In the first edition of this Zoom Poker strategy series, I’m going to explain the information gap of zoom poker.
In a nutshell, Zoom Poker forces you to play on less information than other forms of poker. You have smaller samples, and so less reads.
You don’t play against the same opponents each hand. Some forms of Zoom Poker are even anonymous, barring any reads altogether.
Zoom Poker Strategy: Think Profit, not Balance
Particularly early in your Zoom Poker career, you don’t need to think as much about balancing your ranges.
Imagine yourself in a river situation with 1 PSB behind. A river card hits that makes your opponent’s perceived range weak. What’s even better, you have a general read that most opponents in your zoom pool are folding way too much to river shoves.
On a standard table, you couldn’t constantly make bluffs in this spot because your opponents would catch on. They’d start exploiting you by calling more, and folding hands that can’t stand up to 3 barrels.
On a zoom table, you can fire these bluffs off all day, until tens of thousands of hands later when your opponents may start to suspect something is off.
On the opposite end, if you get a read that people are playing too loose, then you can exploit them by value-betting harder and thinner than you would normally.
Very few people will have a large enough sample to confidently say you’re betting second pair, no kicker for value on the river.
Zoom Poker Strategy: Opponent Management
Part of the Zoom Poker information gap handicaps you. Opponents won’t have reads on you, but you won’t have reads on them.
This means you need a sixth sense for what the average player plays like. When you’re stuck and can’t figure out if you’re against a TAG, LAG or NIT, think back to the average player and tailor your strategy to them.
Start with fundamentals – theoretically sound poker may not always crush, but it won’t lose to anybody.
You also don’t have the luxury of scouting and sitting with your favourite fish. Instead, learn to recognize fish when you see them with the following signs:
- Short stack sizes
- Fishy usernames or avatars
- People using the chat
- Ipad/tablet players and
- Evening/late night/weekend players
Tailor your play to maximizing profit against these players.
