Ultra Turbo SNG Strategy

Most ultra turbo games will start off with the same blinds as
every other game, but the big difference is that the blinds go
up at a much faster rate. When playing these games you’ll be
moving your stack in within ten minutes or much sooner from when
it started. This is a game most poker players don’t play simply
because of the level of variance in it. You can win a lot of
buy-ins or lose a lot of buy-ins in a matter of minutes. You’ll find that players with no patience often play these games,
the players who are just looking to make a quick few bucks. If
you are a player who looks to take these games seriously you
should look at spots to shove and spots where you’ll be a
favorite against random hands.

Unafraid Approach

When you enter these games you should be willing to put your
stack in the middle at almost any time if you feel like you have
the best hand. If you showdown the best hand or are a favorite
to win the pot, more times than not you will walk away with the
wins at the end of the day.

If you are just looking to gamble
you should stay away from these games, because although you’ll be
able to gamble, you’ll also cripple your bankroll if you
don’t run well. There will be stretches in games like these
where you can lose twenty buy-ins in a short period of time. The
variance is so high that you have to be patient and really focus
in on every player and every situation. If you choose to be the
overly aggressive player at the table it can hurt your chances
of winning them so pick your spots wisely.

One of the first situations in the ultra turbo games that you
should magnify is the blind versus blind hands. This is a spot
where you should look to run over the big blind from the small
blind, because you’ll need their blind in order to survive and
maintain your stack size. If you don’t wake up with hands that
you can gamble with you should not do it. However, if you have
reasonable cards, then gamble with them. When playing out of the
small blind every ace should be an instant shove and every king
as well depending on how deep your stack size. Hands like Q8+,
J9+, should also be in your range of hands to shove with. What
you want to avoid is shoving in with really weak hands.

Defining Ranges

If you start to open your range up too much you’ll get
crushed and lose at this game. From the big blind you should
always observe how the small blind is playing. If they have been
playing tight you can fold more hands that are at the bottom of
your calling range like K8, or Q10. Every pair should be a snap
call no matter how your opponent has been playing. A pair is
certainly a favorite in more spots than not. If they happen to
flip over a bigger pair there’s nothing that you can do.

If you are playing pots from the big blind you should also look to get
value if you have big hands. Most of the time the small blind
will shove or fold and instantly give you the value you wanted,
but for the times that they limp in you can check before the
flop with a hand like pocket kings or aces. You want to check,
because most of the time if your opponent is weak they will just
put a bet out on the flop and try to win the pot. Also, they
could be trying to trap you. This is the case sometimes, but if
you have a big pocket pair let them take the lead in the pot as
opposed to you. If you take the lead they could throw their hand
away, and you won’t get more chips from them.

Playing hands from under the gun or under the gun +1 is
difficult in these games because if you make an open raise often
you’ll get shoved over the top of. It’s best to just shove in if
you feel like you are unable to fold. This you should do with
almost every pair. It all depends on how deep you are in to the
game and the blind structure most of the time. If you are
playing later on in the game then shove, limp, or put
in a minimum raise. If you happen to have a hand like QQ+ or AK
in early position, then you should be welcoming a shove over the top.
In this instance you can make a minimum raise or even limp in.

If you have a big pocket pair, you will want more
hands that are going to be shoved in, because you know that
you’ll have them beat.
If you just shove with a hand like aces, a hand like A10 or
middle pairs are more prone to fold. Most times players will
just shove in with A10 or middle pocket pairs, because it makes
more sense to shove then to fold. It makes almost no sense to
call with a hand like A10 after someone has shoved in front of
you.

If you limp in it will invite the player to shove, because
if they limp and miss they have burned valuable chips. What you
are doing is limping and looking to trap them, or putting out a
small raise to increase your opponents fold equity. Most times
players are unable to fold mediocre cards in these games simply
because of the nature of them, and you have to invite them to
shove in order to stack them. You and most others are looking to
win chips and build your stack in a hurry; in return you can
exploit that by playing your big pairs slowly.

At the end of the ultra turbo games, you are basically just
shoving in or folding. There’s almost nothing else that you
can do in most cases. You are getting a great return into your
stack if your opponent folds. If your opponent does wake up with
a big hand, then there’s nothing you can do about it.

The nature of these games will result in a shove or fold most of the time. You
have to pick up pots by shoving to give yourself a chance to win
them. If you make a raise before the flop and throw your hand
away to a shove you are burning valuable chips that you could
have used later on. If you do this too often, you won’t be able
to cash them in or win any of them.