How to Win WSOP Satellites

By the end of April, practically every online poker room will be offering a satellite tournament with the chance to get to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. We would all love to be there, if only it was not for the $10.000 entry fee, and costs of flights and accommodation. So, entering a qualifying series with a WSOP package as a prize, is an ideal opportunity to get that dream trip to Vegas, and play live with the pros.

The obstacles that are in the way are the other fifteen or twenty thousand players with the same goal in mind, who will be entering the qualifiers at the basement level and making it exceedingly difficult to get through to the next stages. The answer is to fast-track your path to the higher levels by paying the higher entrance fee – after all, if you consider yourself to be good enough to be playing at Las Vegas, you should be capable of winning the $50 or so needed to enter at a later stage of the series, and you should be able to do it in the time that you would have spent fighting off twenty thousand other hopefuls!

Now comes the hard bit, as the web site that you choose to play your qualifier on may only have one package available, or you could choose to take on a bigger field on a site offering multiple packages. There are pros and cons with whichever route you choose, and there are a number of other considerations to take into account before you get involved with this satellite series or any other.

Winner Takes All Qualifiers.

These are the satellites that only offer one place up to the next stage or final. They are most commonly found on the smaller poker web sites, or those on the networks with a lower volume of traffic. In “Winner Takes All” you have to take the approach that if you do not win – you lose. Whereas normally reaching the final table in a tournament would guarantee you something, with WTA you might as well come last as second. Therefore, expect to see ultra-aggressive play throughout the game, as the initial aim is to get to the final table with the largest chip stack and, from there, control the betting.

The correct way to play these games is to abandon your opening hand criteria and make massive bets whenever possible against short-stacked players. At times, it is like being on the play chip tables when you first started playing poker online, but if it gets you to where you need to be, it is an acceptable strategy.

Multiple Package Qualifiers

The aim in these tournaments is to get to the bubble and stay there until the end. In complete contrast to the WTA games, as the bubble approaches towards the end of the game, you will witness some of the slowest, tightest poker ever seen. Players have been known to muck AA because they do not want to risk the damage a loss would do to their chip stack and those chips going to somebody else.

If you find yourself on a tight table, where none of the players are willing to contest any of the pots, it is a good opportunity to steal a few blinds and ensure that you remain firmly within the bubble until you reach the position where you are certain you are safe.

Because of the nature of WTA Qualifiers, many players tend to avoid them, and this could be your opportunity to take advantage of a weak field, and win your way to the WSOP Main Event.