Any poker player has a chance to play with the pros and appear on TV in the process, and it needn't break the bank - some people have achieved this with a few dollars of their own money, never mind $100s or $1000s.
You can be a TV star & play with the pros for a few dollars. Even if your childhood dream is of becoming a sportsman like a tennis player, it is unlikely that you will be able to play alongside the pros, and shown on television to millions. However, any poker player has a chance to play with the pros and appear on TV in the process, and it needn't break the bank - some people have achieved this with a few dollars of their own money, never mind $100s or $1000s.
The power of satellite tournaments - Normal buy ins for these TV tournaments, are usually $10,000(e.g. WPT events). Of course, not everyone can afford to pay $10,000 to enter a tournament. This is where satellites come in. A poker room will typically buy a $10,000 seat on behalf of its players, and hold a mini tournament, where the winner receives the seat. For example it can operate a smaller tournament with 1000 entrants who each pay $10 each to enter(thus covering the costs of the seat, although typically it will charge a bit more e.g. $11 to give it a profit margin). Thus for $10 you have a chance of winning the seat.
Feeder Satellites & Super Satellites - Many poker rooms now operate a system where they have a final poker tournament called a 'super satellite', where the winner receives the seat for the TV tournament, say at a buy in of $10 per entrant(as in the above example). But, for those who want to pay even less, you can qualify for this $10 buy-in tournament, by winning any of the many feeder satellites they will also run, which say costs $1 to enter, with 10 players, and the winner gets into the super satellite. Thus for $1 you have a chance of winning the seat! One word of caution is that you must understand, that you now how to beat more people to win the ultimate prize - you will have to beat everyone in your feeder satellite, then everyone in the super satellite, then win the TV event itself. People who enter the TV event directly, don't have to beat the people in the feeder and super satellite tournaments. But what do you expect for $1? |
