Online Poker Rooms

One of the biggest downfalls to playing poker tournaments is the time it takes to finish the tournament. There are online poker tournaments that can take over 10 hours to finish. It is even more frustrating to play for a few hours and not even place in the money. The best alternative if you don’t have time but you love poker tournaments is to play turbo tournaments.

Turbo Vs. Regular Poker Tournaments

Just like in regular online poker tournaments you will get about 75 BB in chips to start and the blinds will start really low. On Poker Stars you start off in regular poker tournaments with 1500 in chips and the blinds 10/20, and at online rooms like Party Poker you will start off with 3000 in chips and blinds of 10/20. The main difference in a turbo tournament is that the blinds will increase rapidly about every 3-5 minutes compared to the normal of 15 minutes. This means that the tournament will be about 3-5 times quicker than a regular online poker tournament.

Blind Structures

As the tournament progresses so do the blinds and antes. For this very reason you must adjust your play according to how fast the blinds are rising. With the blinds and antes rising every 3-5 minutes means that you really have to look for good spots to usually put all your chips in. Even just 1 hour into a turbo tournament the blinds and antes will be a huge portion of even an above average stack.

The best attribute of a great tournament player is patience. To do well in a turbo tournament it is exactly the opposite. If you sit and wait for big hands you will find yourself with almost no chips very quickly. The more aggressive you are to weaker opponents while in position will increase your chances of success.

Turbo Poker Satellites

The most popular form of turbo poker tournaments is when playing in lower buy-in satellites to bigger poker tournaments. Poker Stars offers the most turbo satellites in which they offer seats to the $215 weekly $1 million tournament and also seats to the WSOP main event satellites. With the right strategy it is very easy to beat these turbo satellites on a regular basis.

Remember it is very important to try and win pots without a showdown. To do well in any turbo poker tournament luck will definitely come into play. The best way to avoid having to get lucky is to try to win as many pots as you can without a showdown. This is not easy to do, especially in an online tournament where the blinds get huge compared to chip stacks. It is much better to play 72 off suit against a player who folds 90% of the time on the flop, than to play AK suited against a player who sees the river 90% of the time.

Play The Opponent

Turbo tournament poker can be extremely fun but also involves extreme pressure at the same time. The thrill of potentially being knocked out or doubled up in one hand can really get your adrenaline pumping. The biggest thing you can do is play smart and try to not always play for “all the chips”. Towards the end of any turbo tournaments all but the biggest stacks are forced to go all in becasue of the blinds being so high. Try to feel out your opponents and figure out if they are big gamblers (maniacs) or if they are super tight (rocks).

Players that continually push all-in throughout the entire turbo tournament rarely win in a turbo tournament unless they are extremely lucky. Take control of your hands by always making smart logical decisions, and your opponents should pick up on that. Let players move all in on you all the time and when you finally pick up a monster, your patience will pay you off.

One rule of thumb that works well playing online poker tournaments is that if you can beat AA, AK or KK when playing a rock, you should be ready to commit all your chips. If you flop a set or make two pair on the turn, you will usually have the best hand against a rock. This is because rock’s only play the best cards. They will not be in pots with J9 or 64. Unlike maniacs, you will not have to worry about them holding random cards that beat you. A maniac gambling with random cards will outdraw you a lot more than a solid rock will.

Making the Money in Turbo Poker Tournaments

Most turbo poker tournaments are for satellites into bigger tournaments. This means that you are not playing for 1st place. Everyone who wins will all get the same prize. The prize pool usually awards a seat for about every 1 in 5 players. So if you enter a turbo satellite with 500 people you should expect 100 people to all win a seat.

With that being said you have to change your strategy from a normal poker tournament. The object is not to make the final table but just to be in the top 100. WIth a big stack towards the end of the tournament you DO NOT play any hands or worry about stealing the blinds. There is no reason to get involved unless you are absolutely forced to. If 100 people all win a seat it does not matter if you have 100,000 in chips or 500 when there are 100 people left. Aggression is the key to turbo poker tournaments but when the end is near there is no need to risk any more chips.

Final Turbo Poker Tournament Thoughts

Turbo poker tournaments can be a lot of fun and provide with a lot of action. If you do not like the “luck” factor of poker than turbo tournaments are not for you. The same basic poker tournament strategy applies to turbo tournaments but you have to remember that with the blinds rising every 3-5 minutes you cannot play tight. Tight players in a turbo tournament NEVER win no matter how hard they try to wait for a big hand. Look for spots to win chips without a showdown and you will do fine.