In "Poker tournmament formula 2" by Arnold synder, there is actually a chapter devoted to playing live sats into the WSOP main event. He tells you what to play and how to track results to make them profitable. I belive there are satellite specialists in vegas who make really big money by cashing in their seats that they will win, because they know how to exploite the games and take advantadge of the Ammutures with a dream.
Evan Harrington, in one of his books, says it is not uncommon for some big pros who cant get sponsored, to try and get in on the cheap.
And Scotty Nyguen actually sated into his main event, and took down the whole thing back in 1998. He was a pro player at the time, who was close to going broke, so matasow Staked him into the satellite for 50% buyin, and gained 300k out of his Million dollar win.