WPT Satellites: Win Your Way to Live and Online Events

Online tournament poker satellites are qualifiers. Another way to describe them is as feeder tournaments because they’re different entry points that feed into the same tournament. The defining feature of online and live event satellites is that their cost is small compared to the tournament they feed into.

There are two main types of poker satellites:

Some satellites take you to the next rung on the ladder. For example, you could enter a Step 1 satellite that costs $2 and win a Step 2 satellite ticket worth $5. At the top of the proverbial ladder is a main event, such as the $10,400 WPT World Championship at the Wynn Las Vegas.

Other satellites offer direct entry to a featured tournament. These satellites can cost as little as $5 to enter or upwards of $1,000, depending on the featured tournament and the number of seats up for grabs.

The point here is that satellites, regardless of whether they’re steps or direct entry, give you a way into more expensive tournaments for an affordable price.

We run satellites for all types of tournaments. Look through the weekly schedule, and you’ll find satellites for the Golden Bounty Championship, the Sunday Hyper PKO Showdown, and all of our live events.

Many of our online and live event satellites cost less than $50 to enter. You can even enter freeroll satellites. Our aim is to give as many players as possible the chance to qualify for the best WPT tournaments.

Satellite poker tournaments come in two main formats:

Multi-table tournaments take place across two or more tables. They have scheduled start times and are divided into two stages: before the bubble and after the bubble.

Players who get eliminated before the bubble leave empty-handed. Players who make it past the bubble (i.e. the last spot before prizes are awarded) make a return on their investment.

When it comes to live and online tournament poker satellites, a return on your investment is nearly always a ticket. That ticket grants you entry to another satellite (that costs more money to enter) or a main event, e.g. the WPT World Championship.

Our satellite tournaments have three speeds: standard, turbo, and hyper turbo. The blinds increase every 10 minutes in standard speed satellites, every five minutes for turbos, and every three minutes for hyper turbos.

Another way to win seats in live and online poker tournaments is via satellite SNGs. These tournaments take place on a single table and start when every seat is filled.

As it is with MTTs, these satellites can serve as steps towards a main event or direct qualifiers. Regardless of the buy-in and format, the payouts are the same. Tournament tickets replace cash prizes for those who make it into one of the payout spots.  

Some of the WPT tournaments you can win seats for are:

There are many more WPT poker tournaments you can win seats in, so check out the latest satellite schedule on WPT Global.

Satellites are something of a unique case when it comes to poker tournament strategy because you don’t always need to finish in first place. A lot of satellites, particularly those for big-money events such as the WPT World Championship, offer a guaranteed number of seats.

In these situations, it’s sometimes the case that you can forgo conventional tournament strategy. We can’t account for every situation and scenario.

What we can do, however, is give you some general tips for playing satellites:

Playing tight in the early stages of poker tournaments is often advisable, but it takes on a different significance in satellites when there are multiple tickets up for grabs. Basically, you should play tighter for longer, if your stack allows you to.

Inexperienced poker players often get scared to play hands in the late stages of satellites because of the prize at stake. There’s some justification for this, particularly if a ticket is worth over $10,000. However, you need to remember what you’ve spent. If you’ve only spent $2, that’s the only amount you can lose.

Getting eliminated from a $10,000 satellite doesn’t mean you’ve lost $10,000. Thinking that you’re risking $10,000 when you’ve only spent $2 will cause you to play too tight and miss potentially profitable spots.

There are dozens of online and live event satellites running throughout the week on WPT Global. If you get eliminated from one before winning a ticket, don’t worry because you’ll almost certainly get another chance.

For example, when the WPT World Championship is in sight, there are dozens of daily freerolls and satellites costing less than $10. Therefore, if you’ve got enough money in your bankroll to ensure you’re playing responsibly, don’t be afraid to take shots because there are plenty of satellites on WPT Global.

There are satellites for everyone at WPT Global. From free-to-enter satellites to ones that cost over $1,000, we’ve got something to suit all bankrolls.

You can enter any and all of them at your leisure by creating an account at WPT Global. Once you’ve done that, deposit some cash, and you’ll be a few wins away from seats in the biggest WPT tournaments.