Turbo versus standard formats

Sit ‘n’ go tournaments are a very popular form of poker, especially in online circles. Although there are many different and novel varieties available to choose from, most of them boil down to being either a standard or turbo blind format. A typical standard speed sit ‘n’ go will usually last in the region of an hour, with the blinds increasing every ten minutes or so. A game with a turbo format may only last 40 minutes with blinds going up every five minutes or so.

The games are very similar but depending on your own strengths and weaknesses you should opt to play one or the other. The standard speed sit ‘n’ go suits players who are better during the early stages of the tournament when the stacks are larger and the table is more likely to be full-ring. This is because this stage of the tournament will last longer in a standard speed game than it would if you were playing a turbo.

Conversely, if you are much more comfortable playing with shallow stacks and have a good understanding of Independent Chip Modelling, and therefore which spots to push all-in or fold, you will be more suited to turbo formats as this stage of the tournament will be reached far more quickly.

Also, the slower blind intervals allow for more play at each level so the more skilled poker players will have a distinct advantage over their less skilled opponents. Although this is also true for turbo games, the skill advantage is less because there is more short-term luck involved as there is less time to wait for good hands and situations to go all-in with.

The major advantage a turbo game has over its standard speed cousin is the sheer number of games you can fit in per hour, often double the amount. This means that someone playing turbo games exclusively should earn more per hour than someone of equal skill playing the equivalent standard speed games.

Although the potential hourly rate is greater for turbo than it is non-turbo games, turbo specialists will generally have a much lower return on investment as they will be forced to make moves with a wider range of hands because of the rapidly escalating blinds.

It should also be noted that the higher-stakes turbo games usually have a larger percentage of good players in them compared to standard formats due to the potential for a higher hourly rate.
All these factors should be considered when it comes to making a choice between different kinds of poker games.

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