Poker online has popularized “turbo” style multi-table tournaments with short levels with rapidly increasing antes and blinds. Even live contests advertise as “turbo” when featuring fast structures. These tournaments are quite different, particularly for those who only have experience with non-turbo tournaments.
Some players must play more hands at higher stakes, leading to frequent tournament elimination. Meanwhile, others like myself struggle to keep up with the fast-paced action of a turbo sit-n-go. The key is to strike a balance by being aggressive enough to build your chip stack and avoid resorting to a push/fold strategy. Ideally, we want to maintain a decent stack to use to our advantage and control the game.
Critical Differences Between Turbo and Non-Turbo MTTs
There are two types of tournaments – regular and turbo. Regular poker online games have more prolonged blind levels lasting 45 minutes to an hour. On the other hand, turbo tournaments have shorter blind levels of 15-30 minutes, which means that the game’s pace is faster. This quicker pace will impact your decision-making skills, so you must change your game strategy, whether at the beginning of the event or throughout the tournament.
Turbo tournaments are appealing because they are faster, which means you will have fewer chances to play, and luck will play a more significant role. If you are comfortable with this, you might want a different solution than turbo tournaments.
Expect more aggressive play and encounter different types of players in turbo (and in turbo MTT) tournaments compared to regular events. Keep in mind that other matches have various variables to consider.
To begin with, there are some differences between turbo and non-turbo MTTs. Turbo MTTs have 5-minute levels, while standard MTTs have 10-20 minute levels. Antes are introduced earlier in turbo MTTs, approximately 30 minutes, compared to 1-1.5 hours into standard MTTs.
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If you have yet to gain many chips, you’ll reach a level with only 10-15 big blinds in 30 minutes in turbo MTTs, while it takes about an hour to achieve the same level in standard tournaments. The main takeaway isn’t only that turbo MTTs are faster, which is evident.
It is crucial to realize that errors in turbo MTTs have more significant consequences. When you make a mistake, you only have a few minutes or seconds before the blinds increase, diminishing the stack sizes and fold equity. This is different in non-turbo tournaments, where you can make small mistakes and have enough time to fix them before the blinds increase. Now that we understand this, let’s discuss some strategies.
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Some Poker Strategies to Consider
- It’s best to stick to a tight strategy during the early stages and not switch things up.
When you have a lot of chips at the beginning of a turbo tournament, you should play similarly to how you would in a regular MTT during the first few levels. The blinds and antes are too low to make stealing worthwhile, and it’s better to play tight to establish yourself as a conservative player. Your tight image can help you later in the game when you decide to bluff or steal blinds.
- Look out for level changes during the game.
During five minutes of online play at a nine-handed table, players usually only get through about an orbit or a little more. This means that each level often requires playing from all positions at the table just once, including the blinds, early position, middle position, and late position. If a player’s stack becomes short, making more aggressive moves like re-raise-shoving may be necessary before the level changes, as their fold equity will decrease and make it harder to elicit folds.
- In Turbo Poker Table Tournaments, Antes are Your Ticket to Aggressive Play
The antes will become effective in a turbo tournament after around 30 minutes. If you still need to increase your chips by then, you’ll probably have approximately 50 big blinds. This is the best time to become more aggressive. Antes create dead money, making pots more significant. Nonetheless, there’s no need to be reckless, so you should still pick your spots carefully based on your position, your opponent, and how much you can bet. However, you can try opening up to a broader range of hands to steal from the middle or late positions.
When the antes come into play, and the pot gets bigger in later levels, it’s an excellent strategy to 3-bet your opponents to increase your stack. If you get called, you can place a c-bet on the flop, which often results in winning a big pot. Reshoves are also effective, but it’s essential to understand your ranges clearly. It’s best to use reserves once the pots make up 20% or more of your stack.
When opening hands, be mindful of the stack sizes of players to your left. Those with 15-20 big blinds will often shove with various indicators to build their stack or survive, mainly if you frequently steal the blinds. To avoid losing chips, consider opening with hands you can call. However, only continuously open and fold as it can quickly deplete your stack.
If your stack of chips is small, around 10-18 big blinds, it’s better to act fast than to wait. You won’t be able to make other players fold easily due to your limited chips, and the blinds go up quickly in the game. Therefore, to increase your chances of winning, seeking a good opportunity and aggressively moving without delay is best.
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- During the early levels, get a read on your opponents.
To succeed in a fast-paced MTT, you must observe your opponents’ tendencies to determine who plays loosely or tightly, makes intelligent moves, and causes errors. However, it would help if you had more time and hands to analyze them.
- Broaden your range.
To add to the suggestion of searching for opportunities to steal more frequently, it is advisable to widen your range of actions as the turbo poker tournament progresses. This includes re-raising other players’ preflop bets, calling raises (in a favorable position), and placing post-flop continuation bets/raises.
Be careful not to act impulsively, but remember that the blinds and antes increase rapidly, requiring you to play more often. In a turbo game, you may fold frequently during the first few levels, but it becomes risky later.
Conclusion
To add to the suggestion of searching for opportunities to steal more frequently, it is advisable to widen your range of actions as the turbo tournament progresses. This includes re-raising other players’ preflop bets, calling raises (in a favorable position), and placing post-flop continuation bets/raises.
Be careful not to act impulsively, but remember that the blinds and antes increase rapidly, requiring you to play more often. In a turbo game, you may fold frequently during the first few levels, but it becomes risky later.
