PLAYING MULTI TABLE SATELLITES

I received the following mail from raketherake today and I have a big game on Sunday.

Congratulations!!!

You have qualified for the Diamonds Freeroll tournament for the Caribbean Poker Classic Seats.

The tournament will be held on Sunday 12th November at 19:30 GMT (14:30 EST)

There will be one $6,000 CPC package for every 5 players who take part in the tournament.

This is a great promotion from raketherake and a game I am really looking forward to. However the later stages in this game will be very different to your usual final table and below I explain why. Note this format is often used to get a buy in to a larger event. EG say a tourney is £100 to enter they may play some satellites where the entry is £2 if 300 players turn up then 3 people will win seats to the main event.

MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MULTI TABLE SATELLITES AND TOURNIESU>

1) The major difference is that all the prizes are the same unlike a normal tournamant where the higher position you finish then the more money you win. For example lets consider a 50 player tourny in a normal game then say the top 5 are paid then this could be 50% 1st 25% 2nd 15% 3rd 7.5% 4th 2.5% 5th hence far better finish 1st than 5th. However in the tournamant i am invited to above if 50 players take part then they will be 10 prizes all 10 will win the $6000 package prize regardless of 10th or 1st.

2) Finishing on the bubble ( the last player not to make the prizes eg 6th in the cash tournie above or 11th in the satellite ) is much more painful in the satellite as you have finished inches from a huge prize rather than say 2.5% of prizemoney which in the grand scheme of things aint going to make much difference.

CHANGE IN STRATEGY WHEN PLAYING SATELLITES

The below are major changes I make.

1) When you are close to the prize then avoid putting all your chips ar risk. If I am dealt a pair of aces in a cash tournie then I definately call no matter what if someone go's all in. In a satellite I may fold a pair of aces. This may sound strange but why risk the prize.

Example where i fold a pair of aces.

11 left and 10 get prizes chips position is player A has 50000 chips I have 30000 chips and each of the 9 other players have 2000 chips. If player A is all in and I have a pair of aces then I fold in this position even though I know I am favourite to win the hand as I know that I am so far ahead of the other players and one of them will go out soon. However if anybody else other than Player A gos all in then I obviously call as I have a chance to eliminate them and hence win the prize.

2) If it is down to the position where there are only a few over the number of prizes left then this is an ideal opportunity to be 1st in the pot with a raise to steal the blinds as everybody will just be waiting for a few more to go out and wont want to get into contested pots - use this to your advantage.

3) If your 10th of 11 and there are only 10 prizes dont automatically fold every hand. I have seen this mistake made commonly - they are waiting for the lowest stack to go out but they fail to take account that the smallest stack may double up and then they find themselves in last place in big trouble.

Overall I play these 2 types of tournamants the same until it gets to near the prizes. When it gets near the prizes I apply the above principles.

I hope this helps and fingers crossed for me for Sunday - I will update you how I do.

Tonight Im going to play the 4k$ added tourny and that will be my only game.

Good luck.