4 Satellite Tournament Strategy Tips

 Poker Strategy
Feb 222026
 

Satellite tournaments are smaller buy-in tournaments where you compete to win a seat in a large poker even for a much smaller cost than you would pay to buy directly into the big event.  The amount of seats the satellite tournament awards is determined by the amount of players in the satellite and the difference in buy-in between the satellite tournament and the big event.  The ratio difference between the buy-in of the big event and the buy-in of the satellite will be the same ratio between the amount of players who bought into the satellite tournament and the amount of seats that are awarded.  For example if you are playing in a $10 satellite to a $500 event, 1 out of every 50 players wins a seat.  Satellites are great opportunities for players to try to take a shot at some big games that fall without their bankroll management range.

The huge difference between satellite tournaments and regular tournaments is that there is no difference in prize between every player who cashes.  All the winning players receive the same thing, that being a seat or a token to a larger tournament.  This difference can change your strategy in a few ways that we have outlined below.

See a lot of flops early on

As a rule of thumb, satellite tournaments have more fish than regular tournaments.  A lot of winning players don’t see satellites as a good use of their time, because you don’t actually win any money.  The fact there are a lot of fish means you should see a lot of flops early on and try to make a big hand to double up with.  That being said you should still only be making good calls from good positions and not wasting your chips.  Success in a satellite tournament is made a lot easier if you have chips early on.

Avoid coin flip situations early

You don’t want to risk your tournament on a coin flip early on.  IN most satellite tournaments your starting stack is of a greater value than half of a doubled up stack.  This is because the entire goal of a satellite tournament is survival.  Of course the degree of this changes depending on what percentage of the players in the tournament win a seat.

Late tournament big stack play

If you were able to accumulate a large stack through the early and middle stages of the tournament you should now be playing tight and holding onto the chips that you have.  Avoid confrontation with other tall stacks that can do harm to you.  If you have enough chips to wait out the tournament, then do so.  An example would be if you are in 5th out of 22 players in a satellite tournament that awards 18 seats and you are dealt QQ.  The chip leader raised the pot from early position.  This is a time when you should probably fold this hand and just try to wait out 4 more busts.  Since the relative value of the extra chips you would earn by winning this hand is basically 0, there is no reason whatsoever for you to risk busting out of the tournament when you have enough chips to survive.

Late tournament short stack play

If you weren’t able to accumulate many chips through the early stages and are now one of the short stacks you need to try to win chips and avoid bubbling.  In satellite tournaments the best players to raise are the medium stack players who you can still do damage to and who are trying to wait out the last few busts.   You should be coming over top of their blinds from late position when you get the chance.  You should only go after the monster stacks and short stacks with quality hands.  The huge stacks aren’t really worried about winning a seat and will likely call just to try to finish the tournament faster.  Short stacks are in the same position as you and would be looking to double up with any good hand as well.

5 Tips To Help You Beat Carbon Poker Tier 1 & 2 Sit and Go’s

 Poker Strategy
Feb 192026
 

Carbon Pokers $8 tier 1 and $24 tier 2 sit and go tournaments can be very good value for the players who are able to use the tournament structure to their advantage.  The fact that 1 out of every 3 players get paid is different than most 18 player tournaments in which only 4 players cash.  The extra two players cashing, along with 1st through 5th being the same prize allows you to play a much tighter game in order to hold on for a cash.  Another reason the tournaments can be good value is because the first half of the tournament is played at two tables.  If your table doesn’t play as many hands as the other this means that there is a greater chance of players from the other table busting before players from yours.  A lot of players will just be scheduled tournament players who are used to very large fields and are just looking for tokens to some bigger buy-in MTT’s.  You can take advantage of these players by using the tournaments structure to your advantage.  Here’s how:

Play tight and aggressive early on

Your objective early in the tournament is to stay close to your starting chip count and not play many hands.  If you do get a big hand early of course you should play it and try to gain some chips or double up.  Play big hands aggressively at this stage though.  You do not want to let people catch hands against you and bust you from the tournament at this stage.  Remember to stay tight.  It’s actually possible to cash in these tournaments without every playing a hand.  Extremely rare, but possible.

Slow down your table

You can slow down your table by taking the maximum amount of time allowed for you to make every decision.  The logic behind this is that if your table plays fewer hands than the second table, the second table players will have more hands to possibly bust on, as well as have more blinds being put into the middle.  Obviously once you reach the final table this is no longer beneficial.

All in or fold with 10 times the big blind or less

Once the blinds have increased to a point where you have 10 times the big blind or less you have to start either pushing or folding.  You can no longer afford to call or raise because you don’t have enough chips to make moves after the flop.  At this point the only call you should possibly be making is from the small blind, with no other callers in front of you.

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Watch the blind increases

Once it gets down near the bubble the blinds will be very large.  At this point it would be smart to start managing the blinds are trying to be in the button seat when the big blinds increase.  The 200 chip difference between levels could be the little difference between bubbling and cashing.

 

Do not be the bubble boy

This goes without saying.  You do not want to finish in 7th position and have played the entire tourney with nothing to show for it.  If you are a shorter stack near the bubble you should be checking if you or other short stacks will be having their chips forced in first.  If other players will be forced in by the blinds before you, it may be smart to wait and hope that their cards don’t hold up when they are pushed all-in.  If it is you who will be the next person forced in you should be looking to push all-in sooner rather than later.  When choosing when to move in you should take into consideration your position, the other players chip stacks and tendencies and of course your hole cards.  A perfect situation would be pushing from the button with a good hand on players in about 4th or 5th who would not want to risk crippling their stacks and doubling you up.

On the other hand if you have managed to develop a large stack heading into the late stages of the tournament you should try to coast into the money and not risk your chips.  You should try not to play many pots with other large stacks.  Remember there is no difference in prize money between first and fifth so be stingy at this point and don’t risk your chips.

Sign up at Carbon Poker now and build your poker bankroll by using these poker strategy tips to take advantage of these great value tournaments!