Psychological effects of Turbo Tournaments

Lheticus

Lheticus

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I'm writing this query because of a thread I just saw in General Poker (not really sure why it was in GENERAL poker and not this thread) that was discussing them and a lot of people posting in that thread seemed to like them. Me? I can't stand them. If I get in a tournament with 5 minute blind levels, I'm not running any kind of hot, and people are using their entire freaking time banks on just one hand early on--sometimes more than one person does this in a single hand? I feel like SCREAMING "Dude! It's called a TURBO tournament for a reason! Let the people who want to play poker get on with the freaking hand!" ...This, among many other reasons, is a major barrier to my acquiring poker patience. In the early levels of a Turbo Tournament, I feel intense pressure to surge ahead so that I can keep up with the blind levels. I get INCREDIBLY stressed when I get down to a level of 5-6 big blinds for my stack, and sometimes, especially when the tournament is into antes, the only thing that needs to happen for that to take place is my getting a whole lot of nothing for ten minutes. How the heck does anyone handle themselves when this sort of thing happens? Because I sure can't!
 
BluffMeAllIn

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IMO if you can't handle the pressure get out of playing turbo games and stick with regular, sounds like you are playing a turbo uber tight like you would a regular speed in the early stages.

Tight is right especially early, but as blinds increase you have to adjust to them and how you approach and change up your strategy. Same thing happens in a regular speed but it just takes longer to get to the point and allows more time to wait for big hands.
 
BoddJonar

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Hey dude.

Turbo's might be a bit hard, but even if you get stressed, others get it too, and many people make mistakes because of it.
Just as bluff is writing, tight is right in the early stages, but it's crucial to ramp it up a bit when the blinds rise. Pay attention to your M value, the time to the next blind raise and so on.
Keep an eye on the loose guys and the tight guys, and make them do costly mistakes because of stress.
Just beware of the higher variance and keep your head cool. Turbos isn't so dangerous as they seem once you get to know them :)


Cheers
 
Arjonius

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Turbos require a different mind set, so only play them when you're in that mind set. One thing is that you have to be ready to play more aggressively than usual. Another is that because of the overall higher aggression level, you have to be willing to expect greater variance.

Also, if you tend to find yourself with 5-6BB fairly often in tournaments of any speed, it suggests your play is too tight.
 
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hffjd2000

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Turbo might not be good for your style. I suggest, you play those long time BB, like the stardard game.
You said you are stressed with those fast blind time levels that now you are forcing yourself and eventually you are short stacked. With long time levels, you will not be forced to have a move and even youre short stack at standard game, there still plenty of time to double up.
Goodluck...
 
Lheticus

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I wouldn't say I find myself in the 5-6 BB situation often, really. What happens is I catch a cold streak for a good few minutes, the blinds are getting higher and higher, I've had a whole lot of nothing to work with including not being at a tournament point where I can feasibly try and steal the blinds and antes, I get paranoid that going down to 5-6 BBs from doing nothing is going to happen, then I open up my game too much out of this desperation. As for playing more aggressively than usual...it's not my preferred style to really play aggressive, especially in early stages. I'd say more except for the off-chance I'll ever play against anyone who reads this, but I think with that in mind, turbos aren't really for me yet--I think I should get the style I LIKE to a skill point where it does work in situations where it can work before I branch out to styles I don't like.
 
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There are games with no turbo signs or T signs to it, non-turbo games or standard games we call it. I think level is 10 min for every level.
Goodluck again.
 
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You seem to get upset with them. I usually dont really care how much time it takes them to respond an action or how many times they go all-in in less than 5 minutes. Of course they will be annoying sometimes, but poker overall is annoying game when youre out of luck. Im playing turbos because - they start fast ( SnG Talking about ) and it takes about an hour and a half to get it done. Its for people who dont have the time to be in a real 15-20 minute tournament. Minus is that they usually have low entries and bad people winning money from freerolls can take apart of it. When you get annoyed you tend to make more mistakes, so keep calm. If it is innevitable, just dont play them. You can find something better for you. The pleasure of playing puts you a step ahead of your opponents. If you play a game that you dont like you will get way more upset when you get beaten bad.

I get bad beats all over the day but I dont care. It happens. Im perfectly realizing that poker is a game of luck most of all, which most of the people dont. So when I get a bad beat Im telling myself "Well he got lucky" and move onto the next tournament. Its all a part of the game.
 
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I'm writing this query because of a thread I just saw in General Poker (not really sure why it was in GENERAL poker and not this thread) that was discussing them and a lot of people posting in that thread seemed to like them. Me? I can't stand them. If I get in a tournament with 5 minute blind levels, I'm not running any kind of hot, and people are using their entire freaking time banks on just one hand early on--sometimes more than one person does this in a single hand? I feel like SCREAMING "Dude! It's called a TURBO tournament for a reason! Let the people who want to play poker get on with the freaking hand!" ...This, among many other reasons, is a major barrier to my acquiring poker patience. In the early levels of a Turbo Tournament, I feel intense pressure to surge ahead so that I can keep up with the blind levels. I get INCREDIBLY stressed when I get down to a level of 5-6 big blinds for my stack, and sometimes, especially when the tournament is into antes, the only thing that needs to happen for that to take place is my getting a whole lot of nothing for ten minutes. How the heck does anyone handle themselves when this sort of thing happens? Because I sure can't!

Being brutally honest unless you learn like budishm or some kind of tai chi mind and emotion control or sort your mindet out.
its pretty much impossible for you to become a long term turbo winning player.

thats fine if you play for fun...

Im guessing if not getting cards gets you this angry when you get dealt aces and are losing to suited connectors or K8s on a frequent enough basis (like monthly) even weekly depending how much you play
Your going to come close to an intense turmoil poker breakdown.

you need to be able to take sick bad beats on the chin and handle bein carddead otherwise turbos will be soul destroying
 
Lheticus

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unless you learn like budishm or some kind of tai chi mind and emotion control

You'd be surprised..."some kind of tai chi mind and emotion control" is a thing that I've perceived to be expected of me by society since elementary school. And that is all I will say on that subject to you or to anyone else here.

Im guessing if not getting cards gets you this angry when you get dealt aces and are losing to suited connectors or K8s on a frequent enough basis (like monthly) even weekly depending how much you play
Your going to come close to an intense turmoil poker breakdown.

you need to be able to take sick bad beats on the chin and handle bein carddead otherwise turbos will be soul destroying

Honestly? No--honestly, getting outdrawn by some old BS hand when I have pocket AAs and all the chips are in the middle before the flop is actually the outcome I expect at this point. Bad beats I can withstand with relative ease. As I've alluded to in another thread, (I believe the Vanessa Selbst thread) in poker, one hand doesn't matter. One tournament doesn't even matter. Only the totality of all hands in all tournaments matters. And when I get into situations of 10, 20, maybe even 30 hands in a row where I have completely bup-to-the-kus to work with, such an occurrence does destroy my soul inside somewhat, because to me, one of the primary objectives of playing the game of poker in its totality is to play the game of poker, something that I often feel I am failing to do around the 10th uber-cold hand in a row. The thought process goes something like "Geez, I'm just sitting here. What exactly was the point of me doing this again?"

Just before your post, TheNoobie says that "the pleasure of playing gives people an edge", to paraphrase that part of his post. And when I'm running ice-cold for a significant amount of time/hands, that pleasure is something I simply do not feel--because I don't feel as though I'm "playing the game"--I feel like I'm just sitting in a chair.
 
BluffMeAllIn

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something that I often feel I am failing to do around the 10th uber-cold hand in a row. The thought process goes something like "Geez, I'm just sitting here. What exactly was the point of me doing this again?"

Just before your post, TheNoobie says that "the pleasure of playing gives people an edge", to paraphrase that part of his post. And when I'm running ice-cold for a significant amount of time/hands, that pleasure is something I simply do not feel--because I don't feel as though I'm "playing the game"--I feel like I'm just sitting in a chair.

Simply put, this is part of the game. To play the game we must accept all aspects that come with it, hot streaks, bad beads, cold decks and sometimes just sitting there pressing the fold button until we have no choice but to make a move if that "hand" we want just doesn't show up.
 
Lheticus

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Simply put, this is part of the game. To play the game we must accept all aspects that come with it, hot streaks, bad beads, cold decks and sometimes just sitting there pressing the fold button until we have no choice but to make a move if that "hand" we want just doesn't show up.

Finally, I've managed to clarify the crux of the issue. "To play the game, we must accept all aspects that come with it." My issue is that having to fold so many hands that I feel like I'm sitting in a chair doing nothing instead of playing a game is something I am unable to deal with. If anyone has any insights--mental tricks or what have you--to help me try to deal with such things, they are more than welcome.
 
BluffMeAllIn

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My suggestion would be to multitable, more hands less likely your going to go any large span of time without being involved in at least 1 between however many tables.
 
bullishwwd

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I'm writing this query because of a thread I just saw in General Poker (not really sure why it was in GENERAL poker and not this thread) that was discussing them and a lot of people posting in that thread seemed to like them. Me? I can't stand them. If I get in a tournament with 5 minute blind levels, I'm not running any kind of hot, and people are using their entire freaking time banks on just one hand early on--sometimes more than one person does this in a single hand? I feel like SCREAMING "Dude! It's called a TURBO tournament for a reason! Let the people who want to play poker get on with the freaking hand!" ...This, among many other reasons, is a major barrier to my acquiring poker patience. In the early levels of a Turbo Tournament, I feel intense pressure to surge ahead so that I can keep up with the blind levels. I get INCREDIBLY stressed when I get down to a level of 5-6 big blinds for my stack, and sometimes, especially when the tournament is into antes, the only thing that needs to happen for that to take place is my getting a whole lot of nothing for ten minutes. How the heck does anyone handle themselves when this sort of thing happens? Because I sure can't!
Even in Turbos, you should consider developing better patience mate ... sounds like the delayed play is putting you on tilt. Anything that affects your emotions, good and bad, can easily cause tilt which is rarely good for poker OR life.
 
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And when I get into situations of 10, 20, maybe even 30 hands in a row where I have completely bup-to-the-kus to work with.
What does bup-to-the-kus mean? Is it anything like balls to the walls or is it the opposite of that or what? I'm constantly behind on the latest expressions, so forgive me for asking.
 
Lheticus

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What does bup-to-the-kus mean? Is it anything like balls to the walls or is it the opposite of that or what? I'm constantly behind on the latest expressions, so forgive me for asking.

Sorry about that--it was just a rather linguistically pretentious way of saying "bupkus", or nothing.

Not that it isn't linguistically pretentious to use a phrase like "linguistically pretentious." *sweatdrop*
 
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