Planet Mark's Blog. Thoughts, News And Strategy For Poker Tournaments Of All Size

WCOOP 2013 – Getting The Most From The Satellites

This is the first of 2 posts I am doing this week on the WCOOP… We can call this the ‘positive one’, since later in the week I have a special treat for those unable or unwilling to get involved! What I have done here is to go through the different satellite qualifier options and sniff out some value… Of course, different people have different bankrolls and tastes – so you’ll find a few different options that will keep everyone covered.

I have assumed that you already have a PokerStars account here. If not then you are still in time to grab your welcome bonus ahead of the start of the World Championship Of Online Poker, which runs from the 8th through to the 29th September. Use Marketing Code PSP3108 when you register, then bonus code FREE20 when you deposit to get an extra $20 to top up your account. More info at the PokerStars.com website.

WCOOP 2013 Satellites – Deadline Satellites With Lots Of Guaranteed Seats

When it comes to satellites, I believe that bigger is better. This is because of the way the bubble works with equal prizes of tournament entries. There is always a certain percentage of players who will not understand that their only objective is to ‘not lose’ while others bust… and continue to ‘play poker’ at the bubble. These players bust (or cause other’s to) and are exactly who you want to see… preferably several of them. A big satellite with many seats maximizes the impact of these players, while smaller games often mean you have to win the whole thing to get your seat.

For this reason, my first pick for readers looking to bad a WCOOP seat are the ‘Deadline Satellites’, and ‘Mega Sats’ which guarantee 100 or 150 seats and run just before the events themselves. The deadline sats have higher buy-ins (for example $40 for the $109 event #1), while the Mega Satellites have smaller $11 or $22 entries and correspondingly huge fields.

stars world championship satellites

VIP Club Entries

If you made Silver Star + in last month’s VIP club promo, then you will have one or more tickets for cash or WCOOP give-away tournaments running from the 2nd (today) until the 6th September. The WCOOP entry games look incredible with 1024 places paid ($109 entry) and progressively higher tickets up to $10,300 for the winner. I’ll be taking a shot!

There is a ‘mega path’ using FPPs with ends with a 110,000 point entry game on the 29th, which is sure to give away a lot of Main Event seats.

If you have any points stashed away, then I recommend checking out the VIP Club store. You can get entry into WCOOP-01 ($109) for 6,900 FPPs (Silver+), 20,000 for a $320 ticket (Silver+)… and more. You could also buy Step SNG tickets – which brings me nicely to…

Steps Sit N Go WCOOP Satellites

Steps are already a great way to grab a cheap seat to the Sunday Million, and you can use a Step 4 ticket to enter any of the $215 World Championship events. In addition there are a lot of higher value 1-table Sit N Go satellites, with Step 4 games giving tickets to the, $530 and $1050 events – all the way to Step 6 games which cost $2100 to enter and give prizes of $10,300 event seats.

What you’ll like with these games are the ‘try again’ spots for runners up – particularly at the lower stages – which means you plans are not necessarily ruined by just one bad beat.

One More Note – Crazy Weekends And Tournament Dollars (T$)

Even if you do not want to play in the World Championship events, the satellites are still a profitable use of your time. This coming weekend, the qualifier frenzy will peak and the qualifier games will be unbelievably soft. You can win seats, unregister from the event, then use the T$ to play in any tournament or SNG – how about more qualifiers, until you have big enough stash to justify yourself entry into one of the big events.

Here is hoping we meet at one of the final tables!

GL at the WCOOP Satellite tables, Mark

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