Satellite Tournaments: Improve your Tournaments Skills

Satellite Tournaments are an increasingly popular way for online poker players to win entry into bigger buy-in tournaments or even televised live events. Strategy needs to adjust in satellite tournaments to account for the fact that several places are paid with an equal prize. This article looks at the common forms of online satellite tournaments and shows how playing in them can improve your tournament skills in several ways.
Firstly we look at the types of satellite qualifier available online. Second, a brief overview of how the ‘bubble’ of a satellite tournament is different from that of a regular tournament is discussed. Lastly we look at some of the benefits of winning a satellite and how playing the bigger buy-in tournaments against more skilled players can help to improve your overall game.

Formats

Satellites come in numerous formats including sit and go tournaments, double shootouts (2 sit and go tournaments where winners of table #1 move to a ‘final table’), freeze-out multi-table tournaments and even turbo re-buys. This article will focus on the multi-table online satellites which give prizes of entry into your site’s big buy-in scheduled tournaments.

The Bubble

While strategy for the main part of a satellite tournament is the same as any multi-table online tournament, the bubble requires a different way of thinking. Adapting to this successfully will not only increase your wins, it will help improve your overall tournament skills too – by forcing you to adapt to different poker situations.

The bottom line in adjusting to bubble play in a satellite tournament is this: You do not need all the chips to win your place. In fact a single chip will suffice where you are not the last person to bust out.

This leads to several adjustments in play. Assuming you have an average stack (or more) the presence of very small stacks will have a big impact on your game. Stack sizes are also important in regular tournaments, however not to the same extent. If there is a small stack about to be blinded away and a big stack pushes all in ahead of you what hands can you profitably play? The answer is ‘none’, in this situation your expectation of folding, even with a pair of aces, is greater than the prize you risk by calling the all in and potentially suffering a bad beat.

In fact there are very few situations on the bubble of a satellite tournament where you can profitably call for all your chips. Instead the optimal play is to make your opponents take this decision, by playing aggressively yourself – particularly when you have them covered in chips. Adjusting to the presence of small stacks at the bubble of a satellite tournament involves thinking through the situation, rather than looking at the cards you hold.

Learn from the Experts

When all goes well and you win a seat in one of the larger buy-in tournaments you have another great opportunity to improve your general tournament play. While playing with more experienced opponents has its own challenges, it is also a great opportunity to learn from these players.

There are many things to look out for and careful observation will be a key factor. Bet sizing is a great place to start. In the lower limit tournaments these often make little sense to the observer. In a high buy-in tournament there will often be good reasons for various sizes of pre-flop raises, continuation bets and value bets. Each time there is a showdown you will have the opportunity to look up the hand history and learn from the more experienced players what works and what does not.

Stack Size

Of the many other factors to observe the effect of stack sizes on decision making is one of the most important. This is particularly relevant at the bubble, just before the final table and at the final table itself.

To summarize, there are many types of satellite tournament available and these can provide a great opportunity to improve your tournament play in two separate ways. Firstly they will force you to think about different poker situations, particularly at the bubble. Secondly, being involved in a major tournament can provide excellent opportunities to learn from more experienced opponents.