I love turbo sit-and-go online tournaments, which are like regular SNGs except they have an accelerated blind structure with shorter levels. They are the crack cocaine of online poker and a quick fix for people who don't have too much free time on their hands, much like myself.
You need to employ a different strategy for turbos which last around 30 to 35 minutes, so you can't sit back and play super tight. Rather, you have to play position and see a lot of flops for cheap. Players in turbos tend to be looser, which means there are more opportunities to pick up chips from aggressive players and double up with marginal hands during the early levels. I love to set mine and will see a flop with any pocket pair. Nothing is more satisfying than stacking an opponent when they aggressively push all-in with top pair or an over pair after you've flopped a set.
By the middle levels, it's important to know when to steal and re-steal. Some sites like PokerStars include antes in their turbos, which means there's more dead money in the pot before the cards are dealt. If you are not getting cards, it's essential that you pick up chips by any means necessary. I almost prefer to be out of position in the later stages of turbos so I can be the first person in the pot and put the pressure on my opponents to make a difficult decision.
There are plenty of other advantages to playing in turbos, such as the inferior skill level of your opponents. Turbos tend to have a lot of variance, so a lot of bad players end up winning from time to time. They overlook their short term success, and eventually lose back all of their winnings. Due to the faster structure, opponents in turbos are prone to bad mistakes. Some of them play too passively and should be re-stealing more, while others overvalue hands and play too loosely.
Most sites have a reduced rake for turbos. And if you play a lot of SNGs, you are well aware that the rake eats into your profits. You can also accumulate frequent player points and qualify for special promotions much faster by playing turbos. I used to clear my deposit bonuses on PokerStars by playing simultaneous turbos. You know those stories that you hear about guys who earned Porsches by cashing in player points? Well, they got the majority of those points playing turbos.
Turbo SNGs are a valuable tool to help acclimate yourself to live SNGs. The satellites during the World Series of Poker at the Rio utilize an accelerated structure. Many of those players are not familiar with a fast-paced SNG, so anyone who has experience playing online turbos will gain an edge.
There are several disadvantages to turbos. They go fast, so if you have a compulsive addiction to things, you can blow your entire bankroll inside of a weekend. The majority of turbo players are bad, which means you have to have a thick skin because suckouts are commonplace.
I've taken some sick and brutal beats in turbos. Also, the higher stakes turbos tend to attract multi-tablers. Many of them are online pros who play turbos for a living. I always use the "search feature" for players at my table to find out if they are playing other turbos. You need to quickly identify those players because you have to play against them a little differently, since they are almost always better than average players.
If you don't play turbos, give them a try. You might discover that you are better at a faster paced format than regular SNGs.
