Double or Nothing Strategy Overview In poker tournaments you gain equity by either gaining chips or by other players knocking each other out. Most fish don’t consider the latter and still try to accumulate chips without taking into account ICM. Aug 01, 2016 In this poker video Razvan 'Pokerro' Rotea plays Double Or Nothing Sit And Gos and explains the strategy behing this popular and profitable format. How to Master Double or Nothing SNGs (part 1.
Double Or Nothing poker tournaments are a sort of Sit & Go that's made up of one table of either 8 or 10 players. It plays out like a regular poker tournament until 50% of the original players are left. At that point the tournament ends, play stops and the remaining players get to double their buy-ins! It's a bit like “Survivor”, except that half the players get to survive “Tribal Council”!
The prize money awarded to the top 4 or 5 players (top 50%) is literally double the buy-in amount for the tournament, and that's how the tournament gets its name. In Double or Nothing SNGs, you either double-up by finishing in the top half of players, or you walk away with nothing.
Don't get too down in the mouth because there's always another tournament seating in the lobby with your name on it!
Why Play Double or Nothing Tournaments at 888poker?
PROS:
- 50% of players cash, meaning you have a much better chance of winning than in regular SNGs or MTTs.
- They don’t take very long to finish (usually around 30 minutes).
- Important decisions are simpler and more run-of-the-mill for this tournament type. So if multi-tabling is up your street, jump straight in!
- Making money playing these events is very possible; you only need to win around 55% of these tournaments to come out a winner.
CONS:
- Your overall wins will be slow and small, as the best result can have is only to double your buy-in. In MTTs, you can win over 100 times your buy-in!
- Variance may be a bit higher than usual, because of the increase in all-in action that happens on the bubble. Think MTT bubble or normal SNG bubble and then double it, and double it again!
Is this Tournament Type for You?
Double Or Nothing tournaments are for poker players who have patience. Because 50% of the players get paid, it's not necessary to take as many risks or chances. A big part of playing this type of tournament is waiting – waiting for the other opponents to knock each other out so that you can cash.
Tighter players have a bigger edge than looser players. For example, on the bubble, it might just be correct to fold JJ or even QQ pre-flop, instead of going all in! So if “loosey-goosey” is your middle name, this might not be the one for you!
Best Poker Strategy Books
Timing is everything in Double or Nothing SNGs, as is knowing when to “hold’em and when to fold’em”!
Double Or Nothing Tournament Strategy Tips:
- Let Others Get The KO’s: You don’t have to be the one to bust other players in order to win. This is one tournament type where it’s not worth risking your own tournament life to end another player’s.
- Become a Short Stack Master: Knowing when to get all your chips in pre-flop is key. Pick out the opponents who are playing overly-tight and then shove!
- Tightness Is Key: Playing tighter is important, as you only need to finish in the top half of the player pool to cash.
- Aim To Survive To The End: It’s not necessary for you to get all of the chips in play in order to win. Surviving to the end is a win; not having the biggest stack.
- Steal Blinds To Chip Up: If you do get short on chips, steal blinds from players who are desperate to survive and more likely to fold.
You’ll sometimes encounter video poker games that have a “double or nothing” feature. The way this usually works is that you play a bonus game in which the “dealer” (which is just the video poker machine itself) shows a card. You get to choose from four other cards. If your card is higher than the dealer’s card, then you double your winnings. On the other hand, if the dealer’s card is higher, you lose your winnings.
This is an interesting bet, because it’s one of only two bets in the casino which offers no house edge. In other words, it pays out as if there were a 50/50 chance of winning, and there really is a 50/50 chance of winning. (The other bet where this is true is the “odds” bet in craps.) The question is whether or not you can incorporate this fact into your video poker strategy.
Double Up Strategy
Most video poker players are playing for fun. In other words, they’re not professionals, so they’re not sticking to a strictly positive expectation situation. Recreational players should go for the double or nothing any time they feel like it. Since it’s a bet with no house edge, you’re mathematically not at any kind of disadvantage taking this bet.
Of course, you should keep in mind your own tolerance for risk. For example, if you hit the rare royal flush with the 8000 to 1 payout, do you really want to lose that big jackpot half the time? A royal flush only comes around once every 50 or 60 hours on average, so that’s a long wait to get a big jackpot only to risk a 50% chance of losing it in an effort to double up.
The other consideration to keep in mind is whether or not you think the double up bet is fun. When I play video poker, I enjoy getting into a routine. It’s a fast-paced game with its own kind of rhythm, and I don’t necessarily want to break that rhythm up just to get an even-money bet. Your mileage may vary.
Most people suggest that you should take the odds bet every time in craps and put as much money on it as possible, because it effectively reduces the house edge. This holds true to a lesser extent with video poker, too. It’s still a negative expectation game, but the house edge for the combined bets—your initial bet + your bet on the double up feature—is reduced because the 2nd bet is an even money wager. (There’s no house edge.)
Double Or Nothing Sngs Best Strategy Poker Youtube
Most video poker machines have a limit to the number of times you can double up. This varies, but being able to double up four times in a row is the most common setting. If you’re dedicated to minimizing the house edge as much as possible, you should double up all four times, but that’s assuming that your tolerance for a lot of risk is quite high.
Your Goals
Different gamblers have different goals. Lots of people hope to double or triple their bankroll and quit, but others just want to play and have fun for as long as possible. Your strategy depends on your goals. If you want to double or triple your bankroll, then mathematically, the best strategy with the double up feature is to double as often as you can until you reach your goal. If, on the other hand, you’re hoping to maximize the amount of time you spend playing, then you should either avoid the bet entirely or only wager small wins on this option.
Do You Need to Make Any Other Strategy Changes on a Game with this Option?
No. All other strategy decisions prior to the option of doubling up remain the same.
No Risk Double Up Video Poker
This is one of the multiple games offered by WMS My Poker machines. It’s similar to any other video poker game with a double up option, but it does offer some variation in terms of how it actually works in play. In this game, the maximum number of times you can double up is four, which means that you could theoretically increase your winnings on a specific hand by a factor of sixteen. (Your initial win X 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 = 16).
In order to enable the double up feature, you have to play ten coins. You can play for five coins, but you’re ineligible for the double up feature if you do so. This part of the game (other than the increased bet requirement) plays just like any standard video poker game.
But when you get a winning hand, you get to go on to the bonus round. In the bonus round, “the dealer”, deals five cards face down. Four of them are aces; the other is a joker. If you pick the joker, then your multiplier is X1, and the bonus round ends. If you pick an ace, you move on to the next round, where you’re dealt three aces and two jokers. If you pick a joker this time, your multiplier is X2. If you pick an ace again, then you get to move on to the next round—it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happens next. You get five cards again, but with one fewer ace and one more joker. This time if you pick a joker, your multiplier is X4. If you pick an ace, you move on again, and this time there is only a single ace with four jokers. If you get a joker on this final round, your multiplier is X8, but if you pick the single ace, your multiplier is X16.
The reason this game is called “no risk” is because the worst case scenario is that you’ll pick a joker on the first round of the bonus game, in which case you still get to keep your original payout on the hand. On the other hand, you have to pay the extra amount per hand to activate the bonus game, which is lost on those hands which don’t receive a payout.
No Risk Double Up is available for multiple video poker variations, including Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Double Bonus, Double Double Bonus, Triple Bonus, Triple Triple Bonus, Deuces Wild, and Joker Wild. The 8/5 Bonus Poker game offers the best odds, with a payout percentage of 99.46% when played with perfect strategy.
As with earlier versions of “double up” video poker, no strategy changes are necessary when switching from one of these standard game versions to No Risk Double Up video poker.