Rush Poker Tournament Strategy

Beginners Guide To Beating Full Tilt Poker’s Rush Poker Tournaments

Full Tilt Poker now host Rush Poker multi table tournaments and the hugely popular Sit and Go tournaments which run as soon as 135 players enter. Though Rush Poker has the same rules and betting as normal Texas Holdem, the difference in dynamics of the game means that a player must adapt their playing style to maximise their expected value in Rush Poker sit and go tournaments. This article will take you through the key adjustments you will need to make to profit from Rush Poker tournaments.  We will follow up with an advanced Rush Poker Strategy article in the coming weeks – so make sure you remember to bookmark SNG Planet today!

Note: This article assumes some familiarity with the Rush Poker format, if you have not yet tried this amazing poker format then we recommend you try it out at Full Tilt Poker before reading our strategy guide.

Early Stage Rush Poker Tournament Strategy:

Due to the ability of players to quickly fold their hand instantly Rush Poker tournaments and sit and goes are a lot tighter than normal sit and goes, with one important early stage difference. A small but significant number of opponents will raise almost every hand, thinking they are taking advantage of the ‘Quick Fold’ tendencies of opponents. This might not be a bad strategy if the same players understood position or post flop play – the fact that when they are called they often spew huge amounts of chips negating the effectiveness of the aggressive start.

We recommend you fold high-card hands to any raise early and restrict your calling ranges to pairs and suited connectors. Remember you will often be facing a big hand, and stand to win a big pot those times your small pair hits a concealed set. Remember to take notes on usual bet sizes, do not wait until the end of the hand, click while in action and fill in the details when you have a moment.

A solid approach, emphasising position and being the raiser rather than the caller will work wonders in the early stages of a Rush Poker tournament – you will get to take advantage not only of the ‘raisy-crazy’ types, but the ‘fold all but premiums’ nits too while you accumulate chips.

Mid Stage Rush Poker Tournament Strategy:

In the mid stages you have hopefully picked up a decent stack to work with. If you haven’t you must keep to rather standard sit and go play with a push fold strategy sooner rather than later, the blinds will be going up fast in Rush Poker – the timid player will quickly get left behind.
During the middle stages the ‘menace of mini-raisers’ can become apparent. With many opponents deliberately doubling the big blind with a wide range of hands to take advantage of the fact that opponents with ‘tricky stack sizes’ will often fold even strong hands rather than risk calling. Our tip is to take notes, you  will start to see the same players again and again as you get to the middle stages, and knowing who is a ‘serial mini-raiser’ can give you the opportunity to re-steal for some nice pre-flop pots!

Staying aggressive and picking up blinds and antes is important during the middle stages. Being aware of your stack size and the number of chips held by opponents will also help you decide on a play – remember big stacks and small stacks are the ones most likely to call you as you approach the bubble.

Final Stage Rush Poker Strategy:

Fast blinds mean that the majority of players will be in push or fold mode as the tables become short-handed towards the end of the game. This gives thinking players a great advantage, since the type of players who play Rush Sit N Goes are not the ‘grinders’ who will be aware of prize pool equity models such as ICM.

One of the biggest mistakes I saw in the late stages of Rush Poker tournaments is to fold too often.  That is to say there are many opportunities due to specific opponents, stack to blind ratios and even pure desire for more chips where any two cards can be profitably pushed from the button or small blind. Failing to do this is simply giving away equity. Your notes will be a big help at this stage, an opponent who over-valued Ace-Eight in the early stages is likely to call on the final table bubble with exactly this type of hand – so beware!

Once you are down to 9 players the play returns to a ‘normal’ final table format, with the seats fixed. With shallow stacks compared to the blinds play is likely to be aggressive and fast. You should focus again on the mid-stacks and try to work out who is playing to move up the payout scale and who is going for the win. Check our article on Tournament Final Table Strategy (this one links to 5 Final Table Strategy Tips Article in the MTT folder) for more on this part of the game.

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