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WSOP Strategy - Satellite Strategy
To get to the WSOP, most people win a satellite
tournament. The optimal strategy to succeed at a
satellite tournament depends on the structure of the
tournament. There are three common types of satellite
structures that people compete in:
1. A winner-take-all satellite. This is a satellite
that awards only one seat to the WSOP.
2. A satellite that awards a relatively low number of
seats to the WSOP. For example, a satellite that awards
one seat per 80 people. If 320 people entered the
tournament, only 4 seats would be given. These
satellites tend to have lower buy-ins.
3. A satellite that awards a relatively high number
of seats to the WSOP. For example, a satellite that
gives out a seat to one of every 20 players. These
satellites typically have larger buy-ins.
Winner-Take-All
The strategy for a winner-take-all satellite is
fairly simple. Bet, raise, and raise again! To win the
prize, you are going to have to win all of the chips.
There is only one way to win chips in poker; win pots!
Basically, play smart poker and do not be afraid go
all-in. The absolute worst thing to do is get blinded
away in this type of tournament. Since you need to win
all of the chips, you do not want to give away your
chips without a fight.
If you are fairly new to poker or if multi-table
tournaments are not your specialty, then I recommend
that you play this type of satellite. First, a lot of
people playing this satellite are so used to their
standard multi-table strategy that it handicaps them.
These people play too conservatively and end up wasting
their time. Furthermore, there is a very high luck
factor in these tournaments, so it really does give a
newer player a chance at reaching the WSOP.
Small Stack Psychology
The strategy for the other two types of satellites is
more complicated. A lot of the tactics involved with
these types of satellite tournament has to do with how
players treat larger stacks versus smaller stacks.
People tend to challenge smaller stacks more than larger
stacks for two reasons.
First, a person can lose a large hand to a smaller
stack and remain in the tournament. There is something
comforting knowing that you will still be in the
tournament no matter what, and people tend to gamble
when they feel comfortable. Even if this gamble could be
very costly, they still feel more at ease at challenging
a smaller stack. Of course, there is sometimes merit to
this line of thinking, especially if the person has a
much smaller stack than you and it is later in the
tournament.
Furthermore, there is a lot of excitement that goes
along with knocking someone out. Most of the time, this
is an emotional high that really has little relevance to
the tournament. Suppose five packages are awarded in a
tournament, and there are 30 players left. If someone
busts out of the tournament, it really does not change
anyone's chances of winning the tournament that much
(except for the person who won the chips!). Since it
will have little affect on the outcome of the
tournament, and people unnecessarily let their emotions
sway their thinking.
There are ways of exploiting this mentality. The best
way to do this is to analyze the tournament from the end
towards the beginning. For example, consider a
tournament that awards 5 seats. When there are six
people left, everyone will be gunning for the person
with the smallest stack. There is nothing to be gained
from attacking someone with a large stack because that
person will likely not be knocked out of the tournament.
By attacking a large stack, you would also risk
dwindling your stack down and risking your own exit from
the tournament. Thus, everyone will be attacking the
smallest stack.
Since you probably do not want to be in the position
of the smallest stack, the best method is to be
selectively aggressive at stealing the blinds. As long
as you keep your stack as high as the average player,
people will not be gunning for you towards the end. You
do not need to have the largest stack, you just need to
have a medium-sized stack.
If you are in the unfortunate case of having the
smallest stack, you will need to consider fighting back
quickly. You do not want to get to the point where a
double up will still leave you as the smallest stack. If
you double up, you want someone else to be that small
stack. No one wants to be the person that risks their
chips to knock you out, so you should be aggressive in
fighting back. If your stack is small but not
microscopic, you will be amazed at how many blinds you
still might be able to steal.
However, if people are idiotically attacking each
other, then you should be more selectively aggressive.
Even though you are in last or close to last, you may be
able to squeak into the money because the other players
are foolishly getting in raising wars.
The end-game strategy for all multi-winner satellites
is similar. However, the strategy for the earlier rounds
of the tournament differs based on the buy-in of the
satellite.
Low buy-in satellites
A lot of satellites cost around $100 to $200 to
enter. These satellites tend to award relatively few
number of WSOP seats because each player contributes a
fairly small portion of the WSOP package. When
relatively few seats are awarded in the qualifier, you
are still going to have to gamble. If over 1,000 people
enter and only 10 win, those 10 people will need to get
lucky. The key is to elect a strategy that positions
yourself to fall within those ten spots. You do not need
a strategy to win the tournament; you just need aim to
place in a spot that would win a WSOP package. The
tournament in which I qualified had 419 entrants and 6
people received a package. I placed sixth.
We already analyzed what will occur at the end of a
satellite tournament. The small stacks will be attacked
and chewed up by the larger stacks. The key is to avoid
being that small stack in the later rounds. You want to
be at least a medium-sized stack as the later rounds
near, so you are not the one people are trying to
eliminate.
If you are able to build a decent stack size, you
will be able to survive the tournament without being
frequently contested. Your method of survival is
primarily stealing blinds. When you have a larger stack,
you will be more able to steal blinds in the middle and
later rounds. Winning these blinds can really pad your
stack size because the blinds get to be fairly large and
there is generally an ante to boot.
To accomplish this, I would suggest playing
aggressively in the earlier rounds. Do not be scared of
getting into confrontations. This way you will build up
a large stack size, and you will be able to steal the
blinds in the later rounds.
Basically, confrontations at the beginning of the
tournament are fine. You are going to have to get lucky
to win this type of satellite anyway, so you are going
to have to gamble at some point. If you are able to
build a big stack, you will be able to keep on building
your stack later by stealing the blinds. People will not
want to challenge you since you can bust them out, so
you will win a lot of important pots uncontested. If you
are consistently able to steal the blinds, you will be
much more able to cruise into a WSOP package.
High buy-in satellites
A lot of satellites have buyins of $500 or more.
These tournaments tend to award a relatively large
number of WSOP packages in relation to the number of
entrants. For these tournaments, a typical ratio is one
package per twenty entrants.
You do not want to foolishly lose your stack at the
beginning of this type of satellite. You do not need to
be overly aggressive because there are not as many
people you have to defeat. The key is being selectively
aggressive and trying to achieve a stack size that is
simply above-average.
Again, you are going to want to be contested as
little as possible as the end of the tournament nears.
The ability to steal blinds is still of high importance.
For this type of tournament, the end game of the
tournament begins quite quickly! Don't lose your whole
stack on an idiotic play, but try to achieve an
above-average stack before the large blinds and antes
kick in.
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