Turbo Tournament Tips, Part I

Seeing how I recently won the €5,300 buy-in turbo European Poker Tour event in Prague, now seems like an ideal time for me to provide tips that are fairly easy to implement that will instantly help you do better in fast-structured tournaments. This article will be split up into two parts, as I have more to say than can fill one article, so check back next issue for Part II. While I have no clear cut definition for a fast-structured event, if you find the average stack hovers between 10 and 20 big blinds after the first few hours of play, it is fast. Most small-stakes players are unaware that every tournament they play at their local casino has a fast structure, leading to them making frequent blunders, making these events incredibly profitable for those who know how to adjust properly.

I want to make it perfectly clear that, despite what you frequently hear from many uninformed players, having a short stack does not turn poker into a crap shoot. You will find that most players like to have a deep stack in front of them because it gives them an illusion of control. In reality, if you and your opponents all play equally well, your stack’s depth is irrelevant as you will all break even in the long run. While the amount of big blinds a skilled player can win per hour will be higher with deeper stacks, when the blinds get huge at the end of a turbo event, even if you are winning around one big blind per hour, you will find those big blinds are usually worth a significant amount.

Suppose you are at the end of an event against reasonable opposition you have a small edge on. You think you will win five big blinds per hour at a table where the average stack is 100 big blinds and one big blind per hour where the average stack is 10 big blinds. Notice you will win one-twentieth of your stack per hour when the table has 100 big blinds per average and one-tenth of your stack per hour when the table has 10 big blinds on average. Clearly, the second situation is much more profitable. However, this is not the end of the story. Your stack will fluctuate wildly at the shallow-stacked table, often leaving you broke despite skillful play. If you have no chips, you will not be able to continue grinding out that one big blind per hour. You could have a much higher win rate when deeper stacked because your opponents may play poorly postflop. You may have a higher win rate with shallow stacks because your opponents may be way too tight, waiting for premium hands before committing their stack.

The point I am trying to make is that even if you are winning a small amount in terms of big blinds per hour, that edge can still be a huge amount of dollars per hour. Do not assume because you have a tiny stack that there is no skill involved. If you assume short-stacked poker is similar to deep-stacked poker, you will get crushed if your opponents have some idea of what they are doing. My first tip is to study up on short-stacked poker and play the turbo events.

In general, you should try to not go broke early in a turbo event, especially when the payout structure rewards getting in the money. In the €5,300 event I won, 22 players played and four got in the money, meaning 18 percent of the field would get paid. Fourth place paid something like €12,000, which is a full 2.25 buy-ins. In “normal” tournaments with lots of players, usually around 12 percent of the field gets in the money with a minimum cash being around 1.5 buy-ins. Winning my €5,300 event would award nine buy-ins whereas winning a “normal” tournament awards significantly more. Clearly, getting in the money is much more important as it pays more in terms of buy-ins and becomes easier to obtain. In somewhat small-fielded turbo events, it is advantageous to make it somewhat deep before actively looking for spots to go all-in. I played primarily sit-n-go tournaments during the first three years of my poker career. Those events really reward getting in the money, as 30 percent of the field gets paid. While the event I won is not quite as extreme, it still rewarded getting in the money much more than most events.

Because of this, I passed up on a few situations early in the tournament where I thought I had a tiny edge, opting to conserve my stack instead. In order to get close to the money, you must survive the early stages. My second tip is to make a point to not go broke early in a turbo event unless you can get all-in with a large amount of equity.

Once you get somewhat short stacked, do not be afraid to go all-in. One of the worst things you can do when playing short stacked is to limp in or call raises when you have a hand that will either not connect often enough to show a profit, such as 9 7, or will frequently make a second best hand, such as A 10. Instead, if you want to profitably play these hands with a 20 big blind stack, if someone raises to 2.5 big blinds and you think he will fold a decent amount of the time if you go all-in, go all-in. It is important to note that if your opponent will only raise with premium hands, you should not go all-in with marginal hands because your opponent will usually call and you will be crushed. Always be sure to think about your opponent and his tendencies. If you have 10 big blinds or fewer and everyone folds to you, simply go all-in with these holdings, especially if you think the players yet to act will fold most of the time. This will allow you to slowly build your stack while also allowing you a chance to get a large stack if you happen to get lucky. If you find yourself calling raises, you will only get a stack when you make strong hands and your opponents also make good, but second-best hands. This will not happen too often. My third tip is to not be scared to go all-in with your playable hands once your stack gets short.

Be sure to check back next issue for Part II of this article where I give three additional tips for improving your turbo tournament game. ♠

Jonathan Little, 2-time World Poker Tour champion has won more than $6 million in tournaments since 2006. He is sponsored by 3bet.com, Instapoker and BlueSharkOptics and teaches poker at FloatTheTurn.com and www.JonathanLittleSecrets.com. Follow him on Twitter @ JonathanLittle.