From The FTOPS To The $1M Gtd, WSOP to Sunday Brawl – All You Need To Know About Full Tilt Poker Satellite Qualifiers
Note: Full Tilt and PokerStars have now merged - sharing their player pool (though you can use either software client to reach the games). This means a lot more satellites, and some very big ones too (particularly for events like the Sunday Million). This guide is still good, though the names and target tournaments might have changed a little!
Full Tilt Poker run a large – often bewilderingly large – selection of online poker satellite tournaments. These allow players to qualify for every imaginable tournament, both online and offline… ranging from the regularly scheduled Sunday $250k Guaranteed and the premier online event that is the FTOPS. Satellite Qualifiers to the World Series of Poker and WPT events can also be found at Full Tilt.
This article is a guide to the satellite qualifiers available for players with all bankrolls – ranging from the ‘points’ free qualifiers right up to supersatellites costing several hundred dollars to enter.
Full Tilt Poker Satellite Qualifiers - Using The Token System To Your Advantage
Before we get into the details there is an important aspect of FTP satellite tournaments to mention – the ‘Tournament Token System’. This is your ticket to qualifying for a major poker event for just a small outlay. The idea is that you enter a low buy-in satellite and are rewarded by winning a token (for example for $26 or $69) that will allow you to enter larger satellites at the time of your choice.
Below we will cover the range of satellites available at Full Tilt starting with the smallest buy-ins and moving to the largest. For strategy tips on playing in satellite qualifiers check out our Poker Satellite Strategy section soon. If you do not yet have an account at the Full Tilt Poker there is no time like the present to find out what you have been missing out on – visit Full Tilt now for the cool 100% to $600 deposit bonus to give your bankroll a welcome boost!
Full Tilt Poker Satellites Guide – The Full Tilt Points Freerolls
You can enter a satellite qualifier on FullTilt for as few as 20 ‘Full Tilt Points’ (to put this in context you’ll earn 21 by spending just $3 on tournament fees!). Many other points qualifiers are available in the 100 to 300 range.
These are usually larger SNGs or MTTs which feed into one of the higher points satellites for the various events. For example the 20 FTP satellite feeds into the 3,500 point qualifier to the ‘Sunday Brawl’ (which in turn awards 36 seats).
The ‘medium’ buy-in points qualifiers usually take the form of smaller (up to 54 players) SNG satellites. Here you are spending anywhere from 400 to 1000 points and are usually awarded seats into super-satellites (the ones with $100+ buy-ins) for the larger events.
Points qualifiers with the higher ‘buy-ins’ offer seats directly into the FTOPS events (when scheduled) and the $1 Million Sunday tournament, these start at around 2,500 points and again give our up to 36 seats regardless of the total number of entrants. 9,000 and 12,000 point single table SNGs are also available which offer seats in the big Sunday tournaments or FTOPS events when these are scheduled.
Full Tilt Poker Satellites Guide - $26 and Under
The smaller ‘real money’ poker satellites are often stage #1 qualifiers – awarding tournament tokens for the larger online satellite tournaments. The advantage of these is that your choices are very wide – with a number of SNG sizes and MTT qualifiers available in various game types depending on the event you are trying to qualify for.
The $20 and under cash qualifiers are on a fixed incremental buy-in schedule which starts at just $2+25c going up through to $10 in small ($1) increments. Usually you are trying to win a tournament token for either the $24+$2 or $69+6 satellites at these tables – though depending on the exact buy-in you could win a seat directly or a super-satellite entry into the large buy-in events.
Full Tilt Poker Satellites Guide - $100 and Under
As we get to the $40+4, $50+$5 and $69+6 and levels you are not only looking at direct entries into the bigger buy-in events – you will see a very good ratio of seats to entrants, especially good when considering that many of the field will be inexperienced (not have read the SNG Planet Poker Satellite Strategy Articles!!) and will have qualified for a smaller buy-in.
These are the key satellites when it comes to qualifying for the larger buy-in FTOPS or World Series events – for a reasonable initial outlay and some thinking poker you can easily end up in one of the main event super-satellites or simply book your seat in the FTOPS event of your choice.
There are also many single table SNG satellites in this price range (again you could use your tournament tokens to enter these as well as cash). These award seats directly into the larger online tournaments and range from $33 up to $69 (+ fees)
Full Tilt Poker Satellites Guide – Supersatellites
The biggest online satellite qualifiers of all are known as ‘Supersatellites’ these have buy-ins of $100 or more and will award seats into the many live poker events and also into the highest buy-in online events of all (for example the $1k buy-in Monday evening tournament).
Supersatellite entry fees will depend on the events you are trying to qualify for – which then depends on where we are in the ‘poker year’. Examples include the $200+$16 satellite to the $1k FTOPS Six-max event – SNG tournaments are also available with many buy-ins in the $150 to $265 range.
Find out for yourself why Full TiltPoker is considered one of the top rated online poker rooms – you can satellite into the FTOPS, World Series or Sunday $350k Gtd while clearing the generous 100% to $600 Sign-up Bonus.