Double or nothing sngs are a new type of single table tournament introduced only a few months ago at Poker Stars. In simple terms these are 10 seater games and 5 players get paid twice their initial buy in minus the rake. As 5 players get paid these games have much less variance than other types of sngs and can return a ROI (rate of income) of around 10% to 20%. Many play up to 20 of these games at the same time although 4 to 10 games at the same time is the norm. There are two types of these games, the normal structure and a turbo structure which have reduced rake. The turbos are a better option simply due to the reduced rake.
During the early couple of levels simply play ABC poker and only play big pairs from early position and call with small pairs and connecting cards in multi pots from late position. The name of the game is survival so remember you only need to finish 5th to cash so it would be foolish to take chances or gamble during the early levels.
As the Antes kick in then you have to maintain your stack so use position to your advantage. During the mid levels you should not be calling raises. Use late position to steal plenty of pots and play your good hands strongly. During the mid stages there are normally 7 or 8 players left so you must start to consider the other players stack sizes from this point until the bubble bursts.
During the latter stages do not let your stack be blinded away. If you are one of the shorter stacks then you must steal from late position with a much wider range of hands. If you are one of the bigger stacks then you can sit back and let the other players fight amongst themselves. It would be foolish to gamble with hands such as AK against another big stack when there are 2 or 3 players with stacks smaller than your and there will be times when it is correct to even fold hands such as AA, KK QQ etc simply because you need not get involved. If you can understand why AA should in some cases be folded then I would guess that playing these double or nothing sngs could be very profitable for you.
These games have become very popular on Stars and Im sure you will find that during 2009 these will appear on many other sites. Develop good skills playing these now and reap the rewards on other sites in the near future with perhaps a deposit bonus!
These are also a great way of clearing the initial bonus offered by Stars. If you are multi tabling these sngs then even at low levels you will quickly clear the initial or even reload bonus. If you dont have a Poker Stars account then make sure you sign up to Poker Stars through a site that offers the free $50 bonus as this will add to your ROI thus adding to your profit.