Are events with lots of satellites softer?

They may have gotten tougher, but tournaments with satellite qualifiers are still the best value games to play in poker.

One of the most important aspects of game selection when you are picking big tournaments to play is how many satellites they have running.

Barry and I often get unfairly criticised for "making the games tougher" when we wrote our satellite book. While we have helped a lot of players qualify for dream events, I think our biggest contribution has been to make those target events softer overall.

There are exceptions where satellites make an event tougher. Usually, that is when a big online operator hosts qualifiers for events in locations that are typically soft. The EPT is historically a good example of that, where PokerStars would send lots of tough online regs to places like Barcelona and Cyprus.

Satellites make MTTs softer

Typically, though, the more satellites that run, the softer the event. In fact, we often see things like the $109 Sunday Million is softer than a nightly $55 tournament on Stars, because the Milly has so many satellite qualifiers.

Where the qualifiers come from is also a big factor. I would much rather play in a live event where the satellite qualifiers have come from iPoker than from GGPoker, for example.

Even better if the satellites are 'must play' satellites, where multiple packages cannot be won. This disincentivises tough regulars from playing in the first place and ensures more players, who the satellites were designed for - recreational players wanting a fun experience - will be at the event.

We may have made satellites tougher, but satellites still make the target events softer, and you are welcome to buy us a drink to thank us for that.

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