WPT Satellite Successes: You Won’t Believe These Players’ Stories

Every poker tournament player dreams of playing in the biggest buy-in tournaments and bagging a potentially life-changing prize. The problem lies in those tournaments tend not to be affordable for everyone.

partypoker has dozens of satellites and other routes into these juicy games and anyone can win their way into our biggest games. The recent WPT World Online Poker Championships (WPTWOC) is proof everyone can win big for a small outlay at partypoker.

Being a partypoker Twitch Viewer Results in a $1,250 Score

Moyra Davies was our first satellite success story of the WPTWOC. Davies, a 72-year-old recreational player, entered a free ticket draw during our cards-up coverage of a WPT Championship event. She won a $33 ticket that she turned into a $320 seat, which eventually became $1,250. It was an incredible result for Davies and you can feast your eyes on an exclusive interview with her, here.

From $22 to $142,061

We didn’t have long to wait until we saw a satellite victory result in a gigantic prize. Joao Maureli of Brazil won a $22 buy-in Mini Masters: $15K Gtd tournament in September and secured a $3,200 WPTWOC ticket as part of the WPT Ticket Drop promotion. Maureli put his free $3,200 seat to good use, eventually busting in third-place in the WPTWOC Knockout Championship for a combined prize worth $142,061!

Smyth Turns a $33 Satellite into a WPTWOC Championship Title and More Than $410,000

Amazingly, Maureli’s superb result wasn’t the biggest success story of that particular tournament. That honour went to Ireland’s Daniel Smyth. Smyth entered a $33 satellite for the WPTWOC Knockout championship and won a $3,200 ticket. The Irishman went all the way and triumphed in the $3,200 event and padded his bankroll with $413,391 plus a $15,000 seat in the next Tournament of Champions, complete with travel and accommodation expenses.

We caught up with Smyth after his remarkable victory and he was full of praise for partypoker satellites and the changes we’ve made to our events to level the playing field.

“Satellites are a fantastic way to get into a bigger tournament and can often offer lots of value. The satellite seat guarantees partypoker have been putting up are incredible this WPT series. You are often going to find added value and extra tickets in the prize pool when the number of entries doesn’t reach the guarantee; which has happened quite a lot this series.”

“Rob Yong has been instrumental in the restructuring of the format of these tournaments, allowing only one re-entry stops the field from getting diluted with professionals and regular grinders which can only be good for increasing the chances of the average punter qualifying for the next round.”

Second Chance Freeroll Becomes a Career-Best Five-Figure Score

Sandwiched between Smyth’s $33 into more than $400,000 and another huge rags to riches story was Lilian Figueiredo’s freeroll to a career-best score.

Figueirdo had been playing in $3.30 WPTWOC satellites in an attempt to win her way into some higher stakes events. The grind wasn’t going to plan but Figueirdo received a WPT Second Chance Freeroll ticket that she ultimately led to locking horns with Team Online’s Matthew Staples and a career-best $13,153 score, a massive boost to her bankroll. You can read all about Figueirdo’s story here.

Almost $1.5 Million Won From Satellites and Free Tickets at the WPTWOC Mini Main Event Final Table

The WPTWOC Mini Main Event was one of our biggest satellite success stories of the series. A whopping $1,448,765 was won via satellite entries and free ticket winners at the final table alone!

Liviu-Rodrig Bartha turned his $109 satellite entry into a $472,866 prize after a fourth-place finish and after a four-handed deal.

Ravil Tlimisov busted in eighth for $55,425 after netting a free WPT ticket added to a $22 Big Bounty Hunter tournament!

Latvia’s Arturs Balodis won $535,268 from a free $1,050 ticket added to a $55 buy-in Gladiator tournament, while runner-up Nichita Verbitchii got his hands on $339,606 from a free ticket awarded to him in an $11 Terminator tournament!

Imagine Turning $22 into Almost $400,000

The final weeks of the WPTWOC saw the Championship Events turn into the Main Events and High Rollers, which were perfect for partypoker players to turn small investments into mega scores. That’s exactly what Brazilian Victor Simionato did in the $10 million guaranteed Main Event. Simionato managed to navigate his way to a fifth-place finish all from a $22 satellite entry. His reward for outlasting some of poker’s best players? A cool $391,257 in cold, hard cash.

From Russia With Love: From $265 to $197,667

Russia had a spectacular rags to riches story in the $25,500 High Roller Championship. Aleksei Barkov qualified for this event via a $265 satellite. Barkov was guaranteed $155,060 by the time he made it to the seven-handed final table but he had his sights set higher. He lasted one more elimination and eventually finished sixth, netting a $197,667 reward for his $265 investment.

Godwin’s Colossal $620,000 Score From a $109 Investment

The WPTWOC concluded with the massive $102,000 Super High Roller Championship and with an absolutely breath-taking result for Charlie Godwin. Godwin entered a $109 satellite and won a $1,050 seat. She then won that for a $10,300 seat, before getting her hands on a $102,000 ticket. The cashback from those entries alone were reasons to be cheerful but Godwin navigated her way to a third-place finish worth a gargantuan $620,000!

Godwin’s score is one of the biggest ever won by a female poker player in the history of the game and all from a $109 shot at stardom.

Our new tournament structures make it more likely we’ll be seeing more of these incredible satellite success stories. We banned HUDs a while ago to stop third-party software users from having an advantage over other players.

More recently, we reduced the late registration period so you don’t have to battle for hours on end only for someone to jump in at the last minute. Re-entries are now vastly limited meaning the playing field is much more level and you don’t have to worry about having to bust those with massive bankrolls several times in the same tournament. partypoker really is the online poker site for you if you’re a poker tournament player.

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