I noticed there is a lack of DON strategy guides on this site. So, I've decided to give the $1 tables a shot, try to understand the game better, workout a decent strategy, and possibly share it with CC if I well.
I'm more interested in the $5 DONs, especially the turbos with it's 4% rake. I don't see how the $1 and $5 games differ that much. So, if I come up with a solid strategy for the $1, it will probably be good enough for the $5. I'm just playing the $1 now until I get a full grasp of the game.
...So, I guess that's my July goal. To come up with a decent DON guide.
I wouldn't call it a guide, but I posted something about my approach to DONs after "discovering" them a few months ago. I ran smokin' hot in them for awhile, winning I think 20 of my first 22 played, including a couple of shots at the $20 ones. It was like printing money. Then I lost a few in a row, figured the magic was gone, and got away from them for a bit. Since starting them up again at the $1 and $5 levels, I'm running maybe 50% over the last dozen or so. I moved up to a $10 one again last night just to get in another quick game before bed, and managed to win it. The problem for me is switching gears between these and regular SnGs/MTTs. If I'm playing only DONs I do well, but if I'm sprinkling in other games I tend to lose more of them.
I still think these are highly profitable if you adjust your game to them. For instance, most conventional SnG strategy is to nit up early, hoping to survive into the money where you then turn on the juice for the win. In DONs the money = the win and I find the opposite approach works better. Accumulate a healthy stack early, then coast into the money/win. You don't care about being chip leader, because it doesn't matter -- you just need to be in the top half. When you get down to, say, 7 handed and there are 3 short stacks in there, and you're in 2nd or 3rd position, tighten way up and avoid unnecessary confrontation. Unless you've just got a super stack that can afford several confrontations, don't get aggressive against the shortstacks trying to knock them out with marginal hands because it's very easy to swap stacks with them, leaving you suddenly fighting for your life. Especially in the turbos where the blinds & antes are eating their stacks rapidly. I've folded hands like QQ pre before when we're 6-handed and I've got a comfortable stack in say 3rd place. I'd never do that in a regular SnG that paid top 3. Also, if you do find yourself on the bubble with a short stack, it's not as important to get it in with ATC as long as there are other stacks close to yours that are willing to be aggressive. As long as you can afford the blinds & antes, let them knock themselves out. I've won several DONs as the shortest stack, with only a few bb left, after confrontations between two medium stacks. Obviously this is situational like anything else in poker, but DONs definitely require a different mindset than regular SnGs, at least to me.
