Turbo Poker Tournaments (aka Speed Poker Tournaments)

A Turbo poker tournament, sometimes called a Speed tournament, is a tournament where the blinds rise at a more accelerated rate than at a regular poker tournament. Additionally, the amount of time each player has to act is reduced. Usually, the blinds will increase every 5 minutes, but sometimes the blinds rise every 3 minutes. This creates a more action packed, intense type of poker tournament where people have to act and act quickly.

Compared to regular poker tournaments, Turbo tournaments have a higher reliability on luck.

Since people have a tendency to either fold or go all-in (put the last of their chips into the pot) before the flop (the first 3 out of 5 community cards dealt simultaneously), there is rarely any play after the flop. Hence, aggressive play is crucial at a Turbo tournament. Passive play will enable the blinds to wear down your stack fast.

Pressure is coming from two ends: the fear of being blinded out of the tournament on the one hand and on the other hand, when the decision to act comes, you have less time to make it so many players panic. Online poker players tend to love the Turbo online poker tournament since it occurs quickly and something is always happening. Turbo tournaments tend to be the tournaments that fill up the quickest in online poker sites.

For players who already tend to act decisively and better under pressure, the Turbo tournament is a great innovation. Often online poker tournaments which are played under Turbo conditions, don’t take much time which is another plus over the tournament which can drag for over a couple of hours.

Generally, the best approach to a Turbo poker tournament is to steal the blinds as often as possible and wish for luck.

Jeremy Evans