SnG - Turbo, classic or double or nothing?

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Nargil

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There may be a similar thread about this, but I did my best to find yet, yet without success.
Anyway, I've been playing mostly turbo tournaments, but variance is really killing me, since they are faster, thus I have shove it in much more often. And because of that, I am not really getting much of a profit there.
I haven't tried much of a classic tournaments online, since my post flop play isn't that great. I can do absolutely outstanding reads on opponents and in 5 minutes I can get myself broke because I was "sure" he was bluffing.
I tried DoN tournaments in a past, but not really successfully, but it was quite long ago (year or more) and I've become much better player since then, so this may be the way. But another thing is that I play on PS, which cancelled them and replaced them with some idiotic fifty50, so I would have to move somewhere else. But I read, that there are more fish on party poker, so it may not be that bad.
So at last my questions is, which type of tournaments is better to get profit from? I know the answer may be "whichever suits me best", yet consider the fact, that cards hate me and my post flop play is far from perfect. And also the fact I would prefer not to shove in that much. Which of these tournaments do you prefer and why? (And ofc I am talking about 9-10 handed SnGs.)
 
loopmeister

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Well, shallower tourneys reduce the amt of post-flop play.

Reduced post-flop play means you're getting it in pre-flop or on the flop.

You can't really have it both ways.
 
jbbb

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Turbo's are mathematically more sounds IMO. Learn perfect (or near) push/fold strat using various tools and you will profit. However, variance can be huge which is why you need to practise good bankroll management.
$1.75 turbo's are dam easy, but the rake is pretty high, so once you have mastered to 1.75's (should take a few minutes) try moving to the 3.40's.
I play a mix of turbo and regular depending on the buyin.
 
pricecube

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If you prefer not to shove all in so much then I suppose the classic SnG is the best because the blinds don't increase too quickly and it allows for some pre-flop play in the early stages. With the turbos you're obviously going to be shoving more because of the 5-min blinds. I quite like the DoN SnGs because they have a strategy of their own and it's always obvious who grasps it and who doesn't when you're playing them so they could end up being pretty profitable. I know pokerstars have changed them to these Fifty50 things but I'm assuming the strategy is pretty similar.
 
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CromMitra

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i play them both based on how i feel like playing that day.if i wanted to play aggressive and play alot of hands i go with the turbo's.if i feel like playing a patient game,waiting for hands, picking good spots, playing "smart" poker i will play with the longer blind stucture.....good points to both trny's so why limit yourself.....play them both.
 
Shufflin

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The single table knockouts play pretty deep -- there are plenty of early bustouts due to bounty-hungry players. You can often get to the money without much shoving.
 
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giantsinfive

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I would just play turbo sngs. You say you hit bad cards, well cards aren't even that important in turbo sngs.
Just learn to push before you lose fold equity
 
eqgh5uea

eqgh5uea

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Don't play DoNs.

The variance of poker must allow the concept of big gains with limited loss. Chances---yes, chances---are that you're not going to get good cards every once and awhile and, by so, you have instances where it is practically impossible to win.

If I have $17 and I play 15 or 14 MTT $1.20 tournies, chances are that I'll make my money back by playing aggressively over being passive. DoNs are purely a passive players' game.

Good luck!!!
 
rufftuffcreampuff

rufftuffcreampuff

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hi

I would suggest that you stick to playing the standard speed Sit'ngoes and just start working on your postflop play NOW. It is something that you will need to improve upon sooner or later so why not sooner?
Double or nothings seem to be an easy way to profit in sit'ngoes but from what I've heard there are alot of people who play them regularly and the shoving & folding decisions are different because of the same payout schedule. You really can't get around not playing postflop poker for long unless you want to stick to playing Super Turbo sit'ngoes (I tried the super turboes for a bit but got sick of them)
 
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WiseOne06

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i like the turbos the best...people tend to play weaker hands more so i jus wait for some people to be knocked out and jus basically play ur game
 
cjatud2012

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Don't play DoNs.

The variance of poker must allow the concept of big gains with limited loss. Chances---yes, chances---are that you're not going to get good cards every once and awhile and, by so, you have instances where it is practically impossible to win.

If I have $17 and I play 15 or 14 MTT $1.20 tournies, chances are that I'll make my money back by playing aggressively over being passive. DoNs are purely a passive players' game.

Good luck!!!

I'm not sure I follow any of your logic here... So you're saying play high variance MTT's with less than 20bi's instead of the lower variance DON's, because "DON's are a passive player's game"? There are a lot of reasons not to play DON's, but I wouldn't consider that one of them.

Anyway, to OP, ultimately your best game is going to depend on what you enjoy the most. Typically players have a higher ROI in normal speed games, but they take longer, so your hourly drops. For that reason a lot of people like turbos, because you can play more of them at once (since it takes less time to get in the point in the tournament where your decisions become simpler), and they take less time overall. DON's are certainly an option, and are likely to have less variance than a turbo, just keep in mind that you will be folding a lot early on which might be boring (but that doesn't make it a passive game by any means). Also I know on Pokerstars the DON's were starting to get really reg-filled, but I don't know what it's like on other sites.
 
Pascal-lf

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I wouldn't recommend DoNs at micros - to make any sort of decent profit you'll have to play a lot more than the standard ones because your ROI will be lower, and the rake will eat into your profits big time as it's a high relative amount.

Plus any thinking player can crush micro SnGs so there's no need to waste time grinding out small profits in DoNs when you can earn more in SnGs with standard payout structures, be it turbo or classic; I'd probably advise starting with classic so you get more post-flop experience but it's really up to you.
 
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losched16

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I'm not sure I follow any of your logic here... So you're saying play high variance MTT's with less than 20bi's instead of the lower variance DON's, because "DON's are a passive player's game"? There are a lot of reasons not to play DON's, but I wouldn't consider that one of them.

Anyway, to OP, ultimately your best game is going to depend on what you enjoy the most. Typically players have a higher ROI in normal speed games, but they take longer, so your hourly drops. For that reason a lot of people like turbos, because you can play more of them at once (since it takes less time to get in the point in the tournament where your decisions become simpler), and they take less time overall. DON's are certainly an option, and are likely to have less variance than a turbo, just keep in mind that you will be folding a lot early on which might be boring (but that doesn't make it a passive game by any means). Also I know on Pokerstars the DON's were starting to get really reg-filled, but I don't know what it's like on other sites.

Agreed. I have played a few DoNs, but not enough to accurately comment on their profitability vs the normal/turbo SnGs. However, there are plently of players who do very well at the DoNs. So it is certainly feasible to build a solid bankroll through the DoN games.

Personally, I started with normal speed SNGs, but soon switched to turbos after I worked on my push/fold game. I believe someone commented earlier about needing to learn post flop poker first. There are many areas you need to play properly in a SNG, and good post flop poker will help, but really, when the blinds start getting into the 25/50, 40/80 range, there is very limited post flop play. OP, regardless of what SNG style you play, your understanding of ICM and push/fold play will ultimately have the greatest effect on your overal profitability. You will just get to the push/fold stage of the game quicker in the turbo format.

Also, I know people always talk about variance when it comes to turbo SNGs, but in reality, if you were to do the calculations (I am not right now as some of you, and even myself, may fall asleep when running through the calculations of variance and confidence intervals), you will see that the variance has very little to do with the normal v turbo SNG decision. Variance is largely determined by the prize pool payouts, and if you are comparing 9 man SNGs, they are exactly the same. So the decision for you to choose between normal or turbo SNGs needes to be purely based on ROI. Therefore, if we are to assume that normal SNGs take about twice as long to complete, you would actually need to have an ROI for normal speed SNGs that is double that of the turbos for it to be more profitable to play the normal speed.

So my personal preference are the turbos for all the reasons mentioned above. I hope this helps. GL
 
cjatud2012

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Agreed. I have played a few DoNs, but not enough to accurately comment on their profitability vs the normal/turbo SnGs. However, there are plently of players who do very well at the DoNs. So it is certainly feasible to build a solid bankroll through the DoN games.

Personally, I started with normal speed SNGs, but soon switched to turbos after I worked on my push/fold game. I believe someone commented earlier about needing to learn post flop poker first. There are many areas you need to play properly in a SNG, and good post flop poker will help, but really, when the blinds start getting into the 25/50, 40/80 range, there is very limited post flop play. OP, regardless of what SNG style you play, your understanding of ICM and push/fold play will ultimately have the greatest effect on your overal profitability. You will just get to the push/fold stage of the game quicker in the turbo format.

Also, I know people always talk about variance when it comes to turbo SNGs, but in reality, if you were to do the calculations (I am not right now as some of you, and even myself, may fall asleep when running through the calculations of variance and confidence intervals), you will see that the variance has very little to do with the normal v turbo SNG decision. Variance is largely determined by the prize pool payouts, and if you are comparing 9 man SNGs, they are exactly the same. So the decision for you to choose between normal or turbo SNGs needes to be purely based on ROI. Therefore, if we are to assume that normal SNGs take about twice as long to complete, you would actually need to have an ROI for normal speed SNGs that is double that of the turbos for it to be more profitable to play the normal speed.

So my personal preference are the turbos for all the reasons mentioned above. I hope this helps. GL

Yes, very good points here. :)

One point about variance though - it is my understanding that variance has much to do with your ROI, and as such, if you expect a smaller ROI in turbos, then the variance would increase as a result. There are programs available that can run simulations at varying ROI's, and it can determine the likelihood of you experiencing larger or smaller swings. So while the prize structure has an effect on variance (e.g. DON's pay out 5 people 20% each, bodog's beginner SNG's pay out top 5% people in small increments, etc.), how skilled a person is has just as much, if not more, to do with the variance.
 
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