Quick guide to satellite qualifying for big events

[Marwan]

Took your advice and played the 5.50 this afternoon, squeeked in, took the 175 and played the 73+7, and qualified tonight.. wouldn't have went that route without your advice.

PS. both games were pretty soft and good format.. the turbo was heavily a matter of survival and the 73 was just picking spots, thanks.

[EverettKings]

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I am open to a $1000 or more wager that I can make it from a miniStep 1 (5+1) to a miniStep 5 (400+30) playing on $30 or less.

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You've got mail.

Everett

[jedinemesis]

Hey Adanthar, thanks for the info. I was wondering what you think about the 3-table SNG to the $1 Mil guaranteed on PP. Its a $35 buyin sat for the $640 main event. It's only got a spot for first, but it pays something like 160, 90, 64 to the next three spots, meaning that there's at least a few bucks left if you don't take first.

Thanks,
Will

[Matador225]

I would also be very interested in hearing opinions about the 3-table qualifier to the 1 million guaranteed. I might give it a try tonight.

[adanthar]

I haven't played those...they are probably soft enough and the payout schedule seems OK, but I'd still rather just play the MTT qualifiers. Having said that, the money up top is significant enough to make it at least not terrible so long as they're scared of losing enough to make a real bubble.

[Ya_Fooboo]

I would just like to add...

The Stars $700k $5+r sats are nearly 3.5x more profitable than the $500k $3+r. I have a -EV rate in the $3+r because I estimate it to be $10-$12 an hour but I play every $5+r I can because I estimate it to be around $34-$42 an hour which is the same as I make in my NL cash game but the sat. is much easier.

[VinnyTheFish]

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Aside from that, there are times when if the guy to your left is playing correctly, you will get free chips no matter what he has. You should use those times liberally, because they are literally the difference between winning and losing very very often. Of course, if he's a donk, he might eventually call with KJo for 2/3 of his stack; like I said, know the tendencies.

In general, though, if you're 4'th with 18 to go, stacks are deep (>15 BB average or so) and you lose the seat, something went very wrong.

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Agreed - I stay low, play my EV+ hands my EV+ situation. The every popular blind steal that will not cripple me. I attack the small stacks (that will not cripple me).

As for attacking the large stack ... that always seems to hurt me. Maybe because I have lacked the confidence to attack him properly.

For example, BB is chip leader and I am 16th, (18 left, 15 paid). I have ATo on the button. Assuming I can coast for a while 16th and I am not stack < 10 x BB - I fold 8 out of 10 times here. The other 2 times, I'd raise 2.5 and 3.5 times the BB. Pushing here, IMO, is out of the question. Others love to push here.

One thing I have taken to heart - after the 1st break until bubble time - I will calculate the mean chips needed to be a qualifier.

i.e. 1000 Entries, 100 get in. No-rebuy, everyone starts with T1500. total chips = 1,500,000. Mean chip count when 100 are left = 15,000. Now, you and both know that a chip leader or a few more are going to have the majority of the chips.

Therefore, when I hit a certain count, say 30K, I will cruise, and really just watch people drop. Seeing less than 10% of any flops.

Even better, Chip leader and #2 in chips now have 200,000 of that 1.5 million. I keep an eye on them. Are they sitting out? Yes? GREAT! Now you have 1,300,000 chips for 98 people. Brings your mean down to ~13,300. You can sit pretty at 20K, even 17K

Those chips are dead. Are they attacking? Ok, stay at that 25-30K goal, 15K+ is good, but under 10K, we may need to attack a bit and find our EV+ plays.


If you can sit for two hours and make money by not working ... you would do so right!?

Let me put it this way. You and Donk1 have 7,000 in chips. You are in 16th and 17th place out of 17 left. 16 get paid. Blinds are 1000 & 2000 (no ante to keep it easy).

1) You look at position? Who has to act first - assuming you both fold out, no one else leaves the tourn ... who would be standing?

2) You need to Push EV+ hands until you have enough chips to let someone else be the ginny pig.

3) Do not challenge the larger stack. Whoa - YES - I said it. Here's my thinking -- I have 7K, Seat 1 has 100K - he can lost that 7K and than another 14K to me and still go to bed gaining a seat. He will call you with anything from K2o to 22, to 56s!? Yes! On the other hand, Seat K, has 21 in chips, taking 7K from him puts him into defensive mode. He will not call unless he has those top few EV+ hands, you know um, AA, KK, etc.

But, I have found that having a chip goal in the above the mean keeps me quiet and I avoid unneeded gambles.

Ego is out the window!!!

[golfcchs]

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if I was offered a choice between a 1000 player field that paid out 100 seats and a 10 player field that paid one, I would pay three times the vig to play in the first one. Yes, I honestly think the difference is that great.

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Do you think the 2 table steps are better because more spots get to go up a level? Do enough people play these?

[JoshNjuice]

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1)Satellites are a lot more valuable when they pay lots of seats, don't take very long and have lots of dead money. The Stars turbo rebuys are probably the best sats in online poker.

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I just wanted to say thanks to the OP for this thread. I read it a few months ago and began wondering if the $3 re-buy was really the best way to win seats to the $215. I finally decided to take the plunge into the $11 R Turbo sat to the Stars $215 and won a seat on my first shot. I was feeling lucky, so I signed up for a $27 R Turbo to the WSOP $650 Qualifier, and won a seat there, too. Still feeling lucky, I went one more go for a $16 R Turbo sat to the $370 Super Sat to the $25K Bellagio event... and won that one too.

Obviously, this is mostly due to short term luck, but I was ultimately very surprised at how soft these Sats are. I ended up donking off my $650 seat because I didn't "unregister" in time (the sat ended about 11 minutes before the $650 began and I didn't realze it and got there too late to unregister), but that's life. I still ended up having my best single day online yet (even including my donked $650 seat).

Thanks OP for the bankroll building tips and the encouragement to try the Turbo re-buy sats on Stars.

Cheers!

JoshNjuice

[JSchnett]

I dont play very many DS but from what ive played the $160 are very hard but the $27 to the PS 1k event were very soft.