Turbo Sit and Go's

Well, the experiment is well on its way. I have played in almost nothing but turbo SNGs for since the 15th of May and I have had wonderful success. Well, I have had great success on Poker Stars. Party Poker was much more of a challenge and I eventually withdrew my money out of that account after some great success followed by a roller coaster. Party is just so frustrating because the players are just so bad that they call too often when you are counting on them to fold.

It is amazing to me how many people are clueless on how to play the SNGs, and especially the Turbos. They think that they have to be playing all kinds of hands and they risk lots of chips early. I guess in an effort to try and build a stack, which they think, incorrectly by the way, will somehow help them later. What they inevitably do is build some chips, then lose them and gain and lose and on and on. They don't know how to change gears and they are far to risky in their play. The turbos put a lot of pressure on people because they constantly worry about the blinds going up soon.

I have had a lot of wins lately where I literally did not play a real hand until around the 24th to 30th hand of the SNG, and the blinds at 75/150. I have had severeal wins lately where I never even lost a hand at showdown. You say, wow, how lucky, or how can that be. Well, I will tell you that I had very very few hands go to showdown. And usually it was where someone was all in, and usually it was from someone calling all-in with a hand that was not really good enough to call an all-in with.

The TSNG (turbo sit an go) can be very frustrating at the lower levels because so many players will call with very weak hands when they should be folding, but they just are not good enough to know this and inevitably they do suck out on you, which happens a fair bit of the time, but we do want these donkeys calling, because the odds will even out and we will win against their bad calls. It is frustrating none the less having the best hand because somebody called with QJ or KQ and having them hit.

I really do love the format of the turbo. I just bide my time watching and learning what type of players are at my table and then when the blinds get higher I start putting pressure on them and before you know it I have built up some chips and am in the money.

Over the last week I have really picked up my closing rate to where I have placed first the last 6 times I have made the money. I had 4 thirds in a row before this run. I don't think I played poorly per se in the third place finishes. One I was extremely shortstacked where I had to call a push in the BB, and I made one bad call with A8s to a pushs, when I should have waited to be the aggressor against weaker opponents.

Position position is the key. Being the aggressor is what it is all about. This works even better against better competition because they will fold the 95% of the hands they should be folding when you push on them. Bubble pressure is key in SNGs because who wants to go out 4th and miss the money.