Super-satellite tournaments have a strategy of their own

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Let's talk about super-satellite tournaments and a strategy mistake committed by many new players, particularly online.

Super satellites allow you to play your way into a bigger tournament at a lesser entry fee - say, $100 for a $3,000 buy-in event. The catch is, the lower the fee, the higher the demand on your skill level to play your way in. But super satellites also allow more than just the winner to move on.

In a recent Internet super satellite played by Barry Shulman, a retired real-estate developer who bought Card Player magazine several years ago, there were nine players remaining. The top eight finishers would move on. So, being first is the same as being eighth, because players start the next tournament with the same chip count as everyone else.

Shulman, who also plays the live tournament circuit, had a big stack and was going to win a spot in the next round when the action folded all the way around to him.

"One guy to my right has $15 when it's $150-$300 blinds," said Shulman, who has a World Series of Poker bracelet. "In order for him to survive, he has to double up when he's a big blind, double up again when he's a small blind, and still he can't get through a whole round. There's also a guy to his right who only has $100 in chips.

"Before it gets to the guy with $15, he's got to double up on his big blind, too. There's no reason for any of the short guys to be playing anything.

"Almost everybody realizes this, and because it's folded to me, I automatically put the guy to my left all in because he's only got about $400. I just make it $400 because he has to fold his hand and be left with $400.

"Well, he takes a look and he wakes up with a pair of queens. So, he calls me. I have a 9-3. As luck would have it, the 9-3 breaks him, and the guy to my right with the $15 wins and the guy to his right with $100 wins."

Lesson is, it doesn't matter whether the guy with queens has $400 or $800. He just has to wait for the guy with $15 or the player with $100 to lose an all-in, and he has two rounds to let it happen.

"It's a basic super-satellite tournament issue that a lot of people are not taught because there's hardly any books you can read about playing satellites," Shulman said.

"The smartest thing this guy could've done was get up, go wash his hands, and by the time he came back, he would've had a seat."
Steve Rosenbloom

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Source: Casino Buzz
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