Satellite

Satellites to high-profile, expensive poker tournaments are a means of entering a major event without posting a significant sum of cash. Satellites have significantly smaller buy-ins, usually on the order of one-tenth to one-fiftieth of the main tournament's buy-in, and can be held at various venues across the country and even around the world as well as, more recently, on the Internet. The top finishers in this sort of event are awarded seats to the main tournament in lieu of a cash prize, with the number of places being awarded dependent on participation. In cases where the seat awarded is to a tournament in another city, money sufficient to cover travel and accomodation expenses might also be awarded.

Some satellite tournaments even have their own satellites, known as super-satellites. In brick-and-mortar casinos, the term "super-satellite" is sometimes used to simply mean a very large multi-table satellite, even if the prizes awarded are entries into the large tournament event (and not entries into another level of satellite).

Under most circumstances players can still buy a seat in the main tournament should they be unsuccessful at winning one in the satellites.

Chris Moneymaker, who won the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event, was able to afford his seat by winning an Internet satellite tournament with a $39 buy-in. Greg Raymer, 2004 World Series of Poker champion, acquired his seat via a $165 Internet satellite.

Multi-tier Satellites
Satellite tournaments are always "one level removed" from their main tournament; winners of satellites always win a seat in the main tournament. Tournaments whose prize is a seat in another satellite tournament are usually called "super satellites". If the chain of satellites is longer than two to reach a main tournament, the chain is often called a series of steps, a term coined by PartyPoker when they invented the concept of a series of escalating tournaments whose prizes are entries to the "next step up", until reaching a usually very-high-stakes tournemnt.