‘Super Turbo’ Tournaments

Today I am going to discuss the ‘Super Turbo’ tournaments which are brought to us by Full Tilt Poker. Other online poker rooms may have their version of the super turbo, but since I played on Full Tilt yesterday; I wanted to discuss this type of tournament. A ‘super turbo’ tournament is where each player at the table starts off with 300 chips, and the blinds begin at 15/30. So as you can see each player will only have ten big blinds to their name, hence the tournament’s name ‘super turbo’. The blinds will increase every 5 minutes which is the same as any other regular turbo tournament. That being said, let’s talk some super turbo strategy shall we.

Is it luck? Is it skill? I often hear it’s all luck especially after I see someone take a bad beat, and we get to watch them rant in the table’s chat box. Sometimes it’s down right humorous, but that’s a different story. Super turbo tournaments are combination of luck and skill, which is just like any other poker tournament you play in. The winning player will most likely suck out on his/her opponents throughout the tournament, or they will have a string of good cards. I hate to use the phrase, but ’that’s poker’. This doesn’t mean the winning player isn’t a skilled player, but it’s just the nature of the beast. Let me discuss what I mean by talking about the difference in luck and skill.

In my eyes the difference between luck and skill comes into to play when the blinds start to increase. In the beginning I see that players are more vulnerable to the bad beat. I say this, because it seems like players are willing to shove any two cards once the tournament begins. They are scared that they only have ten big blinds, and they feel that it is necessary to shove any two cards. Perhaps they have the mindset that they want to build a stack early or get eliminated. This is why early tournament is where I see the most luck take place. Simply because players do the ‘shove and pray’ method. They will shove any two cards praying to get lucky. These are the early stage objectives you must overcome to advance in this type of tournament. I on the other hand take a different approach. I like to wait for my hands and pick my spots. Let me discuss how skill comes into play throughout the tournament.

The beginning of the tournament is where I like to sit back and study the table. Barring that I get a monster, I will fold my hands until the right spot presents itself. Players have more time than they think in these type of tournaments, especially when it’s a 9 max table. By folding and studying the table, you can find so many leaks in your opponents game. For instance, if a player is playing crazy then you should be able to attack him with weaker hands. On the other hand if a player is playing tight, you should be pretty certain that you have the best hand when getting your chips into the pot. Studying your table throughout the tournament will only benefit you as the blinds increase. This is where skill comes into play. Once the tournament is in the later stages, players are more freely to open raise and make plays on their opponents.

When it comes to super turbo tournaments, it’s hard to get in the specifics of what hands to play, and when to play them. I recommend giving them a test drive and see how you do. Take some of the advice that I mentioned above, and see how it works for you. Stay patient, don’t shove ridiculous hands, study your table, and remember YOU HAVE MORE TIME THAN YOU THINK. I’m under the name ‘Bernie Kosar’ on Full Tilt Poker, and hopefully I’ll see you at a final table. Good luck and may we all run good.

Craig Fleck