Turbo SnG's

I was watching Vanessa Rousso play on PS the other day in a turbo tournament and while I was watching I noticed one of the obs. in the chat asked
"Hey Vanessa, why are you playing turbo don't you know it's a disadvantage to the better player?"

What do you guys think of this?

I guess it makes sense to me cause you have less time to wait for spots to really make some money. But online in the low level tournaments I play it doesn't look like it would make a difference. People play so loose there anyways.

Because in a turbo the blinds get high much faster and you'll find everyone getting desperate fast and pushing all in preflop it can become a crapshoot. In the second half of a turbo sng there's almost no postflop play, it's all in preflop or raising 3xbb preflop and pushing all in on the flop blind because you are pot comitted. So if a player whos skilled at postflop play plays a turbo sng he won't be able to use that edge for very long like in a regular tournament.

it's true that more skilled players have less of an edge in turbos but this is more than counterbalanced by the fact that turbos don't last as long.

say you expect a 18% ROI in a turbo and a 20% ROI in a standard SNG but the turbo takes 25% less time, the turbo is obviously the better option as far as average hourly $ is concerned.

Depends on the game.

I've played a lot of low-stakes turbos lately (single-table ones) and I've been getting pretty consistent results from them, but the standard and styles of play in them can vary wildly so you have to be ready to adjust.

In some of them, the play goes pretty quick, people are making big bets and raises and even though the levels are only three minutes long, you can lose four runners by the fourth level. In this case, you can usually just sit back and let the other players knock each other out.

In others, however, players don't even seem to acknowledge it's a turbo - you can sometimes come across tables where pretty much everyone's playing weak-tight, and you can build a decent stack just by making reasonable pre-flop raises and c-bets: you'll rarely see a showdown.

In either case, I've found staying out of trouble is imperative: if you limp into a lot of pots or call too many small raises, you'll be short on chips pretty quickly - often I won't even bother playing low-medium pairs for set value, because stacks are rarely deep enough to justify it. So I pretty much work with a "pump it or dump it" philosophy.

I think the major thing is you need to adjust your game to the table and opponents that you're given. Yes, they need a slightly different approach to a regular game, but I don't think they automatically negate the advantage a skilled player has.

^ very good point too

Hey, thanks!!! This is what I needed to hear. I just started playing a few MTT turbos and my philosophy was to limp more to see if I could catch anything on the flop and pump it or dump it. It doesn't work unless you catch early and often!!! I've noticed though, it's hard to use your position, seems like people will call with anything!!! However, I'm playing in micro limits and this style is expected. I will switch my game up a little and see if this helps.

Real money... you're all Wrong. Turbos were created by online sites for rake. Think of it, the site doesn't get money for a win by a player. Just the rake. More games, more rake. A lot of players do not have time, so the sites created Turbos. There are live Turbos, too, I understand that, but 3 minute blinds in a live Turbo would have a card game that is about 25 hands. One way to beat the online Turbos is to take your time and let the blinds go up. The online sites have taken care of that strategy by giving you a time bank.

Vanessa Rousso doesn't play low stakes turbos either. She's staked. If you don't have a bankroll limit, then why would you take the time to play slow tournaments?

If your skill level is average, you do not belong in a low stakes Turbo. If you suck, then the low stakes Turbo is your game, because it doesn't require any skill. The player who is dealt the best cards through showdown will win. Simple as that.

Turbos are the lottery of the players with a bankroll that can take a hit when you don't have time to use your skill.

I'd have to say I disagree with the statement posted above me here. I used to be of the thought that turbos are total bs .. BUT actually they are quite popular by sng multi-tabler grinders. In a Turbo sng (for the ones who know how to play that is.. I'd say about 2-3 plyrs. in the $6's, 2-5 in $11's, 5-8 in $33's, etc.) things like I.C.M. and equity become far more imperative and taking advantage of an opponent's mistakes (bad play) becomes more exploitable.
I hardly ever used to play turbo sngs, thinking they were for donks (because of the lack of play in them) but have done a ton more research and have discovered that for those who 'really' know how to play, they can be pretty cool for shove/fold ICM imperative & fold equity plays. I actually went on a decent run with them recently but yah.. I've also lost a series of them in a row too (to be expected,.. all part of the deal (no pun intended)).