Winning Entry to Live Poker Tournaments
Live poker tournaments and events such as the World Series of Poker or the World Poker Tour are some of the most exciting places to play poker. In addition to being exciting, winning a tournament such as the WSOP Main Event or even finishing in the money is quite a feat. A big win in one of these large, live tourneys will not only line your pockets with gold, but also will give you a place in poker history.
Big events like the WSOP and WPT are quite popular, and entry to them comes at a high price. The buy-in for World Series Main Events and WPT main events cost $10K. While poker players can choose to buy-in to these events directly, there are other ways a player can secure their spot in these live poker tournaments. Players can enter special satellite tournaments on the internet to win their way into these events at a fraction of the cost.
Each prestigious live online poker tournament has a ton of satellites at most online poker rooms, where the player can try to win their entry. The satellites typically cost around $500 and the winner or winners are rewarded with a full $10K buy-in to the live poker tournament they are competing for. Often, the satellites will provide extra money for travel and accommodations in addition to the buy-in. This allows poker players to attempt to win their way into these live tourneys in a far more efficient way than buying in directly.
If a poker player wants to go an even cheaper route to get into a tournament like the WSOP main event, they can also play in satellites to the main event satellite. These mini-satellites of sorts allow a poker player to enter the satellite scheme at a variety of levels. Some of these mini-satellite tournaments are free or even cost a few dollars to join at the lower levels. The mini-satellites are set up in stages and depending on how the mini-satellite is configured, the winner or winners move on to the next step or stage. The winners continue to move through to the next rounds until they have reached the final satellite tournament, which is known as the super satellite. These steps or series of satellites allow poker players to enter the satellite pathway at a variety of levels so that they can try to win a seat in a big event at a cost that is comfortable to them and well below the price tag of the full price buy-in.
Playing in mini-satellites and super satellites is a great way for online poker players to compete for WSOP and WPT seats over the internet without shelling out the full cost of the seat. Well-known poker players like Chris Moneymaker have put themselves on the map by finding their way to the WSOP main event via satellite entry. Will you be the next Moneymaker?