Turn your flagship live tournament into a national qualifier network: players from any city win their seat online, and travel only when it's time for the main event.
Your live tournament, with a national online front door
Live Tournament Satellites turn a single flagship live event into a national qualifier network. Instead of drawing only from players who live near the venue, operators open the door to players from any city — who register online, win their seat, and travel only once it's time for the main event itself.
Every flagship tournament has the same blind spot: plenty of players who'd love to play are simply too far away to justify it. A live satellite might cost $200 to enter, but once a regional player adds fuel or flights, a hotel night, food, and a day off work, that $200 buy-in can easily turn into $600 or more in real cost — sometimes 14+ hours of travel for a single shot at qualifying. In markets where online real-money poker isn't legally available either, those players are left with two options: pay the "travel tax," or simply not enter — an entry the operator never even sees.
Online Satellites to Live flip that equation. Players register with a verified account, play the exact same buy-in and structure as the live satellite — from any city, with no travel required — and only travel once they've already won a named, non-transferable seat at the live event. Same buy-in, same structure, same prize. No travel tax.
Player registers online
A verified account on a branded satellite portal — identity confirmed up front, no anonymous play, no rebuy tourism.
Plays the satellite from anywhere
Same buy-in, same structure, same skill required — played online from any city, with no travel and no overnight stay.
Travels only for the main event
Winners receive a named, non-transferable seat and check in with the same ID used on their satellite account. Seat secured, field expanded.
A qualification ladder that only works online
A fixed monthly platform cost unlocks something a brick-and-mortar card room can't do economically: a multi-tier qualification ladder where the entry point can be as low as 1% of the main event buy-in. Dealer wages, table time and floor staff make sub-$50 satellites a money-loser live — online, those same micro-satellites cost nothing extra to run. Adding a new tier is just a few clicks in the admin panel: no incremental dealer cost, no table assignment, no opportunity cost on the floor.
A wider net at the bottom means a bigger field at the top — and every player who enters at the cheapest tier becomes a verified account in the operator's player database. The entry fee isn't the real revenue; the relationship is.
Micro Sub-Satellite — $11
Roughly 1% of the main event buy-in. Impossible to run profitably live — winners advance to Level 2.
Direct Satellite — $110
Around 10% of the main event buy-in. Winners advance straight to a seat at the main event.
Main Event — $1,100
The flagship live tournament itself — e.g. a $250,000 guaranteed prize pool event, now fed by a national qualifier funnel.
Fixed cost, no revenue share
One setup fee plus a fixed monthly cost — no percentage taken from buy-ins or prize pools. Every extra entry the satellite brings to the live event is the operator's revenue.
It's a qualifier, not a cash game
Winners receive a non-transferable tournament seat, not a cash payout — the prize is claimed and paid out only at the already-licensed live event.
Bigger fields, bigger pools, bigger brand
The live event, the licence, the dealers and the floor already exist. Online satellites multiply the audience for what's already being run — without adding a single chair to the card room.
For casino operators
- Bigger live fields — entries from cities never marketed in, who'll gladly fly in once they've already won a seat.
- Bigger guaranteed prize pools, which in turn attract more pros, more press, more amateurs.
- National brand reach — the tournament becomes a national event, not just "the one in town."
- A verified player database — every registration is a contactable lead for the loyalty program and future events.
- Fully branded — logo, colors and sponsors carried from the online satellite straight onto the felt.
- Free marketing from streamers, who love turning a qualification run into a story arc for their audience.
For players
- In markets where online real-money poker is restricted, this is often the only legal way to qualify online.
- Full hand history review — a study and improvement tool live poker simply doesn't offer.
- 2–3x faster gameplay than a live table — more hands, more reps, more value per buy-in.
- The same buy-in and the same prize as the live satellite — just none of the travel cost.
Anti-fraud, by design
The whole model depends on one guarantee: the verified player who plays the satellite is the same person who shows up at the live event.
Verified accounts only
No anonymous play — every registrant completes identity verification before buying in, with optional KYC integration.
Named, non-transferable seats
A won seat is tied to the verified player's identity — blocked from resale at the door, not just by name.
ID match at the venue
Players check in with the same government ID used to verify their account — a mismatch means no seat.
Bot & collusion detection
Bot detection, IP/GUID tracking, chip-dump analytics and collusion group flags run in the background of every satellite.
Full audit trail
Every satellite, every hand and every winner is logged and exportable, down to the individual card deal.
Certified game engine
Games are GLI-audited and the RNG is iTechLabs-certified to UK Gambling Commission standards.
