Roll size for Bovada Zone 6max?

MinhANguyen said:

30BI minimum for Zone unless you are very very confident in your game. Even then I think 30BI+ is good. You will become tilted easily on Zone. I'm pretty confident in my game, but only moved up to 50NL zone at 38BI. The players there are much better than cash game players, and thus it reduces your winrate vs if you were to play on 4 cash game tables. This will create bigger swings than usual, and your bankroll needs to be able to withstand it. You can lose consecutive buy-ins quickly on Zone, and it can be pretty tilting if you haven't learned to control tilt.

Don't get me wrong; I think Zone is great . Most of my profits come from Zone. The amount of volume is insane compared to cash games. I moved up from 20BI at 25NL to 42BI at 50NL within 2 months, playing only about half of the days. You should play cash games for a while first, study a lot, and then come back to Zone. Your pre-flop and postflop strategy should be very solid before you move to Zone. Swings are brutal there, and the better your overall winrate is, the less swingy it can get. I was a winning 25NL reg at about 8bb+/100, and once went on about a 11BI downswing at Zone.

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MinhANguyen said:

There is increased aggression preflop, especially 3-bets IP vs MP/CO, and blinds play back at CO/BTN opens more. Cash game this increased aggression preflop is minimal, but in Zone it's pretty significant. You will also get bluffed a lot more often and floated in both Zone and cash. I also think to a certain degree players pay off less lightly, especially in Zone. People don't call 3-barrels too often with TPNK, TPDK, 2nd pair, bottom pair, etc. Zone is generally harder, and the players there are more solid there than the cash game players.



I play 2 Zone 2 cash 50NL. I just play at night when Zone is available and log off when there's less than 30 players and it becomes short-handed. 25NL feels like play money for me now tbh, and I'm nowhere near rolled for 100NL. 4 cash game tables is too slow for me. I'm trying to move up to 100NL asap so I can make some decent cash and play whenever I want. It's a hassle having to wait until nighttime to play, and I would usually prefer to play in the afternoon or evening.



Just wondering, what's your bankroll atm? And can you post graphs/stats? If you're winning at 5bb/100 at 25NL you might be a slightly winning player/a little above breakeven at 50NL. What was your sample size?



My red line is alright. It used to be terrible at 25NL even though I had a good winrate. I've upped my 3-betting range vs BTN/CO opens from the blinds, and my 3-bets from BTN/CO vs MP/CO. I don't like 3-betting UTG IP light at all because with their stronger range I am much more likely to get flatted or 4-bet than say vs MP/CO.



Also what helped my redline a ton was bluff-raising flops heads-up, mostly from the blinds. I make it about the size of the pot or size of pot + 1 or 2 bb. Needs to work about 50% of the time to profit. When an UTG/BTN/SB raises or min-raises, and c-bets J72, they're not really repping much. And in general people can't have monsters or that many hands that can withstand a flop raise very often. Especially when they do this feeler half-pot bet, and it looks like they're trying to steal.



I personally prefer bluff-raising over floating/taking a card off in most situations because it denies them the opportunity to double barrel/pick up equity on the turn. Also floats go can go wrong when they call your turn bet with 2nd pair/TPNK when it seems kinda obvious to be floating such a board.



If have an overcard/FD or a combo draw I'm just flatting. I don't want to get 3-bet on the flop or have to fold to a jam. Be careful with bluff-raises though once you get called. Unless you catch a 2-outer with your pair of ducks or a gutshot, just give up. Don't barrel off on a scare card like a K/A unless there are no flush draws.

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MinhANguyen said:

You might want to consider at least 1500-2000 for 50NL. Zone especially can get pretty swingy, and it will get really tilting when you are running bad. Especially since it's double the amount of 25NL. Like getting your aces/queens cracked 4 times in a row all-in as 80/20. Or just getting turned/rivered in every single all-in pot.

I think 60-70k isn't that small. I had about the same amount before moving to 50NL at 1900 bankroll. I think you could take a shot at 50NL with 4-5 BI, but be ready to move down if you lose that much or start tilting.

My 3-bet vs BTN from blinds is something like 1010+/KJs+/AJo+ readless. I used to have a HUD and 3-bet wider vs regs with high steal attempts and high FV3B, but my trial expired and I won't be purchasing the package until I get to 100NL.

Generally I always give up after my bluff-raise is called. A lot of times we will get called by flush draws, so if there is a flush draw don't bother double barreling a scare card like an Ace. We also probably always get called by top pair/overpairs. I don't expect people to be floating a bluff raise with the intention to steal on the turn when checked to. Lots of people even check back the turn so we get a free river card. If I'm feeling frisky and an A/K comes on the turn with no flush draws out there and 2 pair combos, I might bomb the turn to make underpairs to the Ace go away. Or if the river brings four to a straight and misses opponent's perceived range. But this is really expensive and high variance.

I would also advise against check-raising combo draws/OESDs/FDs OOP or IP unless you are willing to get it in on the flop, which is super high variance. It also puts yourself against a stronger range, and if they have a set, you're going to be in bad shape. I like to keep the pot small with these type of hands. Balance isn't really necessary on Bovada, readless, and at the micros.

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