Online Poker Satellites - How to Turn as Little as $1 into MillionsWritten by Peter Berlin
What do Dr. Vic Fey, an obstetrician from Clinton, Oklahoma, and Erick Brenes, a farmer from Costa Rica have in common? They both made it to final table of The World Poker Tour's Aruba Poker Classic. And what makes it more remarkable is they won their $6,000 buy-in and trip to Aruba by playing a $27 satellite tournament at online poker room, Ultimate Bet. Neither of these men are professional poker players but at end of tournament Vic Fey finished in 6th place and won $105,000 and Erick Brenes finished in first and went home to Costa Rica $1,417,000 richer. Not bad for a $27 investment.What are satellites and how do they work? Basically a satellite is a way to enter a major tournament and play for big money without having to pay large buy-in required. For example, buy-in for World Series of Poker (WSOP) is $10,000. An on-line poker room could sponser a tournament with a $1,350 buy-in (they will also charge somewhere around 9-10% for a registration fee). For every 10 players in tournament there would be a prize pool of $13,500, enough for single buy-in to WSOP and some extra for spending money. So for a $1,350 you could win your entry to major tournament. If there are 100 players then players who finish in one of top 10 positions would be on their way to Las Vegas and a chance at $10,000,000, estimated top prize in this years tournament. A thousand dollars is still a little steep if you ask me but you're dying to play in WSOP. So you go to an online poker site like Royal Vegas Poker. There, they have a way for you to make it to World Series for as little as $1. It takes six steps and works like this: Step 1: You pay a $1 buy-in and a $.10 registration fee. You play against ten other players. If you come in first or second you've made it to step two. Step 2: You enter this tournament by either coming in first or second in step 1 or by directly buying in for $5 + $0.50. Come in first or second and you move on to step three. Come in third and you get to play level 2 again free. Step 3: Same deal. Enter by placing 1st or 2nd in previous step or buy-in for $22.50 + $2.25. The final 2 players get free entry to step four and third place lets you repeat step 3 and pays you $2.75.
| | Tribute To Fallen Storm King Firefighters in Colorado ReleasedWritten by Scott Jeffries
Rifle, CO; September 29, 2003--On July 6, 1994, 14 firefighters, including Smoke Jumpers from Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Colorado and other western states died when fierce winds fanned towering flames up Storm King Mountain (just west of Glenwood Springs, CO). They had been spending better part of day clearing brush and digging trenches to slow spreading fires, when high winds forced them to run for cover. With nowhere to run, outpacing fast moving flames was impossible on steep slopes. Forced to take cover inside their protective shelters as flames whipped over them, 14 never made it through firestorm. In September 1998, Colorado musician and JavaMusiK recording artist Jeff Van Devender sat at piano in music room of school he just started teaching at. The window of his new room happened to have a perfect view of Storm King Mountain. Van Devender had witnessed terrible tragedy in '94, not knowing until he got home that evening how awful it really was. "The smoke created a mushroom type cloud which glowed as it hung over mountain," he remembered. "As we headed home (Gypsum at time), walls of Glenwood Canyon revealed a reddish-orange color which was eerily quite beautiful." Upon turning on TV however, scope of tragedy began to unfold as continuous news updates blanketed airwaves reporting passing of so many heroes. As Van Devender sat in his new workplace, in shadow of Storm King, melody began to flow. He remembered images he had witnessed, flames cresting over mountain ridges, glowing smoke hovering in mid-day sunlight, emergency personnel working to restore order and, most of all, brave souls who came from other parts of country and sacrificed their lives while trying to save material possessions and beautiful environment surrounding a resort community. "The powerful story just took over & before I knew it, everything was in place," he remembers.
|
