Assessing Satellite Success
Could this be a Schrödinger success? I have both won and not won, only opening the box and playing the game reveals its true nature.
As with all poker players, the dream is to go to Vegas and play in the World Series of Poker. Each year I would commit a month or two and a chunk of my bankroll to grinding the WSOP satellites. After 3 "years" of trying, I was fortunate enough to win a package to the WSOP in 2012.
For a while now, I have reassured myself that if I just keep plugging away, keep getting to these bigger target events, then eventually one will coincide with some rungood and success will be mine, at last!
A while back someone, probably my wife, suggested I would be better off winning money, instead of tickets. I fobbed it off, clearly she doesn't understand the nuances of the situation, satellites and regular MTTs are different, they play different, the prizes are different, I've invested time and money to learn how to be better at satellites, and one of these days, one of those tickets is going to convert to a big win.
But now, while the rest of the statements are still true, I'm not so sure about that last one, I'm not sure I can hang with the big guns at the higher stakes. I'm being outplayed, outmanoeuvred, time after time I'm getting myself into these bigger buyin events and time and time again, things just aren't going my way, I seem to sparring ok, but never growing my stack.
This week, I played a $5.50 satellite on partypoker, won a $22 ticket and used that to win a seat in partypoker's $215 Sunday Millions-esque tournament. It was an all too familiar experience for me. I seem to be pretty successful in the satellites but whenever I play the big target event, I find that nothing seems to go my way. I don't get the hands, my draws don't get there, I lose the flips. Typically, I'll reflect on how these bigger target events played out and just put it down to bad luck. Not in a badbeat kinda of way, just you know what it's like, sometimes you play and things just don't go your way. But the thing is, given my satellite prowess (thanks Dara), there appears to be a pattern developing. Anything under $100 goes well, but every time I play a $100+ buy-in I end up with this "not going my way" thing. Which, anecdotal as it is, suggests it's not bad luck but my ability at that level.
I just can't hang with the higher stakes players.
Only so long you can put it down to bad luck.
So while satellites might be my area of expertise, I have come to realise the target events, are not. So I have decided to swear off satellites unless winning a live package is the prize itself because otherwise I'm just the dead money in the bigger buy-in events, and that doesn't seem like a success.
But now, while the rest of the statements are still true, I'm not so sure about that last one, I'm not sure I can hang with the big guns at the higher stakes. I'm being outplayed, outmanoeuvred, time after time I'm getting myself into these bigger buyin events and time and time again, things just aren't going my way, I seem to sparring ok, but never growing my stack.
This week, I played a $5.50 satellite on partypoker, won a $22 ticket and used that to win a seat in partypoker's $215 Sunday Millions-esque tournament. It was an all too familiar experience for me. I seem to be pretty successful in the satellites but whenever I play the big target event, I find that nothing seems to go my way. I don't get the hands, my draws don't get there, I lose the flips. Typically, I'll reflect on how these bigger target events played out and just put it down to bad luck. Not in a badbeat kinda of way, just you know what it's like, sometimes you play and things just don't go your way. But the thing is, given my satellite prowess (thanks Dara), there appears to be a pattern developing. Anything under $100 goes well, but every time I play a $100+ buy-in I end up with this "not going my way" thing. Which, anecdotal as it is, suggests it's not bad luck but my ability at that level.
I just can't hang with the higher stakes players.
Only so long you can put it down to bad luck.
So while satellites might be my area of expertise, I have come to realise the target events, are not. So I have decided to swear off satellites unless winning a live package is the prize itself because otherwise I'm just the dead money in the bigger buy-in events, and that doesn't seem like a success.
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