Turbo heads up sit and go tournaments
Pokerstars just added heads up sit and go tournaments with 5-minute blinds. I’ve actually been pulling for them to create these tables. Now that they’ve made these turbo heads up sit and gos, I’m having second thoughts.
My first thought was that these would be great. Better players will win money faster while the losing players would just donate quicker. The normal 10-minute blind heads up sit and go tournaments seemed to take forever during the first 20 minutes if we’re both playing similar styles with keeping pots small.
But now at second thought I’m thinking they might be a huge rake drain. The luck factor goes up, because you’re playing less hands, so you’re ROI is going to go down.
Heads up sit and gos have a 5% rake so you need to be able to maintain a 5% roi (without counting rake) just to break even. I know everyone thinks they win 8/10 of these things, but it’s not true. The best players at limits above $50 usually maintain a 6-10% ROI with counting rake in these games. I get these stats from sharkscope, which is surprisingly accurate.
It’s so hard to even speculate, because there are so many variables. But I think these turbo heads up sit and gos will favor the best players who use really good game selection. Someone who maintains a 2% ROI with counting rake will turn into a losing player if it decreases their ROI by 3%. Assuming you can get twice the amount of games in, someone with a 6% ROI would make the same amount, and anything after that, you’d be making more by making the switch.
I just pulled a 3% decrease from making the switch out of nowhere. I don’t really know what it would be. Just keep in mind that you’re variance is going to go up and win rate will decrease because of faster blinds.
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Howdy poker friend,
Regarding the post, when you say the luck factor goes up and the ROI goes down, you’re technically incorrect. Your odds are the same no matter how many hands you play in a tourney, and no matter how fast the blinds increase. The variance is larger, but over time it’s the same. And because you’re odds are exactly the same as in a non-turbo tournament, there is no more “rake drain” than other tourneys. It just allows you to play the game faster, with a larger variance in results, but the same exact payout structure, and same results over time, assuming you adjust your game strategy according to the differences in playing style exhibited by an average “Turbo player” as opposed to a regular tournanement player. Turbos mean you can play more tournies in the same time, meaning greater earnings per hour.
Furthermore, the way I would look at it: As long as you can adjust your game strategy properly to this format, you might be able to take advantage of other players weaknesses MORE in a turbo. The idea is that the decisions will be (at least) slightly worse because of the game tempo. Many impatient players play turbos, especially the lower stakes ones. And because a more serious player, looking for a good earnings-per-hour rate, can play more turbos per hour, it means MORE FISH because: lower stakes = more fish.
No offence (much respect!), but any differences you see in your ROI can only be a result of problems with your game.
Comment by greg — October 28, 2006 #
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Comment by Internet Games — December 5, 2006 #