Satellite Poker Tournaments Online
- Online Poker Satellite Tournaments
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Online poker sites offering satellite tournaments will usually provide satellites for their regular tournaments, especially those with large buy-ins and prize pools. You'll also find satellite tournaments for land based events, like the 2011 WSOP or the 2013 Irish Poker Open. Satellite tournaments are available for a fraction of the price of. You may be familiar with the term poker satellite due to Chris Moneymaker. Chris Moneymaker started off with a $40 buy-in to a poker satelliite tournament, and won entry to another poker satelitte tournament where he managed to progress through to the World Series of Poker main event, where he won the $2.5 million first prize. All that for $40. Keep in mind though, that many poker players are going to adopt a completely different type of playing strategy when taking part in a Satellite poker tournament, especially those that are played.
US Friendly Poker Sites Offer A Range Of Satellite Qualifiers To Both Live And Online Tournaments
Online Poker Satellite Tournaments
Update: Things are always changing with the offshore poker sites - and that includes my recommendation for the sites with the best satellite qualifiers. These sites run qualifiers for live events out in the Caribbean or Central America - though these pause during the winter months. As things stand the best qualifiers are running at America's Cardroom, which has satellites where you can win seats in their $1 million guaranteed online tournaments. I also started to include Intertops (on the Horizon Network) on these pages. This site are now offering qualifiers to WPT events for their players.
Free Online Satellite Poker Tournaments
You’ll find that the satellite qualifiers at the bigger US poker sites have some of the biggest prizes around. With $12,000 prize packages the top offers, you can take your pick of some huge events, as well as winning vacation packages (for example the Vegas) with tournament buy-ins and expenses worth a few thousand - the actual tournament depend on the season at home or abroad (think WSOP, EPT, Aussie Millions or WPT).
This article summarizes the satellite qualifiers you'll find at the offshore US sites. I’ll cover both live tournaments and qualifiers for the different online events – including the prizes available and the different ways you can win them. While these games are not as big as the pre Black Friday satellites, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what is on offer.
US Poker Satellite Qualifiers - America's Cardroom
Known by the acronym ACR Poker, America's Cardroom have been around in one form or another since 2001. They are now the 2nd biggest poker site (via the Winning Poker Network, which pools together players from several brands on one back-end). You can qualify for both online tournaments and the occasional live event here.
- A satellite tournament is a qualifying event that serves to offer players a less expensive opportunity to enter a bigger buy-in event. Satellite winners usually win the buy-in to a larger.
- One of the most lucrative tournaments among online poker players is the so-called “ satellite tournament “. Essentially, satellite tournaments do not offer money as the final prize. Instead, they provide an entry for another tournament which usually requires a much higher buy-in.
Live event qualifiers are usually based in the Caribbean or in Central America (for example Panama, and Punta Cana).Prize packages in the region of $2500 to $4000 include flights, accommodation and entry to the tournament events. These are seasonal, with most taking place throughout the summer months.
Online event qualifiers are a lot busier - and include satellites for entry into the biggest online tournament currently open to US players (the $1 million guaranteed, which runs every few months). You can also win entry into the $50k / $100k Sunday Majors as well as many other promotional events. You'll have a choice of Sit N Go or Tournament qualifiers and sub-qualifiers are usually in place for the bigger events too.
ACR Tournaments (and live event options) are increasing all the time - I recommend you keep a regular eye on their website (www.americascardroom.eu) to make sure you don't miss out.
US Poker Satellite Qualifiers - BetOnline Poker
Having said that, their tournaments (including satellite qualifiers) are not yet developed enough to offer too many options. You can quaify for promotional games like the $25k guaranteed, though there are rarely any bigger events worth running satellites for. It is worth keeping an eye on this site for future live event qualifiers, though all quiet for now. You can read my 2020 BetOnline Review here.
US Qualifier Tournaments Online - Intertops Poker
Intertops have been around the gambling industry for more than a decade, though they have only just reopened their doors to US players as part of the Revolution Poker Network.
This is a smaller site as things stand (though I am tipping them for growth in 2020). There is one notable satellite tournament offering though - you can win seats at some of the World Poker Tour events via this site. See www.intertops.eu for more.
US Poker Satellites – Carbon Poker
Important Notice: Carbon Poker now closed its doors to US players, this is a real shame, as the software was excellent and this used to be the leading US site. Things look like they are winding down at Carbon and I do not recommend depositing there from outsid of the US either.


You can win a $12,500 prize package to the major tournament of your choice each week at Carbon. This is paid in cash into your account, so you’ll need to stay disciplined with the money if you really want to play in an event like the World Series or World Poker Tour. There are also qualifiers for online events, including the $150,000 Sunday Major and the events for Carbon Poker’s regular tournament events including the awesome Poker Maximus and Turbo Ops.
What you’ll like about these qualifiers is the large number of entry points, including multi-table and single table tournaments. You win your way from $2.20c games, through $11, then $60 before hitting the $275 grand final – or you can buy-in to any stage you wish.

Carbon offer the most competitive welcome package of any US poker site. This is a 100% match on your first deposit (max $1k), free download of their on-screen stats (HUD) software and 1 month at pro training site Drag-the-Bar… if that was not enough (!) then you can earn up to 35% daily cashback too. Check out the cool software at Carbon, which includes user triggered animations over at CarbonPoker.ag (link removed pending resolution of player payment issues)
Summing It Up… My Top Pick
This is an easy top choice... America's Cardroom currently have the more interesting packages to shoot for, this includes qualifiers for online tournaments as well as live events. Check out Americascardroom.eu for the latest offers!

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Satellite Poker Tournaments Online Poker
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