BlondeFish

Step 1:
- $70 ($53 + $17), 24% fees/rake. Last year's Step 1 had 19% fees ($73 + $17).
- 1st place wins seat to $460 satellite. 2nd place gets replay in $70 satellite.
- 1000 chips, 10-minute levels.
- Casino Niagara only, Thursday - Sunday.
- Patience Factor < 1, Skill Level 0!

Step 2:
- $460 ($418 + $42), 9% fees. Last year's Step 2 two-table format had 5% fees ($607 + $33).
- Top 3 gets seat to $1,240 Step Q satellite. 4th gets $460 replay.
- 2000 chips. Last year's Step 2 had 25% more starting chips at 2,500.
- 20-minute levels.
- Saturday at Casino Niagara, Sunday - Friday at Fallsview.
- Patience Factor = 2.7, Skill Level = 1.

Step A:
- $170 ($141 + $29), 17% fees. $290 in fees will be taken away from the players for every Step A satellite, or over 20% more than the $240 last year ($136 + $24).
- 1st place gets seat to $1,240 Step Q satellite. 2nd gets $170 replay.
- 1200 chips, 15-minute levels.
- Daily.
- Patience Factor = 1.3, Skill Level = 0.

Step Q:
- $1,240 ($1,154 + $86), 7% fees. $860 in fees will be taken away from the players for every Step Q satellite, which is a whopping 72% more than the $500 last year ($1150 + $50)!
- 1st place gets NAPC entry. 2nd place gets $1,240 replay.
- 3000 chips, 30-minute levels.
- Saturday (daily starting on October 1).
- Patience Factor = 6.2, Skill Level = 4.

You can phone 1-866-576-5375 for WPT information.

To see the huge advantage of participating in rake-free satellites, let's say that 81 forumers last year couldn't find any rake-free satellites so we all drove down to the casino (or less players playing multiple satellites). It would have cost us $12,960 in buy-ins to play the Step A satellites and $2,660 would have been taken out in fees, with one of us winning the $10,300 seat. This year, it would cost us $13,770 in buy-ins or almost $1,000 more to win one seat, with the fees increasing to $3,470 which is equivalent to a 25% rake! Now if only those forumers were willing to play in rake-free satellites or league, then they would save 25% or $3,470, or alternatively, that $3,470 can be used to award prizes to three more players.

While any card room has the right to maximize its revenue, the minority of smart poker players also have the option of trying to get the most bang for their WPT buck. If you know anybody that had previously played or is planning to play in a WPT satellite, please ask them if they want to participate in a rake-free satellite/league. Even if it's just one home game satellite for a $460 seat, that savvy group of players at least saves 24% or $170 from playing in a Step 1 satellite.

Fallsview does not have to worry as the fact is that most people just want to gamboool and don't care about things such as rake, Patience Factor or playing in -EV games. There will once again be more than a thousand Fallsview satellites. Hopefully this year, there will be more than the three rake-free satellites that were organized by forumers last year.

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May your EV always be positive.

Voodoo

WOW.. Speaking as someone that played many of the Satelites last year I can say you definitely won't see me there this year.

The change in the Step 1 and 2 is absolutely brutal. This is nothing short of a cash grab to increase revenue. The Step 1's had no problem filling last year as did the step 2's so there is no argument that the decrease in price is to make it affordable for all players. I would love to hear any other reasoning or justification on this change other than it being a cash grab and raping of the players.

If you're planning on playing Fallsview WPT Satellites I would suggest bringing a tube of KY jelly.

Quimby

Thanks for doing the homework.

I'll be keeping my eyes open for a rake free satellite that I can attend.

westside8

Thats enough reasoning as it is already. Making it more affordable = more players will be able to afford them - and like BF said, most players that will play in those are there to gamble and not to maximize their dollars - so just more justification for the card room to take more money out of the poker players pocket and put it in their own.

GTA Poker

Yet another reason why Ontario casinos are the worst on the continent

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That level 5 trap really paid off...ship him the cookies.

Preroller

wow, def. not going down this year to qualify...that is brutal.

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HUP HOLLAND! I don't even fold my own laundry

coolblue24

Blondefish, do you know why they are waiting until October 1st to start running the Step Q's?

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I want to be like Mike!

Voodoo

Cool.. I think you may have misread that. To me it looks like they are running them on Saturdays then on Oct 1st they will begin running them daily as well.

zunni74

Can someone who ran a rake-free game last year please PM me. I'm very interested in hosting 1 or 2 of these for this years event.

They will be in Brantford, so you can head to the sino for some Limit action once you bust out

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"...the monkey looks to make sure we are not playing limit at Brantford." - Redington

BlondeFish

That is correct for the $1240 satellites.

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May your EV always be positive.

BlondeFish

For every $17,010 in Step 1 buy-ins (e.g., 243 gamboolers who don't participate in any rake-free satellites), one $10,300 seat will be awarded and $9,700 of that will remain in the players' prize pool. The remaining $7,310 or 43% is taken from the players' buy-ins and goes to the casino and staff. I am not deluded that I am the best of the 243 players and have enough of a skills edge to overcome a 43% rake, so I will probably avoid the $70 satellites, even if there are no rake-free satellites among forumers this year.

For the alternative path of playing the $170 Step A satellites, it requires $13,770 in buy-ins (e.g., 81 gamblers) to generate one NAPC seat, and a total of $4,070 or 30% is taken from the players. Unless you are one of the two best players out of the 81 and have enough of a skills edge to beat the 30% rake, it remains -EV to play the $170 satellites.

As I previously posted, PokerStars' 6-Step satellite program is actually worse (I can't link to my post since the forum's irritating automatic links messes things up). It is like buying a $7.50 lottery ticket and having to win the jackpot six times, but a lot of money is taken away from the players by the online site at each step and will total over 100% of the prize pool! Unless you just want to gambool, avoid starting at the low levels of multiple-step satellites that has a high rake at every single step. If other online satellites to $10K events are as highly -EV as PokerStars' Steps, then playing at the casino satellites is a better alternative.

If you want to play at the WPT NAPC, the best path is to play in rake-free satellites/leagues for a $460, $1260 or $10K seat. If you have the bankroll, the next best way is to buy in directly to the second-level satellites, e.g., $460 Step 2, and don't forget to bring a tube of KY jelly.

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May your EV always be positive.

BlondeFish

With not enough forum interest for any rake-free satellite, I drove to Fallsview Casino and signed up for every available WPT satellite. I managed to come away with a couple of vouchers! The $1,240 seat I won is fully transferable, so selling a voucher is an option, especially if I win more satellites. It can only be used on a Saturday, and it may take a couple of weeks before there is enough interest to run a $1,240 or $460 satellite.

There were errors/improvements in the original information given to me and the starting stacks for the $170 and $1,240 satellites are the same as last year - 1200 and 3000, respectively. I have updated my original post. Hopefully, the tentative structure for the $460 Step 2 STT will also be changed. Unlike the other three satellites which have to be played out until there is one player standing, the $460 is already over when there are three players left (each winning a $1,240 seat). With only 2000 starting chips and 20-minute blinds, the $460 will usually finish within 5-6 blind levels, compared to the $170 which will actually take more levels at 6-7! Both the $170 and $460 will take around two hours of playing time, but the total fees for each $170 sat. is $290 compared to a whopping $420 in fees for each $460 sat. In return for collecting 45% more fees, the $460 should offer a lot more playing time than the $170. A more reasonable structure would be to have 2,500 starting chips and 25-minute levels.

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May your EV always be positive.

westside8

I'm sure there will be more interest after the WSOP. Everyone is geared up for the WSOP right now...

GTA Poker

wow, didn't take you too long not to care at all about the rake

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That level 5 trap really paid off...ship him the cookies.

pokerJAH

rake is for chumps, not the Satellite King, aka Blondefish!