A turbo tournament is a cash or free online poker games tournament where the blinds increase exceptionally rapidly. Suppose, in an ordinary poker tournament, blinds increase every 12-15 minutes. In a turbo tournament, the blinds increase every, say, 3-5 minutes. Time will come where everyone will be just from five to ten big blinds.

Given these numbers, a turbo tournament is about four times as fast as a regular tournament.
So how do you incorporate this ‘four times as fast’ into your playing style? Does this playing more hands?

No. For example, if in an ordinary tournament you ’small-ball’ – a playing style where you play more hands than your opponents, like 7-6 (even offsuit) and A-x (suited) which others feel a little woozy when holding. Then if you hit the Flop hard, you bet hard as well – because in the earlier levels the blinds are low in relation to the average stacks. 

But in a turbo tournament you can’t use this playing style. Blinds increase, but the number of hands never increase; in fact, they decrease. If you are playing, say, 60 hands in the first four levels of an ordinary tournament, in a turbo tournament you will be playing just 15-20 hands, most of them you will fold, of course.

What hands will you not fold?
- A-A, K-K, Q-Q, of course.
- In the early levels you can also experiment with connectors because your opponents might be a bit scared about losing their chips early with a, say, weak Ace or King.
- However, in the later levels, where everyone is near to blinding out, also put A-x or K-x (where x is greater than 10) and smaller pocket pairs in your arsenal.

Why? Because, simply, if you don’t play, the blinds will not just eat you – they will devour you!
If you move all-in with a wide range of hands than you are accustomed to in an ordinary tournament, then you can make the others fold.

And even with a caller, you may be on a classic coin flip if you have a pocket pair; you can be a favorite if you have A-x (x>10) and the caller is a weak Ace; and you will have two live cards with K-x and Q-x.

In the late levels the game will be mostly preflop; a series of crapshoots; so take advantage of preflop aggression.

However, you can also take advantage of postflop aggression in the late levels.
Suppose you are in the button with K-x where x is weak and the blinds call. You feel that the other two players have weak hands. Now the flop comes a bit scary (A-8-3) for example.

If you have the Eight or the Three and both your opponents check, you can bet. However, you can also bet if both of them check even if you have nothing. You have position; you are the best player to decide whether each other player has something.

Near the bubble, if you are sinking in chips, move all in with A-x, K-x or Q-x. Most of the time you will be drawing live. Others will be afraid to call you because they don’t know what you have and they will be the one sinking in chips if they call you incorrectly (or if you luck out).

If you play turbo, free poker games or for cash I hope this short advice article helps you some, if you are new to turbo poker them then I strongly suggest to practice them in free online poker games first.

In this free online poker article we’ll look at what happens if, in a heads-up match, both players think they have the best hand and decide to slow-play – Trap versus Trap basically.

To illustrate the lesson we’ll look at the situation by example. In this case a World Series of Poker final table hand.

The scene:

BLINDS 100k/200k, ante 30k

PREFLOP:

A has Ks-10s, raises to 400k
B has As-Ad, calls 200k

A’s raise is standard for K-10, which is not as weak in short-handed play as in a full table.

B could have reraised A, but A might fold. B could be worried only if the Flop came up paired like J-J-7, but B thinks that a continuation test bet will detect if A has a hand after the Flop.

Reraising preflop and this test bet has the same effect of making A fold if A doesn’t have anything, but calling not only conceals A’s hand strength, but also makes it dangerous for B to bet if a King or a Ten comes.

FLOP: Kc-5c-3h

B checks
A bets 525k
B raises to 1.45m
A calls 875k (Pot now 3.76m)

Now A suddenly had top pair which he may think is the best hand!

B checks, again to conceal hand strength.

A bets to build the pot, then B raises.

A may interpret B’s raise as a bluff because he may think B is drawing (note the two Clubs) or that B may have a smaller pair, say, A-5 or A-3.

A just calls because he is now the one attempting to trap.

TURN: Kc-5c-3h-6s

B bets 1.5m

The three-Flush didn’t come. B’s bet is now challenging A.

If A folds, B still wins a large pot. If A calls or reraises, B can push him all-in if action gets back to B.

A’s trap seems to be working so far. Now B may have decided that A is still on a Flush draw with maybe a small Pair, say Ac-3c.

Additionally, because preflop A concealed his hand strength well (just smooth-calling), B can think that A also has a King, but with a weaker kicker.

Now he believes that A is ready to call anything he hauls in the middle, and he also thinks his trap is working. So what does he do?

A moves all-in
B calls 3.6m (Pot now about 14 million)

Both think their traps are successful! In poker, the bigger the hands, the bigger the chips in front.

Both did well in preserving the balance building the pot and concealing hand strength, but only one hand can win.

A can only win with a river King or Ten.

RIVER: Kc-5c-3h-6s-10c (!)

A wins! But had A continued trapping until the river with this river card, it’s still the same. Both still have big hands, both are willing to trap, and both are willing to ravenously hoard each other’s chips once the opportunity arises.

Summary of the Trap Vs Trap

Spend some time to read and consider the principles behind this article. Try and consider the key facts behind what’s going on in this particular example and consider ways to put these lessons into your individual play.

Poker, while not so difficult to learn if very difficult to make a living from, or, indeed, not lose money at most of the time!

But if (and when) you learn to really play online poker well then you’ll make some great money. Why?

Simply that the vast majority of players you come up against never get to what can be termed a good level.

So you, if you can get to a good standard will do very well very easily. You don’t have to be a TV pro to make good money in poker!

The fact that most players are at such a low competence means that whenever you hunt/play them on free online poker sites or low stakes sites you’ll be able to clean up.

To learn to play poker free go look at the rest of the NoPayPOKER blog, the free poker lessons here  cover all levels from rookie to advanced, plus, the site itself as a free online poker site is the ideal place to practice what you learn.

In poker be it free poker like you play at NoPayPOKER or big stakes you do not just play the cards. You also play the player, or to put it another way, you aim to manipulate other players so that they do what you want them to do. The desired end result of course is that they give you money!

Playing the player has 2 sides. On your side you are trying to read your opponent, classify their style, of play, motivations and actions and play your cards in accordance with your conclusions.

On the opposing player side you are trying to play them to increase the degree of error with which they classify your style of play, motivations and actions.

To learn how to do this lets look at an example of playing the player in action from a WSOP event.

BLINDS 50k/100k

• A has Ac-Qh raises 350k
• B is on big blind, has Kc-Js, calls 230k (Pot 880k)

K-J is usually a bit weak to call a raise. Moreover, B doesn’t have position over A, but he calls because he wants A to guess.

From the big blind, generally we just call because we are on a discount, so we might have 6-5, 10-8, and a bunch of other indeterminate hands which require guessing.

FLOP 4d-5h-3d

B bets 535k

Because small cards fell, B now wants A to think that his call from the big blind hit the Flop, and that his hand may well include those indeterminate hands like 5-4, 8-5, or even 6-7, or two Diamonds. But what did A think?

• A raises to 1.8m (Pot 3.215m)
• B needs 1.265m to call

Here, A thought that B’s bet was just a continuation bet, and with small cards falling A’s belief is reinforced that B is just trying to finish the hand. How would small cards likely hit B?

Additionally, B has been playing aggressively all night (stealing pots, etc.) so B could be betting with something (which is not likely with small cards falling) or with nothing. B could be playing just about anything, especially from the big blind.

At that point, A gambled that B has nothing. He may have also figured out that if B had something and then moves all-in later then he can move out quickly. So he raised to try B’s strength.

B folds

B folds, because, indeed, he has nothing, and if he calls, he will be committed to continue. (Had B moved all-in then it will be a good all-in, for A could still be guessing at this point what B’s hand was. But B’s cards were not strong enough.)

Also, he folds, because A raised from late position, which allows for a wider range of hands, like even 5-4 or two Diamonds.

Poker, indeed, is not simply a game of good hands versus good hands. Experienced poker players will win with bad hands under the right conditions.

We give credit to B for first trying to win with a bad hand, a good effort to play he player. Unfortunately for B, A did the playing the player task superbly too, having noted previous actions and motivations and related that to current con text and probability and so played out to win well.

The good news is that the majority of players can’t be bothered to learn how to play poker, they are happy to play in the donk zone and call it fun (it’s more fun to win money guys) so, for you, the player who wants to learn to play well the great news is that when you learn to play poker well you can go mercenary and deliberately hunt them down in cold blood in low stakes games on money poker sites and on free online poker NoPayPOKER that pay real $s and happily build your skills and bankroll!

How can a small stack react to the bullying of a big stack, and under what conditions? Here Player A has the smallest stack in the table, and B the biggest one. (B had at least six times the stack of A.) Player A could move all-in with what he had, but see how well he did it.

BLINDS 100k/200k

PREFLOP:

• A has Ad-Qd raise to 550k
• B is on big blind, has 7d-7c, calls for 350k (Pot 1.41m)

Why didn’t B try to push A all-in here? A might fold, and he may not want to blow up his big stack yet.

What if A has J-J or above? Then A would be harder to kick out of the pot. B could put A on big cards, and he will be right if he does.

Generally, small stacks could afford to play only big cards.

FLOP: 8d-3h-8c

• B checks
• A bets 650k

B checks, hoping to check-check it all the way with A. But A fires out 650k.

That move is aggressive; he can push B out. Why? His 7d-7c is not strong enough, expecially on a paired board.

It is good for A to bluff, and the pot will be a chunky addition to his small stack.

That may make B put A on a high pair or two big cards (like A-K), but he doesn’t know which, so he tries a raise:

B raises to 1.5m

Because B called from the big blind, A could put him on a wider range of hands.

One of them could be A-8 suited, or 9-8. But it could also be something else which didn’t help A, maybe K-J which A decided to limp in with.

The raise may signal an Eight, or an attempt to push B out. One of the two.

Now A can think of why B didn’t bet the flop. The check may be a trap, so he bets to see if it is. If B just called then an Ace or a Queen may fall, and that may be costly to B, A might think.

But B raised, so A figures out that B wants him out of the pot because B’s hand is not strong enough (If he guesses a small pair, like 7-7 or lower, he’s right.).

And because he is the short-stack, he has to be aggressive.

He has to take more risks and take more chips. He just hoped that B is semi-bluffing, and:

• A moves all-in (Pot 8.085m)
• B needs 3.675m to call

B is now on trouble here.
A’s three-bet represents a strong hand. Also, look at B’s: comments: “I really think you have A-K or A-Q…” He is right. He could have called, and cost him only a sixth of his stack.

Also, B can consider the stack condition of A. Would he raise with 8-7 or 9-8 with a small stack if he can wait for and then move all-in with A-K, A-Q or any pair?

B will be more inclined to believe it’s A-K or A-Q.

However, B adds: “I’ve been playing with you for a long time, and you’re a very solid player, I never see you not having a hand…and if you have a very big pair I’m in trouble. Nice bet sir.”

Yes, he has observed that A has been playing mostly with good hands. Was A aware of this?
He may be, and used it to his advantage. B thinks that it might be a big pair, too. What’s a three-bet plus all-in for, anyway? Or even 8-7 or 9-8.

B thinks: The raise is from a late position, and A might be trying to steal preflop with anything which may include the stray Eight, and his aggression looks like he hit the Flop. So it’s really a nice all-in, and B folds.

So a short-stack should play more aggressively.

If A didn’t do the move now when the proper conditions are there (a paired board which is less likely to hit B and more likely to scare him, too; a raise he interpreted as a weak semi-bluff; his player image), he might be blinded and anted off, and he will find it harder to stage a comeback in the tournament.

Phew, heavy stuff eh! If you are a poker beginner this may be a bit way out there for now but never fear! Join NoPayPOKER today. You can learn to play poker for free on the blog and then put your learning into practice with no money risk whatsoever on the NoPayPOKER free texas holdem online poker site

What do you do with a big hand preflop when you have a big stack, like K-K? And how does everyone else react? At the World Series of Poker, here is one such hand.

BLINDS 40,000/80,000

A has As-10c moves all-in (Pot 1.296m)
B has K-K reraises to 5m (Pot 6.296m)

B has two options here. He can just call and then wait for someone to move all-in after him, but that would make him do some thinking. Could it be A-A? Or Q-Q? If it was Q-Q there is a slight chance he might fold K-K, and regret it. But a big reraise can drive Q-Q or lower out, like what happened to another player:

C has Jd-Jc

(C’s comments on B’s hand were: “Why did you make it so much? … You like your hand that much?”) If C calls, it’s for all of his chips. C may think that B has A-K, but there are two all-ins in front of him, and one of them might be A-X (and with A-X he is still not safe) or a pair, but a suspiciously heavy raise to about 60 times the big blind is almost always a signal for A-A or K-K. So C could wait for a better opportunity than now.

C folds (Pot 2.39m)

C’s fold was brilliant, after the reraise, but it will still be brillinat even if B did not reraise. B might bet again on the Flop and C may not continue and just let go of the chips.

B’s reraise will work if he has A-A or K-K, but I doubt it if he will do the same with A-K or Q-Q, but it may have the same effect of making C fold. As for A, let us wish for his good health. B won the hand later.

So now you know! If you are not already a member of NoPayPOKER join today. You can learn to play poker online free on the blog and then put your learning into practice with no money risk whatsoever on the NoPayPOKER free poker site