Dara O'Kearney (Satellite Specialist) - Ask Me Anything about satellites/knockouts

[Stevoodoo]

Satellite

If you are on bb next hand and your stack is so low you would probably be out next hand do you call with what you have or let the all in next hand be the decider?

 

[tzuriel]

Hi Dara. Hope you can take the time to read this and respond

I really don't play satellites that much but thought I would start. I want to play higher buy in tourneys but my BR won't let me yet!

This one went really well. This is the literal bubble with 6 players to go and 5 get a ticket. I am pretty sure this was the right thing but with the structure, I started questioning myself. Should I be folding AJo here? ICMizer says to shove with any two here. Does that change with a satellite? I used a satellite configuration (1-5 get 20%) in ICMizer so I think it's set up correctly


Just an unlucky river? My luck always seems to run out badly w/ AJo. I am happy to have to put my money in as a 70% favorite but being the bubble boy is never fun! At least I have learned that I can play in these satellites. But I am sure I need to learn more about how to play them. I'll have to go read your thread and get our book!


Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD Poker Tracking Software

NL Holdem 0+0 (6000.00BB)
BTN ($49200)
SB ($104502)
BB ($93735)
UTG ($112921)
HJ ($81004)
HERO ($93638)

Dealt to Hero: J♠ A♥

UTG Folds, HJ Folds, HERO Raises To $93638 (allin), BTN Folds, SB Folds, BB Calls $87038

Flop ($192676): 9♦ 4♠ 7♦

Turn ($192676): 9♦ 4♠ 7♦ Q♥

River ($192676): 9♦ 4♠ 7♦ Q♥ 3♦

Spoiler

BB shows: K♦ J♦

BB wins: $192676

 

[SPANKYSN]

Dara,
I won 2 € 250 tickets into the € 40,000 Supermoon Bounty tournament. The second one expires December 9th. The tournament is on the first Sunday of the month. One re-entry is allowed for the first 8 levels.


My question is this: Would the best strategy be to play very aggressively at the start, and use ticket number 2 to re-enter if I lost all my chips? Or would it be best to play ticket 2 the next month?


Another question: Are you playing in this tournament November 7th? Do many pros play in this type of tournament?


Thank you in advance for your advice.


Howard

 

[Dara OKearney]

Hi Dara! What goal should I set before the tournament to get into itm?

Just try to make the best decision in every situation. Don't worry about how big or small your stack is in relation to the average: all that matters is that you play every hand as well as you can.

Thanks for your question!

 

[Dara OKearney]

Hi Dara and thank you for your reply!!


i would really love to have some advice from you since you are a pro specialized in mtts and sats!!!

i am trying to get a bankroll big enough to play the big events and i want to do it from centrolls...
but what a battlefield!
right now i play the wpt centrolls, yesterday it went well, i got 3 tickets of 3,3€!
the furthest i went was to 33€, still have to do go to 320 and the have one of the 15 tickects to enter the wpt!
what an adenture, my question is have you ever got to such a big event from centroll ???
i also play sats like 1,1 sat to like 11€ mtt like ninja or terminator which are fields that i like!
but when i battle to go through the sats i arrive a bit tired to the actual tournaments and the last three i always got busted with AA allin preflop against JJ, QQ ...
could you tell me from your experience if my strategy is correct and after how many mtts should i check my ability reward!
right now i didn't do any final table at those 1500 players mtt!
i would like to have at least 1500€ bankroll to consider really start...
considering anything more advanced, my aim is to have enough bankroll online to sponsor my moves in real live tournaments like wpt and pay travel expenses etc//
like being self sponsored and online mtts is great fun and experience to me!

does any of this makes sense to you???
in fact i would love you to help me know where i am at and evaluate my skills and strategy to get there!
well i hope you can get me a hint or two and understand what i am going through!
well good day to you then and wish you fun at the tables///

from Meyrueis, France
Gaspard

Bonjour Gaspard,

It's possible to get from centroll to a big event but you have to get very lucky. If you play enough of them it'll happen eventually but it could take a very long time. Not exactly a centroll but the first time I qualified for the wsop main event I went from $1 > $10 .$100 >$600 >$12k package

Realistically you need a 2000 mtt sample size to have a reasonable idea of your ability level. For a really reliable one you need a 20k sample.

It's a very difficult path and you have to prepare yourself for a lot of disappointment and hard work. I wish you the very best luck!

 

[1sunchin]

Hello Dara!

It's final table situation in pokerstars KO $2.2:







Do you have any advices?

 

[Dara OKearney]

Recently bought your satellite book and read a dozen pages yesterday. I am a beginner of poker started playing 2 months ago.

Entered a freeroll on stars, SCOOP afterparty tickets, higher level you finish bigger ticket you get. So I played it like a series of satellites where once you bubble one level you get a freeroll at the next level.

Finished ~30/12000, 5th level $109 buyin.

This was mostly thanks to the very useful tip in your book of being able to fold everything if you are more places inside the bubble than people outside of it.

I would not have realised how safe I was without that knowledge and played more hands, busting out much earlier most likely.

I am delighted with my instant 18x return on the cost of your book. Thank you.

Hi Tony,

Well done, and thanks for letting me know how you got on. Wishing you all the best in your continuing poker journey!

 

[UnibetAndy]

Dara,
I won 2 € 250 tickets into the € 40,000 Supermoon Bounty tournament. The second one expires December 9th. The tournament is on the first Sunday of the month. One re-entry is allowed for the first 8 levels.


My question is this: Would the best strategy be to play very aggressively at the start, and use ticket number 2 to re-enter if I lost all my chips? Or would it be best to play ticket 2 the next month?


Another question: Are you playing in this tournament November 7th? Do many pros play in this type of tournament?


Thank you in advance for your advice.


Howard

Quickly going to hi-jack this and say if you don't get a chance to use tickets in Nov/Dec then send me a PM with one of your table aliases and I'll extend the ticket for you.

 

[Dara OKearney]

If you could give 5 tips to amateur poker players that want to start making an income of at least 500 dollars a month, what would they be?

Interesting question:
(1) Play online rather than live. It's just more efficient and expenses are lower
(2) Study at least as manty hours as you week. If you're a winning player it's tempting to just keep playing, but studying will increase your ROI (and conversely not studying will almost certainly result in a lower ROI over time)
(3) Game select. Target smaller fields (lower variance) on softer sites without too many pros
(4) Focus on PKOs. These are the softest tournaments online right now, particularly if you know the necessary strategic adjustments needed in them
(5) Get involved in a community (like Cardschat, the best one) or a smaller groups of friends to lend moral support in downswings, and to bounce ideas and questions off

 

[Dara OKearney]

I'd just like to say that Dara's book is fantastic

After reading thru it I won not 1, but 2 Venom Sattelites (on my next 2 entries)

First win was in a $95 mega satty paying around 30 seats ($2650 value)

Second win was in a $95 satty paying 13 seats ($2650 value)

The guerilla maths and concepts introduced really are a game changer for this format.

I didn't memorize the exact ranges offered in the book, but having exposed myself to them a few things over gave me the intuitive sense of just how wide I could push in some spots, and just how wide some other regs would be pushing in said spots too.

This was a big lessons for me because i'd always assumed everyone was just playing super tight in satties near the bubble, but there's much more to it than that.

Thanks for putting together a great work Dara, certainly a book that will make many students many monies!!!

P.S. I cashed the Venom for about $8200 on my first entry... pretty good ROI starting from a $90+5 satellite

Thanks Evan, great to hear you got something from the book, and that you used it as we intended. We definitely don't recommend memorising the ranges: the focus should always be on understanding how the ranges change and what the shape shoould look like.

Good luck with your own book coming soon!

 

[CRStals]

Hey Dara!! Huge fan of yours, and good luck in the WSOP main event!! I want to pick your brain on PokerStars Grand Tour....not sure how familar you are with it but it's a shootout progressive KO tournament where you can buy-in at any level but need to win your table with a bounty above $50 to cash it out and blinds go up every 4 hands at the 3 lower buy-in levels and 6 hands at the 2 highest levels and you start with roughly 20BB (depends on your bounty)


My questions:
- Many players like to shove first hand. What calling range do you believe is ideal to call a all-in shove first hand if you cover them, and if you don't cover them?
- If you are faced with a call to win 2 or 3 bounties, how wide of a range do you think you'd call with?
- Roughly what VPIP & PFR would you think a winning player would play?
- How aggressive should a player be? More than a standard table or less?

 

[Psyko_76]

Hi Dara,

Before reading your book about PKO, do you recommend a solid knowledge about regular no limit holdem? I can imagine you need to be skilled before you need to know how to adjust for PKO. What do you think?

Thanks, Jasper

 

[pirateglenn]

Hi Dara

Thank you for being part of this amazing community and for sharing your knowledge and skillsets.
My question relates to off table pursuits and time away from poker that may/may not benefit your on table performance - is there any tips you can share with ways you have managed your upswings and downswings with poker throughout your career to date? Hobbies, ways to relax, methods you may have used to focus the mind?

Really keen to know your thoughts on this and i wish you continued success at this great game.

AR AR AR AR

Pirateglenn

 

[1sunchin]

Hello Dara!

When I want to play some tournament on PokerStars, I always look for a satellites to that tournament. And last time I like to play 4-max Hyper-turbo 2x-shootout sats (max 16 players and 500 starting chips and 2 tickets + rest of money in prize). For example Bounty Builder KO $11 35K Guaranteed sat I can play for $1.45 only. First stage - 4 tables 4max shootout and 2d stage - 1 table 4max and 2 tickets + some money for 3d player.
When I played that sats I see 2 style of playing - TAG and LAG, and both styles won.
What do you think, what style is more profitable for that sats?
Do you have any advices about tactics or strategy for playing?

Thanks.

 

[scullkr]

Hi Dara,

Well I finally got to do it- here is me about to fold AA when locked up in a €250 ticket satellite

Congratulations on the third book. I am just getting into it but it is illuminating so far.

A quick question re payout structures. You discuss the difference between flat and top heavy payout structures. While in smaller field sizes I can reasonably judge how flat or top heavy they are, in larger fields I struggle. Do you have any heuristics for this?

 

[Dara OKearney]

Hi Dara,

Is this just a cooler? Or should I just be calling and check-folding on the flop here?


Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD Poker HUD and Database Software

NL Holdem $0.41+$0.04 (600.00BB)
SB ($5369)
BB ($19034)
UTG ($34014)
HERO ($30295)
HJ ($12822)
CO ($23264)
BTN ($2675)

Dealt to Hero: J♦ J♥

UTG Raises To $2700, HERO Raises To $30295 (allin), HJ Folds, CO Folds, BTN Folds, SB Folds, BB Folds, UTG Calls $27595

Flop ($61865): A♣ K♦ 3♦

Turn ($61865): A♣ K♦ 3♦ Q♥

River ($61865): A♣ K♦ 3♦ Q♥ K♥

Spoiler

UTG shows: Q♦ A♦

UTG wins: $61865

Apologies for my absence the last few weeks: I was away at the WSOP.

OK, back to the questions.

This is a hard question to answer without knowing how big a factor ICM is.

If it's well before the bubble so it's not much of a factor we should be mixing calls (mostly) with some raises preflop. If it's a big factor (like near a bubble or near or on a final table) then we should only be calling jacks in this spot, never raising, because we don't block the continuing range and will be in bad shape against it.

If we do just flat pre, we can just fold the flop facing a bet as it's one of rthe very worst flops for our hand.

Thanks for the question!

 

[uri73796]

teach me how to play knockout tournaments

 

[PPT]

I've seen some people mention multi-table even up to 180 people Sit & Go's and similar - how's that any different to a classic tournament? Other than I suppose no rebuys and no late registration.

Also where's a good place to play Sit & Go's? I've had some luck playing on 888 especially with the Double or Nothing format, but their Double or Nothing format is only available with 40c and $1 buy ins and they don't have any multi table sit and go's that I can see.

 

[Dara OKearney]

Dara

I play on intertops and have won multiple 10+1 tourney tickets. I don't have a big enough bankroll for any reentrys. Can you estimate how big of a strategic/equity disadvantige this will be and do you have any advice for how i should approach the tourney.

In the sattys i play i usually buyin plus immediately take a reentry(effectively buying in double for a double stack) and take the addon. Most of the other players do the same.

David

Is the addon the same amount of chips as starting stack and rebuy?

 

[Dara OKearney]

I've enjoyed all your books. Might you be doing a giveaway on this one as well? If I win a copy I will proof read it as I did the last and send a copy of the typos to Barry for the next edition. Cheers.

I'll talk to Barry to arrange a giveaway

 

[caracaski220]

caracaski220

You are mainly a stellite player , and have won over a million in sties. However once you win a seat you are a regular MTT player. Is this were you have made huge profits?

 

[caracaski220]

caracaski220

I have won several 6.000 player satelllites and more were there are many seats and a lot fewer players, close to the event , as you suggested. My problem is that having won a satellite, sometimes I shrug of the value, because it didn't cost me, and don't play as well as I normally would.

 

[Dara OKearney]

Hello Dara,

Thank you for all you do for us at CC. My strategy question is about: How to play post flop against one caller and you have hit a set, but the flop is also 2 or even all 3 cards just one suit? I like to make a close to pot size bet here but if villain calls, you just almost know he is gonna run you down with a flush. Of course a paired board on the turn ends this scenario. If turn is not a club I tend to jam pretty hard out of fear I think. I hate losing a hand after making a set but I don't think my approach is the most profitable one. Appreciate your comments. Again thank you.

Like everything else in poker, it's situational and the answer is "it depends". But as a very broad generalisation, I tend to favour big bets on two to a flush board (to get value from flush draws and anything else that can call when I have a strong hand, and to apply pressure on marginal hands when I'm bluffing) and smaller bets on three to a flush board (if we have the flush we don't want to scare our opponent away, and if we are bluffing we want to do so cheaply: there shouldn't be too much difference between what opponent folds to a small or big bet).

Thanks for your question, and hope this helps!

 

[Dara OKearney]

I'll get back to answering questions soon but just wanted to let you all know I recently did a Twitch stream with my buddy Kevin Martin where we did this hand quiz Barry and I put together:

https://barrydara.involve.me/icm-quiz

You can watch the replay at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1221287554

 

[Dara OKearney]

Hi Dara,
Considering KO tournament, if Im not wrong, never late sign-in.
How about rebuy, makes sense...
And considering final table, play aggressive or what..

Thanks a lot and best regards,
Alex

Hi Alex,

Yes, never late reg a PKO, or rebuy. The final table should ne played a bit more aggressively than you would in a non PKO because of the additional bounties, but don't over do this. At the start of a PKO (typically) half the prize pool is in bounties, but by the final table it's a much smaller fraction so you should mainly concentrate on trying to finish as high as you can.

Thanks for your question!