Championship Satellite Strategy

by Tom McEvoy

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Reviewer: pjensen

A satellite is a small poker tournament (usually one table, but sometimes more) where the winner(s) receives an entry into a bigger and more expensive tournament. Although they have existed for almost as long as poker tournaments themselves, until recently they weren’t as well known. But ever since Chris Moneymaker won his way into the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event through a $40 satellite, they have become much more popular, particularly online.

While you can usually find a satellite for any big poker tournament, Championship Satellite Strategy only discusses limit and no-limit hold’em. The book introduces the reader to what a satellite is, how they work, the various types of satellites (single-table, multi-table, rebuy, online), typical chip counts and blind structures, the positives and negatives of playing in one, and winning strategy for each round of play.

Unfortunately, that last item is where this book falls short. The authors have some decent advice – what starting hands to play in what position, how to play at the different blind levels, playing the big stack and the short stack, stealing blinds, etc. The problem I found is that very little of it is in any way satellite-specific. It’s a lot of the same tournament strategy tips that you’ll find in other, better books. If you have any sort of tournament experience, you won’t learn anything new (and if you are a beginner, you probably shouldn’t be playing satellites for bigger tournaments).

Another area that I found disappointing was that a majority of the strategy advice seems to be geared toward limit events. While limit tournaments are still played, they are few and far between. No-limit is what you’ll find a huge majority of the time, and it would have made more sense if the book concentrated more in that area.

The book is not completely without merit, though. The authors do have some good tips when it comes to the end of a satellite, particularly when it comes to deal making. There is some good money management advice – whether or not to rebuy in a super-satellite, how many rebuys to plan for, how often to single-satellite your way into a major tournament, how the entry fee affects your buy-in decisions, etc. And there are some personal stories from the authors that are interesting to read.

Championship Satellite Strategy does a decent job of explaining the “what” and the “why” of satellites, but doesn’t have much to offer in the “how” category. If you are looking for some magical advice that will help you win satellites, you won’t find it here. It’s worth reading once, but you probably won’t benefit from having it in your permanent poker library.

Note: I believe that Championship Satellite Strategy was reprinted in 2005 as Win Your Way Into Big Money Hold'em Tournaments. If you order the former title, you will most likely receive the latter one, but as far as I know they are the same book.

2/5 

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