PKR has recently introduced the Double Thru tournament.

A Double Thru is a 10 player sit'n'go tournament, in which the top 5 are paid double their buy-in. All top 5 players are paid the same.

So the aim of this game is to get into 5th place, that's it. This difference means there is a completely different strategy required, which I will go into below.

Using PokerOfficer you can automatically track your opponents and easily spot the super tight players you want to steal from. Have a look at PokerOfficer PKR Tracker HUD.

ICM

If you do a little reading about ICM, the independant chip model, you will understand that your chips have a certain value depending on how many you have, and changes depending on your position, your likely prize, and the payout structure. Basically the more chips you have the more reason you have to preserve them, rather than gamble them in marginal spots especially as the payout bubble approaches. In a double thru structure, this becomes exaggerated so that even at the start you have to think about your payout equity. After one or two players have been knocked out people really want to squeeze into 5th.

Fold Equity Is Key

In a Double Thru, most players are playing tight. They rightly don't want to risk too much, but they expect to just wait until other players are knocked out, or to limp in cheap and hit a monster. This means most players are playing weak tight, and you can take advantage of this. You want most of your chips to be won by making your opponents fold. There is a good reason for this. If you pick your spots, you have more chance of making your opponent fold, than you do of hitting a flop with AK.


A Complete Strategy

All Stages

Never limp or call. There is no fold equity here. Even with decent odds for a call, it is often not worth chasing any flush or straight by calling. Increase your EV by either folding draws or betting/raising them to add fold equity into the equation. If you have the stone cold nuts and you can afford to give free cards, you might want to slowplay, but this is rarely the case.

Early Stages

During the early stages you will basically be folding everything except AA, KK and AK. This is simply because you cannot afford to get into a race with someone. A 60/40 for all your chips is not near profitable for this structure. In late position when everyone has folded to you, you can play QQ and JJ with a small raise and hope you steal the blinds. The last thing you need to do is make a big raise with JJ and flop an overcard. With AK, QQ and JJ, make a small raise and make a small flop continuation bet. If you meet resistance after the flop and can't play a small pot, then give up. It is worth waiting for a better spot when you can blind steal later, rather than getting into a big pot where you are only 60% certain to win. If you are playing JJ on the flop, and flop one overcard, in a cash game you would probably play a small pot - it is not worth the risk in a Double Thru! You have too much to lose, and nothing to win. Doubling your chips does not come close to compensate for the times you lose all or even half your stack.

While doing all this folding, you are keeping an eye on your opponents. Your game plan at this stage is to establish a tight image, this will be cruical later when you can use it to steal blinds when they are worth stealing. Using a tracker you can easily see who is tight. Lots of opponents play under 10% of hands, and you will see a lot who have played 0 to 5%!! These guys know what they are doing, but they will fold to a blind steal in the mid stages at least 80% of the time (because that is the correct strategy).

Do not steal the blinds when they are 10/20 or 20/40. It might seem like a good idea, even with a decent hand you should fold, but the downside to doing this is that you annoy the players that you want to steal from later. This makes him put you on a wider range of hands and entice him re-steal you later.

Let people steal your blinds in the early stages. This is so your re-steals work in the mid-stages. Basically you will change gears in the mid-stages and re-steal. Do this a few times and they will let you have a walk.

Once the blinds increase to around 40/80
After a few rounds you should know who has played none, or just one hand. If you have one of these players in steal position and everyone folds to you, you should steal with a 2.5BB raise


Mid Stages

to be continued...


Using PokerOfficer you can automatically track your opponents and easily spot the super tight players you want to steal from. Have a look at PokerOfficer PKR Tracker HUD.