Playing satellite tournaments is something that not many players do, but is something that can make smarter players pay less to buy in to a bigger tournament. If you take a tournament like the Sunday Million on Poker stars; there are numerous satellites to play, and very few players actually take advantage of them. There is $11 qualifying tournaments throughout the week that lead up to the target tournament on Sunday. This means basically that you could play ten of these tournaments and only win one and still be chopping the buy in in half of what it would be.

The better players always see opportunity to lose the least and gain the most. Satellites are a way that can maximize return on investments. If you do win a satellite for half of what it actually costs and receive a minimum cash in the tournament you will actually be making a couple hundred more than if you were to just put down the money and buy in to the tournament. Satellites are more there to help rather than hurt players. There is a lot of dead money in most satellites, and there is a lot of opportunity to take down more than one or two buy-ins to a specific tournament. Online you can simply unregister from the tournament and be credited with tournament dollars which can give your bankroll a nice boost and cost very little.

Most players who do play satellite tournaments play them because they can’t afford the buy in for the bigger tournament. These are the players you want to look for when playing satellites because these players will be gambling more and probably steaming their money and chips away. If you can be paired with these players you can start to thrive and actually make a lot of money playing satellites. When you have a nice enough bankroll to afford satellites that is when you can pick on the weak players and pick up the dead money in them.

You don’t want to be playing a satellite if you don’t have a sufficient bankroll because they have a great deal of variance because most of them are turbo satellites. If you are playing them with less than 1 or 2% of your bankroll then that should be fine. Being able to progress as a poker player is something you always want to be doing and at a rapid rate if possible. If you find your niche in a specific game such as a satellite tournament then you can really run over fields, and eventually hopefully take down that big tournament. With less money on the line than other players who bought in to the tournament for the full buy in you will feel less pressure and will play better. So, make sure when you play satellite tournaments to always be aware of the players at your table and keep a focused mind. Pick your spots to win the satellite well and maybe parlay the satellite win into an actual win.