Seats to WSOP:

One for every ,000 in the prize pool

Expect the quality of play to go up dramatically here and make sure you bring yourself down off whatever loose/turbo cloud you’ve been fl oating around on – the change of pace in a tourney like this is immense.

The tournament we qualified for had 473 players, which translates to 26 seats for the Main Event. The tourney is fairly deep-stacked with 2500 starting chips and starting blinds of 10-20 (going up to 15-30 after 30 minutes), so there’s time to settle back and play serious poker. People are going to be playing fairly tight, so bet your strong hands and try to get in cheaply with wired pairs and suited connectors if the pot’s offering decent odds.

Early doors

With blinds pitifully low you should be playing small-pot poker and avoid putting all your chips on the line unnecessarily. Respect raises and re-raises and make notes on everyone who plays on your table – you may well meet up with them again later on and it’ll keep you focused for what’s hopefully going to be the start of a long night.

And it’s just as well the level of play is good and the play supertight as 10 minutes in we flop a King-high flush. Alarm bells are ringing when one opponent checks and calls hefty bets twice, and when he checks again on the river, we check and he reveals the nut flush. After two big bets he thought he’d tempt another one off us on the river. The point here is that you always need to be aware of a hand that can beat you – it’s all about survival. Make the most of hands you get, play monsters aggressively and try and steal chips using position. The aim is to have an above average chip stack before the end game so you’re not at risk of getting blinded off or picked on by a horde of big stacks.

Safety first

Make sure you know exactly how many seats are going to be available because that’s where you’re looking to end up. Winning the tourney is irrelevant. In this game finishing 26th is the same as finishing first. As soon as you get down to 50 players, you’re going to see mid-to-large stacks tightening up and small stacks trying to get their heads back above water.

As you approach the bubble, you need to play for a safe place – don’t think about coming first. If you’re anywhere near the chip lead you shouldn’t play a hand unless you’ve got the nuts and you think you’ve got a good chance of knocking a short-stack out.

If you’re one of the short-stacks you need to judge things carefully – going out on the bubble would be incredibly painful. Look at the blinds in relation to your stack and position at the table. You don’t want to move in with anything, but if you get a premium hand, chances are you’re going to have to go with it. Also face the fact that you’ll get called by more people the fewer chips you have.

Difficulty rating: ♥♥

The MTT #2

Full Tilt: 100 Seat Satellite (+)

Qualifies for:

WSOP Main Event 100 Seat Guarantee

Seats to next level;

One for every 5 in prize pool

Full Tilt is running a 100-seat guaranteed tournament on July 16 – a huge event that will see around one percent of the total 8,000 estimated field qualify from this one online tournament alone. You can qualify through the +2 MTT where the blinds go up every 10 minutes but only at the most gentle of gradients, which suits a solid game. Play tight for the first few hands until you know what kind of players are at the table.

And don’t worry about what the chip leaders are doing. If you win every table that you’re sat at then you’ll win the tournament. Play a solid, aggressive game by raising from the button or cut-off seat when everyone folds around to you. If someone is consistently raising your big blind then test their mettle by coming over the top.

You want to be the biggest dog on the block but make sure you pick the right fights. Try to bully a complete fish and there’s a good chance you’ll be asked to put a big slice of your stack on the line. Pick out players that you think are tight or good enough to lay down and try to bully them with moderate hands. If you meet resistance then you can still walk away. There’s only one seat at the 0 tournament for every 20-odd players playing so you’ll have to be aggressive, especially if you start falling off the pace.

If (sorry, when) you qualify for the Sunday July 16 final you’ll have to be prepared to take the Monday off from work/operating heavy machinery/ juggling knives. The tourney kicks off at 6pm Eastern Time US, giving you a somewhat painful 11pm start if you’re playing here in the UK.

Difficulty rating: ♥♥♥

RAYMER’S ROUTE:

When Fossilman won the 2004 Main Event he only qualified for it on the last day!

‘In 2002, I played in the Main Event for the first time and it’s a fantastic experience. In 2003 I was able to win a seat in a local bricks-and-mortar cardroom. However, that room had closed prior to the 2004 Main Event, so I entered a few satellite tournaments online. I played in a couple of super-satellites that cost 0, and a couple of 0 double-shootouts. Finally, on the last day I won a 0 doubleshootout, and my seat!

Generally, the more an event costs, the higher your chances of winning a seat. But the level of competition is softer in cheaper buy-in events.’