Road to Riches
The road to riches starts by succeeding in online multi-table satellites. These tournaments give players a chance to win seats at bigger poker tournaments for a fraction of the buy-in.
The buy-ins for multi-table satellites typically range from $20 to $200, but are sometimes as cheap as $1. Of course, the cheaper the buy-in, the more people you need to beat. On his way to the 2003 World Series of Poker title, for example, Chris Moneymaker's satellite buy-in was $40.
The low buy-in and high potential payout make satellites very attractive for the everyday poker player. Moneymaker's buy-in of $40 morphed into millions of dollars and poker glory, incentive enough to make almost any player hop on the next satellite, hoping for an out-of-this-world experience.
Low buy-in satellites ($1-$50), the ones we're discussing here, typically have anywhere from 10 to over 1,000 people playing. There is usually at least one seat, and potentially many more, available to be won in the subsequent tournament. You should know how many seats are up for grabs and remember that your goal is simple. Win a seat, nothing more, nothing less.
So what's your strategy? In the early stages of a satellite, especially one with an ultra-low buy-in ($10 or less), you can pretty much count on having a number of aggressive gamblers sitting at your table. These players will not hesitate to go all in with rags since all they have to lose are a few dollars. You need to keep cool and be patient, waiting out these aggressive gamblers. Their loose play will eventually leave them exposed to one of your strong hands.
If you find yourself with a strong hand like AA, KK, QQ, AK, consider going all in pre-flop. Aggressive gamblers may call with much weaker hands, and they occasionally get lucky, but most of the time you should be able to double up your stack.
That being said, if a strong hand fails to present itself early on, do not be tempted to get into a coin-toss match with anyone. In other words, if you're going to play less than spectacular starting hands, then make sure they don't cost you too much to call.
If you're lucky and the flop hits, then you're in very good shape indeed, since it will be tough to put you on any particular hand. But what's more likely to happen is that the flop won't hit. In that case, you should just fold and get out of the way.
As the play heats up and the blinds increase, hopefully you have already managed to snare a few pots. At this point, make a mental note of how your chip count compares to your opponents. If you notice that you're starting to fall behind the average amount each player holds, loosen up your play a bit. Remember that if the blinds are starting to eat, rather than nibble away at your chip stack, then playing tight is a sure way to go out with a whimper.
Accordingly, when the blinds start reaching larger amounts, it also means that stealing them becomes more attractive. Again, if your stack is on the small side, it's time to get aggressive, especially pre-flop. Don't be afraid to move all in with less than superlative pocket cards. You really have nothing to lose, except an opportunity to steal the blinds or get lucky on a flop.
In addition, the blinds are also worth stealing if you have been lucky enough to accumulate an above average chip stack. As the tournament gets down to the nitty-gritty, many players will tighten up, not wanting to blow up late, especially if there are a number of seats available to be won. Opponents, who believe they might have just enough chips to coast with, will be more than willing to fold to you in hopes that you'll show down with, and eliminate a desperate short-stacked player.