Online Poker Satellites

Online poker satellites are online poker games where successful players win entry into a more expensive game. Online poker satellites can feed into one or more higher level satellites, and that makes it possible for an online poker player to pay a minimal amount of money to buy into an initial satellite and win their way into a game that might cost hundreds or even thousands to buy into directly.

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You can win your way into many offline poker tournaments, including the World Series of Poker Main Event, through online poker satellites. Chris Moneymaker is perhaps the most famous example of someone who not only did just that, but also went on to win the offline tournament itself. Chris paid just $40 to enter an online poker satellite at PokerStars, and his success from there led to him becoming the WSOP Champion of 2003 – and £2.5 million richer!

Although online poker satellites make offline success possible, not all online poker satellites lead to offline tournaments. Many lead to incredibly lucrative online tournaments. For example, at PokerStars you could use online poker satellites to gain entry into the famous Sunday Million tournament which boasts a guaranteed prize pool of $1.5 million. To buy-in directly would cost you $215, but you could win your way into the same tournament by entering an online poker satellite for just a few dollars.

Online poker satellites come in both MTT and Sit n Go formats. MTT stands for Multi Table Tournament, so an MTT satellite will involve you going up against a potentially large number of players – something that could take a few hours to do if you progress to the very end. The advantage of MTT satellites is that you can sometimes go from your initial buy-in to winning a place in the main event in a single sitting.

By comparison, Sit n Go satellites only involve players that can be seated at a single table, so if you win a Sit n Go satellite you will usually progress to a higher level Sit n Go satellite and work your way to the main event in incremental stages. This makes Sit n Go online poker satellites more convenient if you only have an hour or so to spare at any given time.

If you are a player who likes the idea of winning a big tournament and potentially winning enough cash to pay off your mortgage (or even more) but you don’t want to risk much of your own money to enter those tournaments directly, online poker satellites are a great solution. Satellites are cheap and easy to enter, and serve as an excellent warm-up to the main event should you be successful in getting there.

Good luck, and play well!