We all know the value of blind stealing...but what about blind STALLING? Mark suggested I start a new thread discussing the blind stall strategy relative to turbo sngs...so here goes. FTP offers one table turbo sngs where the blinds go up every 3 minutes. They give you about 15 seconds or so to act each time it is your turn. As the blinds increase, it is extremely advantageous for the level to change just after you have posted the small blind. This way you have no forced bet the rest of the orbit and those to your left all the way around have the higher forced bet of the new level (no antes in sng).

It is fairly easy to manipulate the blind changes even if multi tabling. You just check the tourney status that shows what place you are in (upper left) and it tells you how long before the next blind increase. If it says less than one minute and I am utg I have my fold button already checked so I am hopefully not the first victim of the new blind level. If it says 1 minute till the blinds increase, I may stall a little and then hope to have my bb posted right at about 1 minute or just under. I try to use as much time as possible if I am due to post either blind and it still says one minute. If less than one minute and I have just posted the small blind...I will stall long as long as possible to get the level to change while I have already posted (even if I am going to fold). It is here I will request time even when folding so the person to my direct left (sb) and his left (bb) will be first to absorb the new forced bet level (most importantly right when I will be the button and have the advantage of position).

As you can see, there is a huge advantage to perfecting this strategy over the average 70 or so hands a turbo sng tends to last with the biggest advantage obviously being later when the blinds are so much bigger. There have been bubble situations that have arisen where 1st place has a monster chip lead and next 2 are close to each other in 2nd and 3rd and 4th place is super short but has enough to make it through one more round of blinds with having to win and can still have chips. If you are 2nd or 3rd, it behooves you for shorty to bust...so you want to stall long enough that a new level hits that he won't have enough to post both sb and bb and still be alive without winning at least one of the 2 hands. Feel free to point out any fallacies in this strategy or other helpful ideas.

JD

Thanks for the tips JD, I'm a bit surprised more people don't apply this in turbo sit n go's, but I guess a lot of people don't think about poker like our members do .

Certainly not looking to end your exploit, but it seems the best way turbos should be run is by X amount of hands, with less time to act instead of a set time period. I like your strategy though, might as well use everything you can to increase your edge.

Stalling is a huge problem in big multi table tournaments, thus most sites do a hand-for-hand late in the tournaments, but thats a whole different topic.

__________________
I'm Not Lucky, I Have Good Karma !

this stalling strategy is even more usable on rooms like ipoker where the clock is even more detailed than on FTP (but I don't like ipoker blind structures)

Stalling does irk some of the other players if you do it in consecutive hands, but you are allowed a certain amount of time and you can use it for what ever purpose you want. I've used the stall when needed numerous times.

Online poker has built in time constraints that does not allow true "stalling". Time management is a better term for what JD suggests. In my opinion understanding how to use your time is an important part on a winning online strategy not just in turbo's but in all online tournaments save for heads up sit'ngo's where it is not very important at all.

vinpoker