[ChipFish]

Everyone is missing the obvious here....
With the Step tourneys the hardest part is level 1.
What you ask? How can that be?
Simple.
You have to finish top 4.
It's not that hard.
Honestly, if you can't finish top 4 in a 2 table tourney at least once out of 2 or 3 tries... Well, then you can cry about -EV and how evil PartyPoker is because there are like a million people in this tournament.
Fact of the matter is there are 19 other people in this tournament.
That's it.
You have to finish 4rth. That means you have to beat only 15 people.
Of those 15 I'd say 12 of them are "dead money".

It cost me $11 to make Step 5.
Let's assume that I was able to make it all the way to Step 5 only 10 times out of 100.
That's a fair assumption for a stronger player is it not?
Of course it is.

Now let's look for this "-EV" that everyone is whining about.
Nope. Can't find any.... In fact it seems to work out to "+EV".

Using the above example... I make Step 5 10% of the time.
So out of 100 Attempts (100 x $11 = $1100) I would have to make Step 5 2 times to have positive EV.
That's right. I am entered into a $1,000 tournament for a discount.
That equals p-o-s-i-t-i-v-e e-v.

So, no matter how you try to skew the results, by claiming that Party is charging $3000 rake or whatever number the naysayers came up with, they in fact did not charge me a thing. They actually gave me a discount.
And no, I did not have to face 1000 opponents.
I in fact only faced 20 at a time. Less when you realize that these are "SATELITES" meaning, you do NOT have to win to move on.
What is the best strategy for satelites? Figure out roughly how many chips you will need to be in the final 4 (or whatever number wins the satelite) and once you achieve that number... yes wait for it.... Fold everything.

In summary, if someone is going to say "Hey ChipFish!, Do you want to enter a $1,000 tournament for less than $1,000?" ChipFish will respond with a yes.
This -EV nonsense is mathematical drivel and does assume logic.

Good luck to those of you who play.

Edit to add: If you are eliminated in Step 4, you are officially "dead money" and there is nothing you can do to change this.
An obscene amount of people win either move on, or get another chance at a lower level.... I can't remember off hand, but if you are being eliminated from a sit-n-go 2 table tourney in the first 3 levels, Well then, you're in over your head.

I honestly think they are pretty easy.
Set aside a few buy-ins. Say, 10 entries. If you have no success in the first 4 tries, then skip it. You probably won't win.

Oh yeah, and not to forget that if you bubble out of these things you still win a couple of bucks.

I bubbled out of one attempt and landed the money spot... (Can't remember but does $30 sound right?) Either way Let's look back.... I spent $11 and won $30. Profit of $18. It doesn't matter if it was at a level 2 or a level 4.
Same profit equals same profit.