WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Heres the scenario.
For some experience in playing better players you enter a satellite which pays one position to a very well known tournement with a buy-in of $10,000 plus a $2000 spending prize. You win this tournament
You have been playing poker for 3 years most on-line. You have been to 3 tourneys in local area and have placed in the money in 2 of em plyers per tourney were 40,60,27. You have no experience playing in a large tourney such as the one you have won a ticket to. Your bankroll you normally play with is between $100-$1000
would you....
1.Buy a plane ticket and play in the big tournament?
2.Take the money and enter some 100$ buy-in live MTT's at a local casino to build some confidence and experience in this type of setting?

I'd take the long shot and go to the tournament, seeing as it was a satellite you won, even if you bust out for nothing, it's still not a great loss and you would have an awesome time.

Go play for the big money, you could lose in the smaller tourneys, and later in life you may be haunted by the lingering question of if you played in the big tourney what would have happened, and even if you would lose, you just missed out on a chance to play in the big tourney and go see someplace new just because you have doubts. It does not take an expert to win a big tournament, just play your best that day and see what happens.

Like fellows said: you got 10k now. If you play a few 500 dollar tourneys, lose it...maybe a couple 1,000 buy-ins. There you go, you've lost, and even if you keep some, there's always that lingering doubt. But if you go, its a real experience. You have a great time, and hopefully you cash.

We are approx the same level...I would probably take the money and play in smaller live games for experience and fun...but the 10K tounament is so tempting

i'd follow what most of the other posters are saying: go to the 10k tournament.. you might not ever get a chance to do it again if you don't. even if you don't do well, you'll still have an awesome experience to talk about and a chance to more than likely meet some pros.

I'm gonna buck the trend and say take the money and run.
In terms of bankroll mansgement, I feel this is the wise choice

I was in a similar scenario, having won the OFC super satellite to the WPT Mirage Poker Showdown. Granted it was only a $1,500 +80 and not $10K, but it was still a very very large % of my bankroll. I played it anyway, but in retrospect, I feel like it wasn't that great of a decision. I could have played any of the various $330 deepstack weekly games around Vegas all week instead.

But I think if it's your first time in a big tournament you might do it just to say you played. Clearly it is a poor financial decision, a poor bankroll decision, and probably a poor decision in general. But it's hard to say I really regret it too badly, as I do now have a really really expensive t-shirt that they gave out at registration and I got to sit at the table w/ Celine Dion's husband .

This is a tough call man. If the money can be put to really good use, then maybe you're better off getting the cash value. Maybe make a compromise with yourself - keep 8k in the bank, and use the 4k towards your bankroll to enter some of the deepstack tournaments online and for a Vegas trip. Caesars and the Wynn have some *awesome* tournaments for $300 to $500. That way you have some good money in the bank, but you still have some action for your poker bankroll.

However - if this 10k buyin and 2k expenses isn't a major portion of your bankroll, then you'd be crazy not to make a run for glory man.

do it big plus play in some big low cost buy in MTTs online to get some prctice and maybe make some extra cash while your at it....but def. dont turn down an experience!!!!!

If we're talking about the Main Event, I'd play it in a heartbeat - to hell with bankroll management. The way I'd look at it, that $10K wasn't part of my bankroll anyway, and I'd go back to managing my actual bankroll right after I was done having the time of my life.

Sure, the field's likely to be 6000+. But you only have to beat them a table at a time

I would play it for sure. How often do you get a chance at such a premium tourney for so cheap?

Sure you could go busto in the first hour, but if I won a seat to barcelona/any EPT thingy somehow..... id jump at the oppertunity.

Its way out of your bankroll but, what if you go deep and it changes your life forever? a million times better than taking the cash instead of playing.

Hmmmmmmmmm id say it all depends on how confident you are as a tournament player.

Id Go For It. Ever Watched The Poker moVie Shade? Has a Quote I Loved.

(Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained)

If I had $10K I would go pro playing $1/$2NL at the local fish bowl.

Do you play poker to have fun or to make money? Once you have answered that question, the answer to your OP is easy.

Lon: "Wow Norm, woulda' thought that an amateur woulda' won the event this year?!"
Norm: "And to think he got in with just a X/XX/XXX sat. event!!"

or

You to buddie: "WOW, I had the time of my life!! I got to meet ___ and ___, I actually knocked out _____, but then ______ took me out when his quads took my boat... but it was GREAT!!!"

or

"Well, I've paid the light bill and truck bill, yeah the truck will be traded in in a few years and I'll probably move out of this house... but I have the memories of those bills."

or
(depending on your age/status)

"Will you marry me"

.... strike that last one... it COULD last a lifetime and it WILL cost more in the longrun


Honestly, I could use the $$ to pay bills, but if it was a buy-in + $$, I'd take the opportunity as I didn't have the $$ before anyway and now I may be passing up the chance of a lifetime. If you lose the event, put the $2K on black (4k), black (8k), red (16K), and you'll be up $4K from your original $12K

if its free go big

I think the payout structure would be an important consideration, if it is winner takes all or something like that then I think I would be keeping the money.

On the other hand, you do still get the $2000 spend win or lose, so thats not a bad consolation, and if they pay the flights and hotel as well its even better.

Lots of interesting replies.
The satellite tourney actually pays $12,000 so I am not "obligated" to go. I would like to think I play poker for fun, but I also have to say I like winning money. To me the $12,000 (this is all for poker)represents a whole summer of playing many weekends in live tourneys at a local casino.

To be able to beat Mike Matasow with an 83 off at the big show and show him the cards would be priceless.

To be in the same room with all those "pros" would be intimidating to me. I suppose to some it may sound like a no-confidence statement,but I dont see it that way at all. I just think I recognize that my game/skill level is not on par with the pro's (lol or prolly most people who play). I dont spend every day playing poker nor do I make a living from it.That being said I would think that playing in a multitude of smaller limit MTT's $300-$600 at the casino would give me a chance to gain some large live tourney exposure and play with some "pro's". But......

Many here, and elsewhere, might say you just described a VERY recent champ.

have to decide to play for fun or money. fun can make $$ for u but the real money have to be worked

QFT I'd say sell the ticket throw some of the money in the bank and work your way up to that sized tourny, 10k buy in isnt people that are screwing around

How much was the buy-in to the satellite and how many entrants were in the satellite?
I imagine it would be quite large with a strong contingent of decent players.
If this was the case in the satellite and you won then you should have enough confidence in your abillities as a poker player to place ITM in the big game and take home a nice chunk of change and the experience in playing with the pros.

Personally I would not have played the sattellite without intending to go to the big game so my bags would be packed already. GL with whatever you decide.

I do know what you mean and respect what you say. I think perhaps to a "seasoned" player this may seem irrelevant. But being able to sit in the comfort of my home,in my recliner, playing poker on my bigscreen is a whole lot different than having to sit in front of people and play. I try to create a certain Table image when playing(which to my play is important) and I am not sure I can project the same image That I am able to online. I just haven't had the chance to practice it yet as the few live games I was in were when I first started playing and seemed more of a novelty to me. I did not really know what I was doing. This is what I am trying to describe when I say play for experience in a smaller setting before jumping into such a huge "live" field. I also think the fact of playing in a $10,000 buy-in is going to affect my play as it is a huge sum and I can't look at it the same as the $450 buy-in satellite which in itself is a huge buy-in/pay-out compared to normal play. Perhaps I should just call Colonel Sanders and out myself as the Chicken I am.