that the higher the value game or buy-in for a tournament, the harder the competition. Of course, this is not entirely true across the board, but it’s generally accepted that micro-stakes is a very different standard (and game altogether) compared to high-stakes poker. Satellites therefore allow for more inexperienced players the chance to play with more skilled players and experience high-stakes poker without exceeding their bankrolls.
• Huge ROI - As mentioned earlier, Chris Moneymaker’s monumental 2003-WSOP feat is not a common occurrence. But, that’s not to say that players can’t make a potentially life-changing return on investment from playing satellites. Satelliting into a $250 tournament when you usually play $11 tournaments can be life-changing. With the larger buy-in comes larger prizes, and this is only magnified the better the position you finish in the $250 tournament. For instance, a min-cash in a standard $11 tournament could be $20, and $350 for the $250 tournament. But the disparity between the 1st-place payout for the $11 tournament compared to the $250 tournament will be far greater.
• Cheaper entry - Satellites aren’t all about gaining entry to expensive tournaments. There are also smaller satellites, sometimes consisting of as little as three players. If the satellite buy-in is $10 to gain entry to a $30 tournament, the tournament is only three times the buy-in of the satellite. However, for experienced satellite players who know the strategy, they might win these types of satellites more than one in three times, making it cheaper to enter the $30 tournaments via satellite in the long run.
• Opportunity and promotion - When big feature tournaments or special series are happening, sites will put on satellites to these main tournaments. This not only gives players a chance to play these exciting featured tournaments, but these satellites also help poker sites promote these special tournaments/series.

How to find poker satellites with PokerNews’ Online Tournament Calendar

Ready to play online poker satellites? Want to find the best satellite tournaments available online? Look no further. Here’s how to use the PokerNews Online Tournament Calendar to find your next satellite opportunity.

Step 1 - Access our Online Tournament Calendar. It can be found above, at the top of this page or on our main Online Tournament Calendar page.

Step 2 - On this page, the OTC is pre-set to show satellites.

Step 3 - Add any other filters to your search, such as brand, game type and prize pool, and find all the relevant satellite tournaments that are available for you to play.

Satellite tournament strategy - How to win poker satellites

The unique dynamic of players not needing (or rather, having no incentive) to play for first place means the optimal strategy is vastly different in satellites. So, what poker satellite strategies should you adopt and how do you win them?

Tighten for ICM

ICM (Independent Chip Model) is a mathematical model that attributes a real-money value of a player’s equity in a tournament, based on their stack size and the tournament payouts. ICM is one huge difference between satellites and regular tournaments. In regular tournaments, there’s more value in finishing further in the money, whereas in satellites, players either win a ticket for finishing ‘in the money’ or they don’t.

For this reason, you should generally tighten up your play, especially with your preflop raising ranges. You should try to avoid high-variance spots as much as possible and if you’re risking your stack, you typically want to be the one shoving all-in rather than calling. Because of ICM, you have more fold equity in satellites as other players are also playing tighter, so they’re less likely to call all-ins and more likely to have a stronger hand when they do lead to go all-in.

Adjust for the bubble

This might sound basic, but when we say adjust for the bubble, there’s more to it than just keeping an eye on the other tables. When the bubble is approaching, you should make an assessment on whether or not you will likely finish in the money with your current chip stack. If you have a huge stack and you’re on the direct bubble, there’s no point risking a large proportion of that stack when you’re all-but-guaranteed a ticket if you fold every hand.

This means, at times, that the correct action for even premium hands like QQ and KK is to fold in certain spots. Even AA can be a fold, which is crazy to think about, but this relates back to ICM. If you have a 99.99% chance of a ticket by folded your way past the bubble, then you take that option.

Equally, if you have a tiny stack but one player has even fewer chips than you, you can try to scrape your way through the bubble. In a standard tournament, if a good player has 1 big blind, they will likely shove their stack in regardless of their hand (there are exceptions to this). In a satellite, the aim of the game is purely survival. So, even if you have just 1 big blind, there could be other even shorter stacks that will likely bust before you, giving you incentive to keep hold of the few chips you have for as long as possible.

Attack medium-sized stacks

If you have a large stack, your best strategy is to attack the medium-sized stacks at the table that will likely have enough chips to make it past the bubble, but not enough to happily call all-ins without a premium hand. These stacks are in ICM hell, and often have no choice but to tighten up and wait for the bubble. That makes them the perfect players to target with a big stack.

On the contrary, it’s worth noting short stacks have the least to lose. Let’s say the top 5 places win a ticket, and 6 players are left in a satellite. The smallest stack has 5 big blinds, while the next smallest has 20 big blinds. Here, the small stack has less to lose as they’re clearly on track to bubble the tournament and will likely lose if they try to fold their way there. Therefore, any shove made will have less fold equity against them as they know they have to risk their chips in order to avoid losing.

Play online poker tournaments now

But with so many tournaments out there offering multiple satellites, how can you keep track of them all? We’ve now made it simple - you can find the satellites available on the top poker sites using the PokerNews Online Tournament Calendar below.

Ready to go? Start playing online poker satellite tournaments today and take advantage of some great sign-up offers from the world’s biggest online poker sites.

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