Double or Nothing Strategy

Courtesy of FeltPoker.com
Providing players with the best Poker Rakeback

Contents
Introduction to Double or Nothing Tournaments ........................................................................................ 3
What is a Double or Nothing Tournament? .................................................................................................. 3
Where Can I Play DON Tournaments? .......................................................................................................... 4
Double or Nothing Strategy Introduction ..................................................................................................... 5
Double or Nothing Strategy: Early Rounds ................................................................................................... 5
Double or Nothing Strategy: Middle Rounds ................................................................................................ 7
Double or Nothing Strategy: Late/Bubble Rounds ....................................................................................... 9
Double or Nothing Strategy: Advanced Analysis Section ........................................................................... 10
Double or Nothing Early Rounds: Advanced Analysis ................................................................................. 11
Double or Nothing Middle Rounds: Advanced Analysis ............................................................................. 13
Double or Nothing Late Rounds: Advanced Analysis .................................................................................. 19
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 26
3 Tips Guaranteed to Increase Your Poker ROI........................................................................................... 26

Introduction to Double or Nothing Tournaments

Double or Nothing (DON) tournaments were first introduced to the online poker world
most notably by Pokerstars. This style of tournament offered players an alternative to the
traditional SNG payout structure where the money is weighted towards the top finishes.
Besides a fresh style, people found that the tournament strategy was a bit less complex, and
the variance somewhat reduced. They quickly began to escalate in popularity and sites ranging
from large rooms like Full Tilt and small rooms like Cake Poker and Doyles Room began offering
them.
This book details simple things like what is a DON, and more complex things like
pushing and calling ranges for bubble situations. If you are already an accomplished DON
player, you may want to skip ahead to the strategy section. Noobs, skim through the first few
areas to get familiar with these tournaments before delving into strategy.

What is a Double or Nothing Tournament?

A Double or Nothing tournament is a tournament where the top half of finishers is paid the
double what they bought in the tournament.
Examples:
In a 10-man tournament with a buyin of $10, the players who finish 1-5 would win $20 each. They
would net a profit of $10 each, less the rake.
In a 10-man tournament with a buyin of $5, the players who finish 1-5 would win $10 each. They would
net a profit of $5 each, less the rake.
How it normally works:
A player selects a tournament that they would like to play in from the tournament lobby of
whatever poker room they prefer.
After the required number of people sits down, the tournament starts. Every player has the
same number of chips. The blinds start out small, and escalate at a set time interval or by # of hands
played. After half of the players are eliminated, the tournament is over and the winners collect their
prizes.

Where Can I Play DON Tournaments?

You can try your luck at the DON tournaments at any of the following poker rooms. Clicking on
the links in this guide will take you to feltpoker.coms special bonuses and rakeback pages. We have a
good relationship with the poker rooms, and can offer bonuses not available at other places.

Pokerstars
Full Tilt
Ultimate Bet
Absolute Poker
Bodog Poker
Doyles Room
Cake Poker

Double or Nothing Strategy Introduction

This strategy guide is broken into three different sections: There is general strategy given for
Early Rounds, Middle Rounds, and Late/Bubble Rounds followed by advanced analysis for Early, Middle,
and Late/Bubble rounds. The reason for this is simple. There are distinctly different strategies for each
round. The strategy could be broken down even farther, into different situations by blind level, but it
wont be in this guide . There is also an added 3 tips guaranteed to increase your ROI section at the
end. The tournament structure used in this guide is the Pokerstars Turbo structure. For more info on
this structure, see Pokerstars website.

Double or Nothing Strategy: Early Rounds

What are the early rounds?
The early rounds are characterized by low blind levels and equal starting stacks. The starting stacks are
1500 chips, and the early blind levels are the 10/20 and 15/30 levels.
General Strategy
Double or Nothing tournaments are all about survival. It doesnt matter if the tournament ends and you
are the chip leader, or you have 1 chip left; you get paid the same amount. So how do you apply this
survival strategy?
Tight play is generally best
Similar to normal structure SNG tournaments, the donks will eliminate themselves early in the
tournament. In a double or nothing, this is great because you get even closer to the money, and you are
not at as severe of a disadvantage to the larger stacks.
Early Coin Flips are BAD
Taking coin flips early in a DON is a formula for a negative long-term ROI. Seeking coin flips in a regular
SNG is not desirable, but not as bad as a DON. In a regular SNG, winning a coin flip early and getting a
big stack significantly increases your chances of winning first prize, which is normally 50% of the prize
pool. While winning a coin flip early in a DON significantly increases your chances of making the money,
the most you can make is double your buyin. Think of it like this. Because of the rake, you need to
finish in the money (ITM) more than 50% of the time. If you are taking coin flips early, you are losing
half of the time, and doubling up half of the time. Every time you lose, you are out with no money.
Every time you win, you have a good chance of cashing, but you will not cash every time.

How do you avoid coin flips early?

Two hands can get you into big trouble when trying to avoid coinflips early in a Double or Nothing: JJ
and AK. Against some players, you may even want to fold QQ. Obviously anything weaker than these
two hands is even worse. Raising these hands in late position and playing cautiously is okay, but facing
fierce resistance it is best to just fold. If there are a bunch of early position limpers/raisers, just fold.
Simply playing AA and KK only in level 1, though boring, is a sound strategy. Remember, the goal is
survival. In level 2 you can feel a bit more comfortable playing QQ, and opening AK in late position. By
this time, you may have some reads on some players which will help with the next topic.
Exploiting Tight Players in the Middle Rounds
After playing a few tournaments, you may see the same players showing up at your tables. You should
start to pick up on their tendencies. The player that is exploitable in the early rounds is the player using
the same general strategy that is preached in this book. The player you are looking to exploit plays only
AA and KK early. Pay attention to the two players to your left. These are the players who you may be
able to exploit. If you notice that these two players to your left, especially the player immediately to
your left, are content to sit and wait until the later rounds, take advantage when folded to you. A small
raise, maybe just over the minimum, should be enough to take down the pot preflop. Obviously if you
face any resistance, dump your hand immediately.
In round 2, there are situations where you can even shove all in to force these players to fold. This
strategy is examined further in the early round advanced analysis section.
Exploiting Loose Players in the Early Rounds
Loose players are not easy to exploit in the early rounds. Its great when you have AA, but you wont
have AA every time the loose player wants to splash around. The best way to exploit a loose player, or a
group of them, is if they limp in early position and you have a pocket pair in late position. If this
situation comes up, happily limp along, and if you hit your set, go nuts. If you miss, fold and let the
donks eliminate themselves.

Double or Nothing Strategy: Middle Rounds

What are the Middle Rounds?
The middle rounds are characterized by 20-30bb stacks relative to the starting stacks. There is also an
added variable, the ante. The middle blind levels are 25/50 + 5 ante, and 50/100 + 10 ante.

General Strategy
The middle rounds are still about survival, with a twist. There are opportunities to safely and
unexploitably gain chips in the middle rounds. You will do this by raising, sometimes pushing, in late
position.
Tight Play is Still Generally Best
There are a few more chips at stake in this level, but the general theme is the same. You want to play
tight and survive. While tight is generally best, there are a few interesting situations which will present
themselves in these levels. In some situations, you will want to make your range extremely tight, and
others you will want to widen your range quite a bit.
When to Keep Your Range Ultra Tight
The range of # of chips from big stack to small stack in these levels will usually be much larger in these
rounds. The large stacks may try to start bullying you and stealing your chips. Most of the time,
depending on your chipstack, the best thing to do is just fold. You dont want to be calling or shoving
and getting called with less than premium hands at this point. If you are low on chips and have a high
ace or pocket pair, by all means shove it in. Most times, though, you wont be low on chips because of
the tight early game strategy. Situations for keeping your range ultra tight are analyzed in more detail in
the middle round advanced analysis section.
When to Loosen Your Range
While you are avoiding big stacks (read: stacks that can eliminate or seriously damage you), small and
mid stacks can be attacked.
*IMPORTANT*: Do not mistake loosening your range for going ape nuts. Make sure you have solid
logic behind opening up your range.
Loosening Your Range Against Short Stacks
Small stacks are stacks below 10BB in the middle levels. They can be attacked by either calling their
shoves, or pushing all in against them. Lets think about the first one, calling their shoves. Most short
7

stacks, if they have any idea what they are doing, will be shoving a wide range. You can make +EV plays
by opening up your calling range to match. Use your brain though; dont just call an all-in with A10
because you have high cards. Know your opponent.
While there can be some opportunities for calling short stack all-ins, the better move is to be aggressive
against short stacks by shoving into them. Something important to consider when shoving against short
stacks is that some are crazy and will make plays that are EV for both of you. A lot of times this is your
fault, for not adjusting your pushing ranges. But sometimes a player just does something really strange,
and theres nothing you can do.
To see more specific situations and how to adjust your range, see the middle rounds advanced analysis
section.
Loosening Your Range Against Medium Stacks
Medium stacks in middle rounds are vulnerable to attack. If you play tight early, you will find yourself in
this situation often. Why are they vulnerable? At this point, there are normally a couple of big stacks, a
couple of medium stacks, and a couple of small stacks. The medium stacks dont want to risk their
tourney life by calling an all in, when it is possible that they could just fold into the money. If you find
yourself being attacked, there isnt much you can do. Dont worry; there isnt much you should do when
getting shoved into by a stack that can eliminate you. You can open up your calling range slightly if you
think you are being hammered with a huge range by a certain player but most times its best to just fold.
Another option for taking advantage of middle stacks, and the better one most of the time, is to push
against one of your opponents. The opponents you want to push against specifically are the two to your
immediate left. If you are SB and BB is a medium stack playing a very tight strategy, its often correct to
shove any two cards, even with more than 10 BBs. It is critical that you get some sort of read against the
player to your immediate left. One +EV play here and there against this player over time will have a
noticeable effect on your ROI.
For more info about playing mid stacks in middle rounds, see the middle rounds advanced analysis
section.

Double or Nothing Strategy: Late/Bubble Rounds

What are the Late/Bubble Rounds?
The middle rounds are characterized by 5-15bb stacks relative to the starting stacks. The late round
blind levels start at 75/150 + 15 ante, and escalate from there.
General Strategy
The late rounds of a DON are the most important rounds. They can be played unexploitably, and there
is also a twist for very good players. There are lots of situations where ICM (click here if you arent
familiar with ICM) cant take into account certain variables. For example, on the bubble if the two
players behind you cant cover the blinds in the next round, but small blind shoves into your big blind
and you have AA, should you call? ICM might say you should, but this is a situation where you probably
should just fold it and let the blinds eliminate the stacks that cant cover. Look at both sides of this
situation. You know you should fold, so if you are in the small blind when this situation comes up,
exploit the fact that big blind has to fold.
Here are a few general pointers for the late rounds:

Find stacks who will fold to your raises

Very rarely call other peoples raises, especially on the bubble
Dont tangle with stacks that can eliminate you

The late stages of a tourney are best examined with SNGWiz. You will find more detailed analysis in the
late/bubble rounds advanced analysis section.

Double or Nothing Strategy: Advanced Analysis Section

What is the Advanced Analysis Section?
The advanced analysis section features several situational examples from each stage (early, middle, late)
of a double or nothing tournament. For the middle and later rounds, the number-crunching is done by
SNGWiz, which uses the ICM (Independent Chip Modeling) model to determine the expected value of a
given situation.
If you arent sure about ICM or SNGWiz, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that it
wont be covered in this guide. The good news is that the creators of SNGWiz made a fantastic
tutorial that explains everything thoroughly. Click here to check out the SNGWiz Tutorial.

10

Double or Nothing Early Rounds: Advanced Analysis

Early Rounds Example 1: A situation where you would normally call and see a flop

What to do here: Fold. This is a situation where you would normally call and see a flop in a standard
SNG. You are hoping to hit a set. In a double or nothing, however, this is a spot that you should
probably just fold.
Why you should do it: The 80 additional chips that you need to put in the pot are a bit too much. You
dont want to make the mistake of overplaying 99 as an overpair if the flop is all small cards, and even if
you do hit your set, your opponent still has to have something that he is willing to take to the felt for
you to double up.

11

Example 2: Another situation where its not worth it to get involved

What to do here: Fold. This is another situation where you may get involved in a regular SNG, but it is
not a good idea in the double or nothing format.
Why you should do it: Lets look at a few possibilities. You raise, and the limper calls. What do you do
if you hit top pair and face fierce resistance? If you miss the flop? If you hit a draw, do you chase?
What if one of the blinds comes along for the ride, how do you feel if you hit your ace? Are you willing
to take it to the felt? These are all undesirable scenarios.
Lets say you call. You hit a big draw. Are you going to play it aggressively? Do you want to try and see
the turn cheaply? If so, you are most likely going to be putting chips in while behind. You are putting
yourself at risk unnecessarily. Let other people get themselves in difficult situations; your equity will
increase when they make the wrong decisions.

12

Double or Nothing Middle Rounds: Advanced Analysis

Middle Rounds Example 1: Playing against a very tight player in the 25/50 level.

The Situation: Everyone has the same size stack here. It is folded around to hero in the small blind. Big
Blind has a calling range of 2.9%, which represents QQ, AK+.
What To Do: Push 100%. If you know a player has this tight of a range, you can push against them in
this situation profitably.
Why You Should Do It: While the pot is fairly small, Big Blinds range is tight enough that he will not be
dealt a premium hand often enough to want to call you. So you can happily steal his/her chips at will.
This is why it is important to pay attention to the player to your left. This is an easy 125 chips if you get
in this situation. Be wary that if this is a good player, they will realize what youre doing and adjust their
range to a wider range, which will make your pushes EV.

13

Middle Rounds Example 2: Borderline situation for pushing any two cards.

The Situation: Everyone has the same size stack here. It is folded around to hero in the small blind. Big
Blind has a calling range of 3.6%, which represents JJ+, AQs+.
What To Do: Push 100%. If you know a player has this tight of a range, you can push against them in
this situation profitably.
Why You Should Do It: This example was included to show that even when opening up the range a bit,
BB is in a very difficult situation when you push here.

14

Middle Rounds Example 3: Pushing a fair % of your range against a relatively wide calling range

The Situation: Everyone has the same size stack here. It is folded around to hero in the small blind. Big
Blind has a calling range of 5.2%, which represents 99+, AQ+.
What To Do: Push only the top ~20% of hands.
Why You Should Do It: This example was included to show that when opening up his calling range
slightly, Big Blind can severely reduce the profitability of pushing any two cards from the small blind.
Though we are looking at these hands from heros perspective, think about what just happened here
from Big Blinds perspective. If you know someone is pushing any two against you, you can open up
your range and decrease his/her profitability.

15

Middle Rounds Example 4: Pushing 100% of your range against a wide calling range

The Situation: Everyone has the same size stack here. The blinds are now at 50/100. It is folded around
to hero in the small blind. Big Blind has a calling range of 12.3 which represents 44+, A7s+.
What To Do: Push 100% of hands.
Why You Should Do It: There are 250 chips in the pot. The preflop pots are big enough at this point in
relation to your stack that they are worth the risk of being called by hands like 55 and A9.

16

Middle Rounds Example 5: Pushing a wide range from the button

The Situation: Everyone has the same size stack here. The blinds are now at 25/50. It is folded around
to hero on the button. Big and Small Blind both have very tight calling ranges.
What To Do: You can profitably push a wide range of hands if you are dealing with two extremely tight
players. A better play is probably just to raise to 150.
Why You Should Do It: Consider making a raise instead of a push because if the small blind and big
blind are that tight, you will be crushed when called. On the flip side, they are so tight that they will
rarely raise or call your raise without the goods.

17

Middle Rounds Example 6: Pushing 100% from the button

The Situation: Everyone has the same size stack here. The blinds are 50/100. It is folded around to
hero on the button. Big and Small Blind both have tight calling ranges.
What To Do: You can profitably push 100% of your hands here if you are dealing with two tight players.
Why You Should Do It: There is a good sized pot at stake, and unless small or big blind wakes up with a
big hand, you arent getting called. Though the ranges say tight here, many people would play tighter
than the ranges in this example.

18

Double or Nothing Late Rounds: Advanced Analysis

Late rounds example 1: Pushing 100% of your range against a relatively wide calling range

The Situation: Everyone has the same size stack here. The blinds are 75/150. It is folded around to
hero in the small blind. Big Blind has a 10% calling range, representing 55+, A8s+.
What To Do: You can profitably push 100% of your hands.
Why You Should Do It: Look at the size of the pot. There are 375 chips in the pot. That is more than
25% of your stack. As a general rule, any time you can increase your stack by 25% by shoving and taking
the blinds, go ahead and push. In this situation you can see that shoving any two cards is the correct
play.

19

Late Rounds Example 2: Tight push range with a big stack to your left

The Situation: Two players have been eliminated. The blinds are 100/200. It is folded around to hero
on the button. Small and Big Blind have average calling ranges. Hero and Small Blind have a large stack.
What To Do: Only push the top 3.8% of hands.
Why You Should Do It: Small blinds stack is a large factor here. You have a comfortable stack, there
are two players eliminated, and Small Blind is the only player who can eliminate you. You must be
careful in this situation. If you feel like you can steal from Big Blind, try making a small raise to take
down the pot.

20

Late Rounds Example 3: Pushing high aces and most pocket pairs with dominant stack

The Situation: Two players have been eliminated. The blinds are 100/200. It is folded around to hero
on the button. Small and Big Blind have average calling ranges. Hero has a dominant large stack.
What To Do: You can push the top 11.2% of hands profitably, but should probably narrow your range to
6-8%.
Why You Should Do It: There are 5 players who must make a move now or be eliminated by the blinds.
There is nobody, however, who is almost guaranteed to be eliminated. Rather than risking being beaten
and taken down to a stack that might have to make a move soon, youve earned the right to sit back
with your dominant stack. Let the other players eliminate themselves, and if need be you can push in
better situations later.

21

Late Rounds Example 4: Wide pushing range with big stack and mid stacks on left

The Situation: Two players have been eliminated. The blinds are 100/200. It is folded around to hero
on the button. Small and Big Blind have average calling ranges. Hero has a good sized stack.
What To Do: You can push the top 20% of hands profitably, but might want to tighten the range just a
bit.
Why You Should Do It: This situation is different than the previous example because UTG thru UTG+2
have bigger stacks. They are not in as severe of a situation, and that affects the likelihood that you will
win by just folding. Another factor at work here is that your stack is not as dominant as the previous
example.

22

Late Rounds Example 5: Fold everything except AA because of short stacks

The Situation: Its the bubble. The blinds are 100/200. It is folded around to hero on the button. Small
and Big Blind have average calling ranges. Hero has a good sized stack.
What To Do: You should only push AA here.
Why You Should Do It: There are two players who will be forced to make a move for their tournament
life. If either one of these players goes out, you make the money. In other words, you can pretty much
fold your way into the money. The addition of the chips in the pot right now will not have a big enough
effect on your chances of making the money, compared to the risk of losing the pot.

23

Late Rounds Example 6: Easier fold with AA because of short stacks (higher blinds)

The Situation: Its the bubble. The blinds are 150/300. It is folded around to hero on the button. Small
and Big Blind have average calling ranges. Hero has an average sized stack.
What To Do: You should only push AA here.
Why You Should Do It: There are two players who will be crippled in the next two hands. You are in
trouble as well, but their situation is much more urgent. If you push and are eliminated here, it is a huge
mistake because one of the two shorties is just about as good as dead.

24

Late Rounds Example 7: Push AA here?

The Situation: Its the bubble. The blinds are 300/600. It is folded around to hero on the button. Small
and Big Blind have average calling ranges. Hero has an average sized stack.
What To Do: This example shows a push of AA. It is probably a good idea to just fold it.
Why You Should Do It: UTG is not going to make it through the blinds. While the calling ranges
assigned to SB and BB make it a very iffy play to push any hand in this situation, as their ranges tighten,
which they should, you can push a few more hands.

25

Conclusion
Thank you for taking the time to check out this book. Use this information, study hard, and play a lot of
poker and you will be well on your way to profitability. To make it even more likely that you will
succeed, follow the 3 guaranteed tips to increase your return on investment below. Thanks again, and
good luck at the tables!

3 Tips Guaranteed to Increase Your Poker ROI

1. Get Rakeback. This has an immediate and guaranteed effect on your ROI. You are already
paying rake anyways, so why not make the poker room give you some of that money back?
Find the best rakeback deals and profit!
2. Get SNGWiz. This should go without saying. The examples in this guide were only scratching
the surface of SNGWizs capabilities. They offer a free 30 day fully functional trial, so you
really have nothing to lose by trying it out.
3. Post in the Feltpoker.com Forums. We are a friendly community that love to talk poker, as
well as anything else on your mind.

26