Play FREE casino games! Over 50 slots, bingo, poker, blackjack, solitaire and so much more! WIN BIG and party with your friends! 'The Turbo Series is a great opportunity for players of all levels to play in a fun and fast-paced series that is guaranteed to be one of the most enjoyable events of the year,' said PokerStars Director of Poker Innovation and Operations Severin Rasset.
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Tournament poker is exciting enough thanks to the ever-increasing blinds and antes, and the fact the playing field is gradually being decreased to one single winner. Turbo and hyper-turbo tournaments enhance this excitement by rapidly increasing the blinds and antes.
A typical standard online tournament blind structure increases every 10-20 minutes. The actual speed depends on a number of factors including the tournament’s buy-in.
Turbo blind structures tend to increase every five or so minutes, with hyper-turbos being even crazier, raising the blinds every three-minutes or so.
READ MORE: Blink and You’ll Miss It! PokerStars Turbo Series Returns
These faster-paced structures suit recreational players down to the ground for a number of reasons. First, they don’t take as long from start to completion. Second, they level the playing field somewhat because Lady Luck has a more prominent role to play in what happens.
All tournaments are, on the surface, the same beast. Everyone starts with the same number of chips, the same percentage of the field is paid out, and the big money is usually reserved for the top three finishers. There are, however, several key differences in the strategy you need to employ to be successful in turbo and hyper-turbo tournaments. You can’t simply approach them in the same way as you would an MTT with a standard blind structure.
Tight Is Right at the Beginning
The early levels of any tournament are almost identical. You’ll start with a healthy stack, usually 100-250 big blinds. This means you shouldn’t be going out of your way to pick up every possible pot. Adding 75 chips to a 5,000 stack just isn’t really worth it in the long run.
Ever heard of the saying tight is right? This is true in tournament poker where conserving chips at the start of the event is more important than accumulating them. By all means be super aggressive with your strong, made hands, but try to create a tighter image because it will come in handy later on when we start getting all-in happy!
Be aware that mistakes in faster paced tournaments are compounded and what seems like a small error can end up costing you your tournament life. Your always only going to be a few minutes away from a jump in the cost per round, so slipping up and losing 10-20% of your stack may not seem much right now, but you could find yourself short stack within a matter of minutes.
Always keep a eye on your stack size and those of your opponents. You should be doing this anyway but it’s crucial in turbos and hyper-turbos. It’s extremely easy to think you’re cruising along only for the blinds to go up and you drop below 20 big blinds. This is a tricky stack size to play and many players approach it the wrong way by still calling three-bets and making continuation bets with hands they can’t call a shove with.
Watch for which opponents have failed to adjust to their more difficult stack sizes and take advantage of them.
The Middle Stages Come Around Much Faster
Be aware that the middle stages of the tournament come around far more quickly than in a standard structured tournament. Be prepared to start stealing more from late position and with a wider range of hands than usual to keep your head above water. A lot of turbo players continue to play too tight for too long and find themselves in the unwanted position of being in push-or-fold mode far too early,
Speaking of which, you need to master the art of short stacked poker because you’ll be playing a lot of the tournament like this! There are dozens of apps and “cheat sheets” out there that show optimal pushing and calling ranges. Memorise them. Commit them to memory, or have them on notes stuck to your monitor.
Most lesser skilled turbo players push and call too tightly. You’ll be surprised at how wide some stack sizes dictate you should be committing your stack with.
Finally, not really a strategy adjustment but be prepared for a much lower Return on Investment (ROI) when you play turbo and hyper-turbo tournaments. Your hourly rate will likely be higher but your money won per tournament much less because luck plays a larger role than your typical tournament.
Not long ago we brought news of the new Turbo Series on PokerStars (and the need for a high Red Bull tolerance), coming up later this month. Well, now we have the details.
Replacing the old TCOOP format, the Turbo Series features the same Turbo events, the same variety of formats and buy-ins, and the same enormous prize pools you'd expect.
It starts on Sunday 18 February and runs through to Sunday 4 March, with 74 events, with buy-ins ranging from $11 to $5,200, with Event 1 a $109 hold'em contest with $500,000 in the prize pool guaranteed.
Across the two weeks of competition the Turbo Series will offer more than $15 million in guarantees with another $90,000 in added value thanks to the addition of Platinum Passes to the PokerStars Players Championship in the Bahamas next January.
Those are worth $30,000 each, and will be awarded to the winners of the $55 and $1,050 Twin Turbo Main Events on March 4 at 14:00 ET.
Not only that, but anyone who plays a Turbo Series event will qualify for the PokerStars Players Championship Turbo Series All-in Shootout on March 5 at 15:00 ET, with a Platinum Pass up for grabs. It's not exactly a catchy tournament name, but you won't care if you wind up with a Platinum Pass in your back pocket.
'The Turbo Series is a great opportunity for players of all levels to play in a fun and fast-paced series that is guaranteed to be one of the most enjoyable events of the year,' said PokerStars Director of Poker Innovation and Operations Severin Rasset.
Players will also be able to spin their way into the Turbo Series via $2.75 Spin & Go's with prizes right up to entry to the $1,050 Main Event and Spin & Go tickets will also be dropped on selected daily Hot Turbos.
Twenty seats will be added to the $55 Main Event via daily $2.20 satellites and there will also be Second Chance Freerolls for those who played in events but didn't cash.
That's a lot of ways to wins seats, to play, and to reach the PokerStars Players Championship. And all at Turbo speed.
Online Poker Sites
What Is A Turbo Poker Tournament
To get details of all the Turbo Series events, how to qualify, and everything else Turbo related, check out the Turbo Series homepage.