In the wake of last year’s legislation, there was some concern that Harrah’s would not accept internet qualifiers into the World Series of Poker this year. Then again, this has apparently technically been their policy for a long time, and the sites have simply had some third party pay the entrance fee for players who qualify through them. It’s still not clear exactly how things will shake out this year, but Poker Stars has started running Main Event satellites with the same terms as last year. They’ve always been very generous and accomodating to their qualifiers, so I’m confident that somehow, they’ll take care of us as always. Click here for more information about the Poker Stars satellites.
The WSOP satellites and sub-satellites can be tremendous cash cows for skilled players, for a few reasons:
1. They entice relatively poor players to play at larger stakes than they ordinarily would. Given that as little as $2 can theoretically set someone on the road to the WSOP, there are a lot of ways for players who usually make their bets with decimal points to find themselves making three-, four-, or even five-figure decisions. Their inevitable mistakes will be tremendously costly.
2. Between tournaments that guarantee a certain number of seats and other benefits, such as sponsorship, that sites offer to entice players into their satellites, there’s a lot of overlay to be had. Bodog’s satellites were notorious for this last year, but since one of their players won the 2006 main event, that may not be the case this year. Poker Stars pretty much always makes their guarantees, but occasionally a $30 rebuy has been known to run some overlay. However, since winning a Poker Stars satellite also qualifies you for $1000 or free hotel as part of a sponsorship deal, there’s effectively 9% overlay guaranteed in all of their satellites (enough to cancel out the rake and make these an even-money proposition for a player of average skill).
3. Satellites that may multiple spots give smart players an extra edge. Even good players often fail to adapt properly to satellite bubble situations, where seemingly bizarre plays such as folding AA pre-flop can be correct. Adanthar, one of the best tournament players online, made a great post about this on 2+2 last year.
I’m generally very conservative with my bankroll management. For tournaments that I play regularly, I generally want to have 200 buy-ins in my bankroll. However, I made an exception for WSOP satellites last year and would recommend that others do the same this year. For one thing, you can expect a higher than average Return on Investment (ROI) and thus lower variance.
For another, playing in the WSOP is just a fantastic experience, both enjoyable in its own right and a great way to improve as a poker player. With its great structure, you really get your money’s worth of play, and once again, can expect a higher ROI.
If I had to give you a rule, I’d say you could get away with having just 100 buyins in your bankroll for the satellite you want to play. The only caveat is that you need to be confident that the money which will be on the line if you do qualify for the WSOP will not affect your play. You can’t allow a fear of busting out early from the main event prevent you from playing your best.
So far I’ve been talking about the direct satellites to the main event, but for those with smaller bankrolls, the sub-satellites can be cash cows in their own right, since Stars will allow you to unregister and collect $W for any seat you win. You’re still restricted in how you use the $W, but it can go towards preliminary WSOP events, satellites to other live events, or World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) tournaments. If you accumulate enough of it, you might even want to take a few shots at the direct qualifiers.