PS $2.20 Sats to Sunday $200k

[lwestatbus]

Hi, All. I haven't been posting much for several months. I think I may be back now. We'll see.

Anyway, I've found a new favorite tournament format, the Stars $2.20 Satellites to the Sunday $200k. There are two versions. At 25 after the hour all day and also at 55 after the hour in the evenings there is an unlimited registration version and then there is a 36-player SnG verstion operating continuously. (The SnG format doesn't seem to be offered on Sundays, though.) The payoff is one $11.00 buy-in to the Sunday $200k for every (you guessed it) $11.00 in the prize pool with the residual being paid in cash to the bubble-boy/girl. I always unregister from the Sun $200K and convert the buy-in to Tournament Dollars (T$).

I like the 36-player SnGs because they are cheap and are almost always finished in an hour, both of which are important to me. I do well enough at these to be growing my T$ account which I then use to buy into tournaments (often $10 SnGs) that I wouldn't really fund from my real dollar account. I'd like to buy into larger regular tournaments but time remains an issue.

The biggest reason I like these games actually has to do with my FL ring game performance. After a horrendous downslide and considerable analysis I've become disciplined to not even get into a game unless the table stats meet my criteria. Since very few do (with open seats anyway), these $2.20 Sats let me play in a constrained time period when I really feel like playing without bending my criteria for ring games.

The downside of these games is like the double-or-nothings in that basically 1/6th of the players make the same amount so there is no incentive to position yourself for a Top 1 or 2 finish. When I do win in these tournaments it is often by the skin of my teeth. While I think the early- and mid- game strategy would be similar I know I'll have to retool my end-game for 'real' tournaments.