Having played more than my fair share of freeroll satellites lately (hey, they’re cheap – when a donkey makes a horrific call to crack my hand, I can’t complain much), I’ve made a few observations about them that may help you survive them.

1. Don’t play the early stages. The first few rounds bring nothing but misery. If you do play, understand that it will suck out if it can and your monster starting hand will likely get cracked. I’ll spare the gory details of bad beat stories, but I’ve had aces cracked by 7-6 off-suit hitting a full house and a big pre-flop bet called by 7-4 off-suit. I just pushed with A-J suited before the flop and was called by 8-2 off-suit which won when a deuce hit the river. That’s the level of donkery we’re talking about. Read the rest of this entry