Extreme Turbo Poker is a very popular variant of a Sit & Go tournament, also referred to as SNG tournaments. Poker Tournaments seem to be taking over more and more from regular "Ring" games at Online Poker Rooms. It is easy to find these games but one of the places I recomend for good Sit & Go Tournaments, and in particular Extreme Turbo Poker, is Spin Palace Poker.
Sit & Go Poker tournaments are described in other articles on this site but in brief they are the most flexible form of Poker tournament there is. All you have to do is go to the Poker Room lobby, click on Sit & Go Tournaments and then click on the betting level you are happy with, for example $5. As long as there are still places free on a table you can join it. If all the tables are full then just wait a few minutes, a new one is sure to pop up. Most poker rooms mix all the variants of Sit & Go tournaments together and there are quite a few different types, like heads up and full table freezeouts and I will be discussing all these other types in future articles.
Extreme Turbo Poker is usually played as a No-Limit Texas Hold’em game but I have seen some Omaha games as well. The rules are much the same as in any other Poker tournament, you are given a stack of chips in return for your entry fee to the tournament. It is then a straight elimination match between you and your opponents and usually the top 2 or 3 players will share the total cash pot, which will be the entry fee multiplied by the number of players who entered. It should also be noted that Extreme Turbo Hold’em is usually played shorthand with 6 people but can also be played longhand with 10 players.
The main difference with Extreme Turbo Poker compared to standard Sit & Go poker tournaments is the speed with which the blinds increase. Each stage of the tournament is split into levels and each of these levels correspond with a betting level. In a standard poker tournament these levels rise every 5-10 minutes but with extreme turbo Poker is is every few hands so very soon the blinds can be up into the hundreds. This of course means that you have to play very aggressively right from the start to build up your stack otherwise the blinds will eventually destroy you. In many respects it is similar to the final few hands of a multi-table freeroll or standard multi-table poker tournament, where the betting levels are typically very high at the end and there is a lot of bullying and stealing of blinds. A lot of good players therefore use Extreme Turbo tournaments to practice for this stage of poker tournaments as well as also playing "Heads up" Poker, where there are just 2 players, to practice the final end game!
People either love or hate Extreme Turbo Poker tournaments and it depends a lot on whether you are a tight or aggressive player. I would however recommend that if you don’t like it you should probably force yourself to play it as it means you need to get out of your comfort zone, every one should feel comfortable in playing good solid aggressive poker sometimes, whereas at other times it is important to have the discipline of playing tight.
In summary Extreme Turbo Poker is an extreme roller-coaster ride through Poker World and I highly recommend you all check it out.