Seven Satellite Buy-Ins, One Night, Zero Sense

The 2026 WSOP ran seven different satellite and daily event buy-in levels on the night of June 12 — $70, $135, $200, $240, $250, $400, and $1,100 — and I think at least three of them shouldn't exist.

The Menu Nobody Ordered

Look at the spread. Event #229 is a $70 Colossus Landmark Mega Satellite. Event #235 is a $135 Landmark Mega Satellite. Event #231 is a $240 Landmark Mega Satellite. Event #230 is a $250 Daily Deepstack. Event #234 is a $200 Daily Deepstack. Event #232 is a $400 Daily Deepstack. Event #233 is a $1,100 Big O Landmark Mega Satellite.

Seven events. Five of them are no-limit hold'em. The price gap between the $200 and $250 Deepstacks is fifty dollars. The gap between the $240 Mega Satellite and the $250 Deepstack is ten dollars. This isn't a ladder — it's a staircase where someone pasted extra steps in with a glue stick.

The price gap between the $200 and $250 Deepstacks is fifty dollars; the gap between the $240 Mega Satellite and the $250 Deepstack is ten.

Fragmented Fields, Worse Prizes

The consequence is visible in the late-night numbers. The $70 Colossus Mega Sat was down to four players remaining when I pulled the data. The $135 Mega Sat? Three left. The $1,100 Big O Mega Sat had nine at the final table, with Stanislav Ivanov — $77,721 in lifetime earnings, one prior final table — as one of the most credentialed players in the field. The $240 NLH Mega Sat had 18 remaining, with Argentina's Rolando Soria ($191K lifetime, one WSOPC ring, five career final tables) among the contenders.

These are small fields. And small fields mean small prize pools, which means fewer seats awarded, which means worse ROI for every entrant. When you split the same population of satellite grinders across seven buy-in levels instead of three or four, nobody wins except the rake.

The counter-argument writes itself: more price points mean more access. A player who can afford $135 but not $240 now has a path. Fine. But there's no world where the marginal player choosing between $200 and $250 — or between $240 and $250 — represents a meaningfully different bankroll tier. That's not access. That's menu paralysis.

Consolidate or Admit the Quiet Part

Collapse the $200 and $250 into one event. Merge the $135 and $240. You'd get two satellites with double the field, better prize pools, and a cleaner schedule. The $70 entry point stays for true micro-bankroll players. The $1,100 Big O stays because it's a different game and a different audience.

Five events instead of seven. Fatter fields. More seats. Less confusion.

The WSOP knows this. The problem is that seven events generate seven rakes, and consolidation means fewer line items on the revenue sheet. Until the fields get so thin that players stop showing up entirely, there's no incentive to simplify.

I just think we should call it what it is.