Though the main event at this years World Series of Poker is still a couple months away, I decided it was time to start playing in a few satellite tournaments. So I started looking at the offerings of many of the online poker rooms to find the tournaments that gave me the best chance to advance.

In order of strength from best to worst of my personal poker playing is, ring games, multi table freeze out tournaments, multi table tournaments with rebuys and add-ons and finally single table tournaments. Now you may be wondering why I have decided to share this with you in a poker column, but it is a very important part of the selection criteria when it comes time to qualify for the World Series.

This decision is really no different than table selection when you play in a ring game. I realize that I need to play in satellites that give me the best chance to win, so I instantly narrow my selections down to the rooms that have the most multi table tournaments available.

Of course there are a wide range of possibilities, including buy ins that range from less than ten dollars to ones over a thousand. I also tend to play tournaments late at night, so finding a site with many late night offerings is important as well. All of this information goes into my decision about where to attempt to qualify, because just about every poker room I visited had some form of satellite tournaments available.

What I hope you take from all of this rambling, is make a decision on your best games set up, analyze the amount of money you have to attempt to qualify and use this information when finding the best room for you. Some players do better in huge tournament fields while others perform better in smaller fields.

There is no shame in either, the only shame is not recognizing which gives you the best chance and taking advantage of this knowledge. Once you compile all of your personal information and compare it to the different offerings, it will be one less concern on your way to Las Vegas.

Until next week, good luck at the WSOP qualifiers, and I hope to see you all there!