turbo sng's

i need some help with turbo strategy. im getting killed on the bubble.

i've been playing somewhat tight and getting thru to the bubble spots, but it seems at that point that you have to go all in so many times the percentages are qwikly working against you.

should i avoid these tourneys? or continue with a solid tight aggressive approach. or change it up somehow?

When it gets to be the bubble, that's when you need to be aggressive and bluff. The other players are doing the exact same thing you're doing. Playing really tight until someone take the bubble. You make a big raise and they will fold unless they have a monster hand. You'll be stealing blinds and increasing your stack.

i consider my self to be a good s&g player...my stats agree with me..i do play a lot fo the 6$ turbo s&g on stars....i find the key to success in these types of games is agressiveness, and blind stealing...when it is down to 6 or less players usually the blinds are at about 75/150 mark, this is where i try to start picking up blinds from the button, and i also like to mix it up and make steals from last position (seat behind the button)...also if you have shown down and raised from early position with big hands previously, i try to pick up a blind or two every once in while but not often from this position, i also try to make a 2.5xBB raise instead of a standard 3x raise all the time, saves me chips if i get called and have to lay down my hand....the extra chips you'll save will add up and help when it gets time to that bubble...

I tend to play more aggressive in the beginning of the turbo sng's so that I can build my chipstack and so that bubble play is not as important. I will still play aggressive on the bubble with the right hands, but I would rather watch the others knock me into the money than take a chance at getting knocked out.

AceZWylD said:

I tend to play more aggressive in the beginning of the turbo sng's so that I can build my chipstack and so that bubble play is not as important. I will still play aggressive on the bubble with the right hands, but I would rather watch the others knock me into the money than take a chance at getting knocked out.

Click to expand...

Very similar to my style.

Another thing I tend to do - there is no sense calling someone's all in pre-flop when you are in the top 3 or 4 in chips and they are on the bubble (assuming bubble is 6th or 7th) unless they only have 4 or 5 X BB and it's not costing you much. I've folded KK, QQ, AK, AQ preflop (can't remeber a time I've been dealt AA and someone has gone all-in at this specific stage of a tourney) countless times around the bubble because the last thing I need is to be knocked out of one of the top positions when some donk catches a flop/turn/river and I'm now flurting with the bubble. cAll their smaller bets with your premium hands and after the flop comes and you hit your hand, then aggressively bet to knock the low stacks out.

ace- good point about building a stack and avoiding bubble trouble, i will try loosening some early and see what happens. i know it cause some early exits that will hopefully be offset with a few more cashes.

papa-your play sounds very similar to mine. it just seems that in blind stealing mode i get committed to push in too often. even with the best of it going in, you are going to get knocked out nearly 45%. i have been raising 3xBB though, i will try switching to some smaller raises in the later round and see how that goes. maybe i wont get committed as often and like you said easier to lay down when i miss the flop.

i feel like my play has been solid, just making some tactical mistake. thanks for the advice, hopefully this will fill a couple holes.

Dig...It's a good strategy. Especially if you are patient about your starting hands, and push hard when you hit. It causes an early exit maybe 1 out of 5 times, but I place in the money often.

digdug - it sounds like you play a good, solid style.
The only way to play turbo tournaments (sngs or mtts) is to play loose, and aggressive.
I used to play them, but they don't suit my style at all.
Basically you have to get lucky early by gambling (not playing a good solid game) and then bully the shorter stacks who are waiting around for a top ten hand.
Essentially, turbos take alot of skill out of tournaments. They encourage playing a loose gambling style. Obviously there is still strategy and room for skill in the tourneys, but to a much lesser extent than normal tourneys.

If you are a tight aggressive player who likes to trap opponents and play a good game of poker, then stick to the normal-speed tournaments. They should be the same in terms of buy-in cost and fees, and actually give you room to outplay your opponents instead of out-luck them.

Chuck...I normally agree with what you are saying, but I have to disagree on this one. You can still play tight and aggressive. I play a lot of the turbos, and I do quite well with a tight aggressive style. In the turbos, you really only need 1 or 2 big hands to hit the money. If I can make 1.5 times my starting chips out of 2 hands, the bubble play becomes less relevant and then it is a coinflip once I am in the money.

I do prefer MTT's and regular SnG's though, I just play the turbos when i'm in a time crunch.

i dunno...i haven't played the turbo sngs in a while, but turbo MTTs are ridiculous...
they give you 7min (i think) blinds - it's practically against the odds to get a good hand and win with it before the break
with normal mtts, unless you get really unlucky and don't see a playable hand before the break, you basicallly are given enough time to get a solid hand. If you are skilled enough to double up with it, then you're fine, because then your skill can basically take you the rest of the way (with stealing blinds etc.).
With turbos, you're either a huge stack, or you're getting blinded away.
That's why you see tournaments on PS called 'deepstacks' - they give you more chips, and way more time (1/2hr blinds) to actually use your skill instead of struggle with quick-rising blinds.

I dunno...this is all based on my personal experiences with turbos, so maybe just ignore me - i've had little success in them

Again, I agree with AceZ. Because everyone else is trying to double up as well, you can usually afford to play tight then get really aggressive when you hit. I find I can usually double up with every 4 or 5 hands I hit. It takes most people a while to even realize how tight you are playing, especially if the tables are switching players around frequently.

Chuck, my experience with the Turbo SNG's is that many of the players think they have to get er done quick so as Ace & Gord say quite often tight aggresive works very nicely & folks are kind enough to knock themselves out leaving you to clean up at the end. And if it doesn't work out it's over quicker so less time wasted. Works for me anyway.