TURBO TOURNAMENT STRATEGY?

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SHERRY524

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I really dislike these type of tournaments however sometimes they are unavoidable. If anyone knows of any tips please let me know. I would like to do better at them. I read the post for Turbo SNG strategy but think that there is a difference here.

Also if you have links that are outside of CC please messange me I dont want to encourage any rule breaking.

Thanks in advance for any comments!
 
dj12inches

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For a while - I did pretty well at the turbo tourney. I think the key is to double up quickly so that you have a bit to play with when the blinds go up. I took a few chances early and did OK - but I have started to get away from these games because I dont like playing loose. I'm trying to tighten up my game all around.

JB
 
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SHERRY524

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For a while - I did pretty well at the turbo tourney. I think the key is to double up quickly so that you have a bit to play with when the blinds go up. I took a few chances early and did OK - but I have started to get away from these games because I dont like playing loose. I'm trying to tighten up my game all around.

JB

Cool thanks for the info. I just seem to bust out early in these things and would like to go a lil further. :)
 
twizzybop

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The turbo's are a bit of a crap shoot. Yes you can wait for a hand but the blinds do go up much faster. Either pray and hope for that hand or one does have to gamble and double up early.
 
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Yes turbos are a crapshoot. By the time it's 4 handed, blinds are usually around 200/400 and stacks are in the 1000-2500 range. My suggestion is to play regular SnGs since you can actually "play" hands postflop.
 
royalburrito24

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here is my advice about turbo tournaments: dont play in them.
 
Tygran

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here
separator.gif
is my advice about turbo tournaments: dont play in them.

^^ This

They just aren't worth it. You should be looking to maximize edges acquired via skill and understanding of the game, not minimizing them.
 
royalburrito24

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^^ This

They just aren't worth it. You should be looking to maximize edges acquired via skill and understanding of the game, not minimizing them.

EXACTLY
 
zachvac

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No matter the variance, if you play enough games you will essentially eliminate the luck factor. No doubt to do so in a turbo takes more games than a regular tourney, but it doesn't matter how much luck is involved, as long as there is an element of skill, and you think you are better than the average opponent (to the point that you can beat the rake as well), then they can be profitable. Also, you can play more turbos, thus maximizing your profit if you truly are a winning player. Higher profit, but also higher variance per unit of time.

Now on to strategy, I don't particularly care for the tournament format, I'll do some for fun once in a while, but I do much better at cash games. There was a brief stint where I played the stars $3+$0.40 single table turbos a lot. I'd play 4 at a time and they'd usually take about an hour. I would play extremely tight for the first couple rounds, because everyone else is playing loose. The time you pick up QQ+ and AK, you most of the time get paid off. Sometimes you're flipping a coin with AK, but when a double up almost guarantees you finishing in the money (3/10 money), I've found it to be a profitable play EARLY ON.

As you get closer to the money (final 4-6) you can loosen up a bit. If you haven't won any pots, you HAVE to play more hands, or else you bust out soon, or if you have enough chips to play with, try to steal some pots and build on your chip lead. If you are the big stack this is not the time to go crazy with AK or low pocket pairs hoping for a coin flip (unless their stack is small relative to yours and you can try to knock them out without killing your stack if you do lose). Use position to your advantage and steal some blinds, they are getting quite large now. As the blinds get big relative to stack sizes, you have to adjust your play accordingly. Be extremely aggressive, but don't play stupid. You don't want to lose your stack with a marginal hand against a monster. Once you get to the final 3-4, you can sometimes sit back and let the chip leader take down the people below you, and if you're the chip leader you should be doing a lot of stealing. Just know that as the last place person's stack dwindles down they'll call with more and more (as should you if you're small stack) so don't try to bully a small stack unless you have at least something decent. Just because he shoves to your raise doesn't make it an automatic fold, because his range has widened as well.

I play these to money first of all, because that is actually the biggest increase (4th to 3rd) in payout. Once in 3rd play for 2nd and heads up you obviously try to win. Now I'm not saying you're not trying to win the entire time, but I don't like calling a coin flip when you're 2nd in chips with 4 people left against the chip leader because if you didn't win this you'd have almost no chance at 1st.

That's just the way I played them, and I've played nowhere near enough to consider my results over the long run, but this worked decently well for me in the short amount of time I played and think that if I could deal with the swings that I could make a profit in them, although I still think cash games are more profitable. But hey, that's just me.
 
NineLions

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General strategy is just a shorted version of regular SnGs.

Play tight early, get aggressive at stealling when the blinds rise or when you get short stacked. The end result is a lot more preflop decision making and less flop and later play.


If you take a look at the video section, I think there's some by Chuck, and maybe an old one from Dorkus.
 
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SHERRY524

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Woot you all rock! Thanks for the advice!!!
 
pokerace3454

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yes thanks i forget the why i play turbo sit and gos at poker stars and i win twice hmmmm tight at begining and loose at end
 
Four Dogs

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When we refer to a tournament structure as a "crap shoot" really, what we're saying is that there is little or no room for post flop play. This is true, especially in the super turbos where everyone starts out with 300 chips and the blinds increase every 3 minutes. But this is not to say that everyone has the same chance of winning or cashing. They don't. There is skill involved, but it has little to do with fold equity or 4 betting light, or even table position. It has alot to do with getting a quick read on the preflop shoving ranges of your opponents and calling whenever you have that range beat, or shoving yourself whenever you rate to stand up well to their potential calling ranges. In a turbo tournament, as in the late stages of any standard format mtt, first one in usually takes the pot without a fight, so even hands like strong SC's or pairs are worth risking your stack when you get down to 20 BB's or less.

There is a value to playing these super fast structured tournaments if only to get a feel for standard structured mtt end game strategy. Advanced strategy is all well and good, but a poker player can do well just by staying within ones comfort zone and avoiding mistakes caused by inexperience with unfamiliar situations. The way to do that is to take advantage of all the various formats and structures which on-line poker offers including fast paced turbo tournaments, heads-up tournaments, re-buys and add-ons or any any other format which may simulate situations which might otherwise occur few and far between. This might mean a slight negative EV which in my opinion is more than made up for by the experience you gain.

And oh yeah. I just realized that this thread is almost a year old, but what the heck.
 
MrPokerVerse

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Really hate turbo tourneys. It really does come down to luck at the end. Be aggresive early and take pots. Got to have the chips to make a deep run later on. After that find that rabbit's foot, horsrshoe or what ever gives the edge to say this is the hand I'm going steal blinds or push all in on and hang on tight!
 
dj11

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These Super Turbo SnG's saved me at FT. With a dwindling br, I played 5 or 6 of these over 2 days cashing in 4 and quadrupled my br in the process. I won the last one.

I must add that for once my AA's held up 80% of the time, as did ever other hand perform as expected.

I avoid even looking at my cards (not really but almost) for the first orbit. I did not want to be sitting UTG +1 with JJ. Hell, I prayed for bad cards the first 2 orbits. My wishes were granted in the games I cashed in. I started with bad cards and did nothing. There are very few dawdlers in these games, so the hands/hour will be quite a bit higher than normal. i.e. you will see more hands faster. Also means that those good cards are a bit more likely to show up.

I actually tried to blind out with no decent hands in one of these. Didn't happen as great cards showed at a great time.

Even in these accelerated SnG's, the cards will come, and did and I was able to double up at some point, then double up again and before long it was bubble time.

By the time average stack gets 1500 chips, 80% of the field is gone, and the game plays exactly like a STT turbo (speed wise).

The approach is similar to a Satellite tourney approach. Don't worry about winning satellites, ITM is the same as winning them, and the chip leader doesn't get anything more than the guy who barely beats the bubble.

These turbo games will play the same to that point, but they finish that bubble, if you understand this (sorry, odd concept to explain), you could do well in the SuperTurbo's.
 
Steves22

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They are too fast for my taste I feel like I have to just go allin and hope to get a huge chip lead early to win these things. I like to take my time and get a feel for whats going on. Turbo's are alot more luck if you ask me.
 
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