Regular SNGs and hyper/turbo SNGs aren’t one in the same. Most regular SNGs will have standard blind structures whereas hyper/turbo events move much at a much faster pace. In a turbo events, blind levels are drastically reduced to typically a third of what you’d see at a regular SNG tournament. Needless to say, the game is going to move along a lot faster and your decision making is going to be directly affected, meaning you will need to adjust your strategy and implement a push/fold game much sooner.
The allure of hyper/turbos is that they don’t take a long time to play. The tradeoff to this is the fact that there will be less opportunity to play and there will be a heavier emphasis on the luck dynamic because you basically start the tournament short-stacked. Some players just aren’t cut out for turbos, as you will experience much higher levels of aggression than you would in regular events. Furthermore, the types of players that you face are going to be different as well. There are so many variables that need to be accounted for when you go from one type of SNG to the next and this lesson will focus on the main ones. Let’s dig in.
PLAYER TYPES
Whether you realize it or not, the type of players you’ll encounter in hyper/turbo SNGs are going to be quite different than regular SNGs. In SNGs with normal structures, most players are going to be very passive and will lean towards the more recreational end of the poker playing demographic. The reason for this is that many poker players are only in the game for the fun of it. They don’t have any interest in being competitive to the point where they are failing to have fun with the game. This is the primary reason for why tournament poker is profitable for so many.
Now, don’t get me wrong. When you cross over to hyper/turbos, you’re still going to be running into many weak players. The difference is that these players tend to be more well-adjusted to their game of type and will usually have a more diverse skill set. Hyper/turbo SNGs are much like any variation of any game in that its uniqueness creates more specialized players.
GENERAL APPROACH
The standard strategy for hyper/turbo SNGs shouldn’t be all that different than what you would find in any other event, it’s just that you arrive at a push/fold strategy much sooner. The primary difference is also the most noticeable, with the speed of play definitely being at a faster pace. You aren’t going to have as many people who sit around and wait for hands as the structure just won’t allow for this to work. You’ll need to widen your hand ranges right from the beginning to allow yourself the opportunity to get involved before you cripple yourself through the blinds alone.
Aggression is going to be met with more opposition in hyper/turbos than in regular SNGs. In a regular event, there will be a lot of people who just back down to pressure so that they can last another hand and pick another spot. That’s not going to fly here because waiting for another spot will have you blinded out and on the rail. Your odds of lasting longer are greatly decreased by the speed of the blinds, and therefore players in hyper/turbos are more inclined to fight back. This doesn’t mean that you should be backing down on your own levels of aggression, not by any means. All that it means is that you’ll need to be more willing to play in raised and re-raised pots. Just keep in mind that the play is going to be much more aggressive as a whole from start to finish and you need to adjust your play accordingly.
THE LUCK FACTOR IS GREATER
The amount of luck involved in tournaments is hard to overstate. When you consider turbo events, you’ll be subjecting yourself to even more volatility than normal. Earlier it was mentioned that the play is much faster, which in turn leaves less opportunity for anyone to really play a ton of hands over a long period of time. Instead, you’ll be playing in few pots for greater amounts of chips. There’s nothing you can do to change this dynamic of the game, but you can still work towards minimizing the extent to which luck personally affects you.
One of the most optimal ways to reduce the role that luck plays in turbo tournaments is to be the aggressor whenever possible. As a general rule of thumb, the person doing the betting is going to be more likely to win a hand than the person calling down the bets. You should be trying to win all of the uncontested and unraised pots that you possibly can.
Even though players are going to be more active in turbo events, it doesn’t mean that there won’t be a fair share of dead money floating around. Make open raises, bet the flops, and use your aggression to force your opponents into a corner. There’s no better environment in which to use aggression to your advantage than in a turbo tournament.
RUNNING DEEP
A deep run in these events is going to mean two very different things. Again with luck, you are going to need things to go your way in a turbo tournament. Not to say that this isn’t true in any poker tournament, but the lack of actual play is going to create an even greater need for bigger hands that can win on their own. In the bulk of normal poker tournaments, even players at the final table will have 50 or more big blinds to work with. In a turbo event, the number of big blinds could easily be closer to the range of 5-20 big blinds. This will inevitably create a storm of all-ins where ultimately players become handcuffed.
In a hyper/turbo SNG, you’ll need to have the willpower and determination to take down pots and make plays when you are running low. You can’t fold and wait for hands. Sure, your life is going to be on the line over and over again, but this is the only way that you can really expect to win.
Learn to play your opponents as much as you can because the cards can only help you so much. Turbo tournament poker is much more about picking the correct spots than it is about having good hands. If you can successfully control your opponents, it won’t always matter whether you are being dealt the best of hands.
From this lesson, you should know the main differences between regular and hyper/turbo SNGs. In the next lesson, you will learn specifically how to adjust to these faster-paced formats.
WANT TO REVIEW PREVIOUS LESSONS?
If you’re just jumping into this 60-Minute Master series for SNGs or would like to review what you’ve learned so far, here are the links to all previous lessons. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to do so in the comments section below.
