The World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) 2022 Main Events kick off on Sunday, November 6, but you needn’t buy straight in. Here’s your guide to winning a seat in the biggest events of the year.

We all know how special and prestigious the WCOOP Main Events are to the poker community. They’ve kickstarted careers, boosted bankrolls, and created superstars.

That’s why, when the three Main Events return for WCOOP 2022 on Sunday, November 6, not only have their guarantees increased since September but so too have their satellite schedules.

WCOOP Main Events

Sunday, November 6, 2022

Buy-ins: $109, $1,050, $10,300
Guarantees: $3M, $5M, $7M

If you want to play a WCOOP Main Event and attempt to become a world champ, you should be able to, regardless of your bankroll or experience. So whether you’re an aspiring micro-stakes player, a mid-stakes grinder, or a high-stakes battler, there are plenty of opportunities for you to win your way in without paying full price.

Here, we’ll break down the satellite schedule so you’ll know exactly when you can try to win your tickets, plus we’ll provide you with some satellite strategies to give you the best possible chances of qualifying.

Let’s start with the low-stakes satellites.

LOW STAKES SATELLITES

You don’t even need any money on PokerStars to be in with a shot of winning a seat to the $109 WCOOP Main Event.

The cheapest way into the $109 would be by winning a seat in one of the hourly Freebuy satellites, running every hour at quarter past. The tournament is completely free to enter, but if you lose all of your chips you can re-buy for just $0.11. There are two $109 seats guaranteed every single hour.

Then there are Mega Satellites running multiple times throughout the day, every day, with buy-ins ranging from $5.50 to $22, each with two or three seats guaranteed.

Each of those Mega Satellites has its own Feeder Satellite, with buy-ins of $0.55 up to $2.20.

Check the full daily satellite schedule for the Low $109 Main Event below:

MORE ABOUT WCOOP:
SCHEDULE & RESULTS | SATELLITE GUIDE | SERIES HIGHLIGHTS
RESULTS 2002-2021 | YEAR-BY-YEAR | MULTIPLE CHAMPIONS
OFFICIAL WCOOP PAGE | ALL BLOG REPORTS | DOWNLOAD AND PLAY!

MEDIUM STAKES SATELLITES

If you were to only play only one $1,050 tournament a year, the Medium $1,050 WCOOP Main Event would be the one.

Still, $1,050 is a lot of money and might be out of reach. You might even think that you don’t have the bankroll to play any satellites for it.

Then again, you might be surprised.

Satellites for the Medium $1,050 WCOOP Main Event start at…nothing.

There are multiple daily Freerolls that could see you win your way into a Feeder satellite, and from there you could book a seat into a Mega Satellite offering Main Event seats.

Feeder satellites run at various times throughout the day, plus you could also win your way in the Phase tournaments. Phase 1s run at one minute past the hour, every hour, while every Phase 2 will have at least 50 seats guaranteed in the prize pool.

Check the full daily satellite schedule for the Medium $1,050 Main Event below:

HIGH STAKES SATELLITES

Every live poker player dreams of playing (and winning) the World Series of Poker Main Event.

Likewise, every online poker player dreams of winning the High-tier $10,300 WCOOP Main Event, following in the footsteps of previous winners including Fedor Holz, Jonas Lauck, and Steven van Zadelhoff, each of whom banked more than $1.3 million for their victories.

But even if you can’t buy straight in (and let’s face it, that goes for most of us) you don’t have to put your dream on hold for a whole other year.

With Feeder Satellites starting from just $0.55, players of all bankrolls could win their way in. It won’t be easy (even the world’s best players seek to get a discount and book their seats for a fraction of the price) but it can definitely be done.

The $0.55 Feeder in question runs six times per day and offers 15 seats to a $22 Feeder, which then offers three seats into a $215 Mega Satellite. There are two of these every day and each offers at least one $10K seat.

You could also win your way to the $10K by playing through the Fast Track, a four-round series of satellites starting at $1.50 and ending at $1,050. The $1.50 Round 1 tournaments are on-demand and will begin when enough players have registered.

Check the full daily satellite schedule for the High $10,300 Main Event below:

SATELLITE STRATEGY

Need a quick primer before you start to play WCOOP 2022 Main Event satellites? You’ve come to the right place.

Satellites are one of the simplest forms of poker. But they are also one the most commonly misunderstood.

Barry Carter and Dara O’Kearney, authors of Poker Satellite Strategy, think you can vastly improve your satellite game with just a few adjustments.

Here you can read an excerpt from Poker Satellite Strategy called “Satellites in 30 Minutes.” To be honest, it will probably take you less time than that to read through. Start reading… and then start reaping the profits by following the authors’ advice.

Carter also wrote an article for PokerStars Learn in which he looks at the best ways to play Mega Satellites.

The example he uses might be for the Sunday Million, but the same strategies will certainly apply to the many WCOOP 2022 satellites, too.

Check out ‘How to play poker satellites’ here.

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