worst ZOOM thread ever...

10058765

10058765

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Hi everybody,
I open this thread because I think there’s no central Zoom thread here already (correct me if I’m wrong) and I assume loads of players are looking for info about Zoom, how to play it and what to expect from it.
And I am definitely not going to give that info!!!

So, first of all, don’t expect me to be your Guru.
After all, I’m just a very experienced tournament-player, meaning that I played loads of tournaments and am very experienced in losing while doing this :( .

Meanwhile, I’m not even a cashgame player and the reason for this is, I just don’t have the patience to wait for hands to be played, while I’m not involved in it (LEAK).
ZOOM changes everything for me.
No need to be patient, action all over the place and loads of hands to be played, I’ll come back to this though.

Well, what I expect in this thread are ideas, opinions, strategies, discussions from YOUR side.
The goal is, all of us to become as profitable as possible while playing ZOOM and trying to reach that goal while helping eachother.

I know there are some strategy-articles about ZOOM to be found on the net and we can actually summarize these like this I think:

- Play ABC tight poker. You will be able to play a lot of hands, so immediately fold your trash and only play your (semi-) top-hands and take good care of position.

- Take care of people multitabling, like 4 tables. They must at least have a clue of what they’re doing.

- Take care of players in late position and especially the small blind who don’t insta-fold because they take the time to stay in the hand and so because of not folding right away, most probably have a strong hand.

- Set mining is key. People most of the time will not have any idea about your play and so, will pay you off whenever you hit that set.


If you think I didn’t cover the basics with the above, feel free to correct me.
Me, myself and I though am not completely following this strategy, but if you do you’ll do fine I think.
But hey...we want to do fine ??? No way....WE WANT TO CRUSH and make as much money as possible.

Brings me to how I approach the game, and again I’m far from an expert....au contraire.....I’m just a novy fish trying to make some money.

So, first of all, what I’m playing now is the 0,01/0,02 6-max tables.
There are 2 main reasons for this.
At first, I’m new to the format, so want to get a grasp of it before moving to higher stakes.
6-Max simply because there are less players to fold their hand compared to full ring.
Does this sound stupid ??? Probably, but, well, I try to keep things as simple as possible.

Actually, for me there’s one keyword in my approach....KISS (which is actually 4 words).

Yes...KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID...

So, here we go, this is what I do, and please feel free to critisize me, give your opinion, ask questions etc.....but please don’t burn me to the ground.
After all, being right or wrong, I’m just trying to do something good and any bills for mental care will be sent to you...

First of all, a few basic things to mention.

HUD....I do have PT3, use the hud everywhere I can....even in the grocery store I’m thinking about chances someone will be in front of me or not when going to the paydesk.

In ZOOM....I don’t even know the HUD works or not.....I don’t care at all and even think it’s useless, because we will just not get enough hands from players to make it valueable.

NOTES..yeah, another keyword....because as everywhere in the game, here we’re also going to face some regs.
And while a HUD won’t work I think, making notes of the regs you meet will give you an edge.
Again KISS....note their betting patterns and you’ll be fine.


So, how do I start a session???
Well, it starts with opening the client, selecting the game, grab a beer, powder my nose etc,etc....
Seriously......I play in blocks...meaning, before I open up the tables I already know how long I’m gonna play.
Most of the time I open up just 2 tables with half an hour of play in my mind, followed by 15 minutes of rest.
Sometimes, 15 minutes of play with 5 minutes of rest.....It’s just where I’m comfortable with, as also with the number of tables. Sometimes just 1, sometimes 4, but most of the time I just stick to 2 tables.

Important to me is, I stick to that.....If I start with 30 minutes of play in my mind, whether I’m doing fine or not....I just quit after these 30 minutes...take a break to cool down, do some walk or physical excercise, scratch my balls.....(did I really say that??) and continue after a 15 minute break....

Than....when I start I make sure my environment is fine.
Meaning, no kids around asking for candy, no pussy around asking for.....well whatever....(food, so read fish, most of the time) and so on.
There’s just one thing to me.....30 MINUTES OF ZOOM.....
What’s important to me is, I start sitting in my chair, my eyes 50 cm from the screen, right up and not like a bag of potatoes, sitting with my head on my arms, half sleeping.
I’M ZOOMED...FOCUSED and within this half hour of play the rest of the world does NOT exist.

I think this is important and gives us an edge...make sure you’re physically and mentally well.
Feel free to get a beer every now and than if you like to...but not ever,ever,ever get drunk.

So, there we are, 2 tables of action, physically and mentally in good shape, ready to kick some ass....(aka make some money).

Your opponents....as I said, making notes on regs is valuable, but here , not to make this a law, you can take some easy assumptions,
Remember though, this is just in general and in no way definitely true.
You’ll identify the exceptions pretty soon.

Without making notes to soon I do colour flag my opponents pretty fast.
For example...people playing 4 tables...Green flag.
Not because they’re definitely good players...just to make me aware of them.....caution...they might have a clue of what they are doing (and ofcourse...notes will be added during the game).

Players with less than max BI...red flag....again...not to say they’re bad players 100 % of the time, but most of them actually are....
I mean...how to extract max value if you’re playing a shortstack ???

During the game I might change the colours and make notes, but in general I do fine just using the colours.

Thus, so far....we are there...2 tables, PHYSICALLY and MENTALLY 100%.
Coloured opponents pretty soon and now....how to extract money from the table....

Well, after a few days, this is how it works for me (remember this is 00,1/002 6-max):

- As said, play in predefinid blocks of 15-30 minutes (60 minutes if you like). Take a mental/physical break and start another block, so you stay in good shape, mentally and physical.
Make sure you’re feeling good.
Believe me, sitting there in front of your screen with pain in your neck or back won’t do you any good.

- Treat it like a business...you gain some , you loose some...but after all there’s just one thing which counts....your profit/hr.
Indeed, forget about BB/100 hands, BB/hr or whatever....$/hr, that’s the only thing we’re looking at (and ofcourse a nice graph going up all the time).


And so, we get back to the strategy.....Well here’s mine in summary....might not be the most profitable, but at least it is profitable after a few days (remember...6-max) and hey.....that’s why I’m writing this.....
......I want your input to make things more profitable, so come on, think and attack my thoughts if you think I’m completely wrong.

On a side-note....please don’t attack me too hard.
I’m already dealing with a mother in law, so you’ll understand I already will be critisized over and over again.

So ,as a matter of fact, I hardly ever limp.
To me, it’s raise or fold ( I might limp with low/middle pockets and sometimes sc though).
So EP...I raise every pair, sc from 78 and connectors from 89.
MP/LP if folded to me I raise anything from 67s, most broadwaycards and any pp.

Small blind, except from folding real junk, I raise ATC if folded to me.
Why ?? Well just because it’s so easy to other players to fold just to go to the next hand.
So actually, I grind my few cents because of the willingness of folding by other players.
Think about it....how many times they have to fold in the blinds to make a 3 BB raise profitable ??

Will they fold ???? Hell yeah, they’ll run like a polar bear in the Sahara.

Huh ??? I admit, that doesn’t make sense.
There are no polar bears in the Sahara....
NOR are there many players in Zoom who defend their blinds.

Read this again!!!!!!!

NOR are there many players in Zoom who defend their blinds.

Simply because there's no use to...
There will be hundreds of hands to play in the next hour, so why defend the blinds ???

So, just take those blinds, that’s the bread and the butter.
On the other hand, people might assume you think similar about YOUR BB.
They might want to steal assuming you will run.
Well, I 3-bet alot from my blinds and guess what ???
Most of the time they run with the tail between the legs.
I did not play 1 single session in which I did not gain at least 50 BB within 15 minutes.
And I did not manage that, simply gambling my chips.
I did that using common sense...

And did I really write down which hands I play from which position ???
Wow, I must have been drunk, so forget about it.
There’s no reason to take you by the hand and tell you which hand to play or not.

After all, everyone has its own style of playing....
Might it be loose, tight, agressive or passive (I won’t recommend the latter though)......the most important thing is.....THINK....

Yes...THINK.......like in....huuuhhhhh ??? Hmmm....I actually don’t know, so think about it yourself.
But...step in your opponents shoes....Why are they playing ZOOM ???
Well, most of the time, just because they want to see loads of hands, getting those rockets or cowboys every now and than and try to extract some money with those powerful hands.
IMO...... Let them have it.....every now and than......
Personally I don’t wait fot these nut-hands.
If folded to me I raise almost any hand, just to get these blinds.
If played back at me, I evaluate sur place, but believe me, you’ll win loads of uncontested pots, just raising and grinding those blinds.
In a raised pot though, I just play the top of my range.
Just fold trash hands and quickly go to the next hand.

But, whatever, you think this is a long article and hard to read ???
Don’t worry, I could have made it much longer.
For those who don’t sleep well, send me a pm and I’ll write you an article which will make sure you’ll get minimal 14 hours of sleep every day (use the 10 hrs left to play ZOOM).

For those, who are still awake after reading (or skipping) the above, a summary:

- I’m a moron......huh ??? where does that get from ???? I didn’t mention that before, did I ??? Oh dear, I have to quit....my alter ego just got awake...
- ZOOM is FOCUS......and grinding actually.
- Make sure you’ll be in good shape, mentally and physically.
- Set your targets, like in, play 30 minutes, take a break...play 30 minutes again and take a break again.....and stick to this, whether you’re winning or not.
ZOOM is FOCUS, so stay comfortably, taking a break every now and than.

I actually had my biggest downswing after playing more than 2 hours without a break, going from a $ 25 profit to a $ 8 loss, just because of getting tired and so , no longer paying attention anymore.


For now....I’m getting tired myself, so feel free to add comments, critics, pictures of beautiful women (or dogs....I don’t want to discriminate) or whatever you think is useful (pictures of polar bears in the Sahara are not allowed though.....I repeat...NOT ALLOWED).

On a side note....if you’ve been reading all of this crap written above....you just saved yourself some money not playing Poker, or......just lost some value because of not playing and leaving all that juice at the table.

For now....may the Poker Gods be with you and I wish you all the best at the tables and in life in general.

So, as we say here....de groet’n wee....
 
10058765

10058765

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Wow, I can't imagine I wrote this....Must have been my alter ego, so think it's time to get my medication....
 
seanDCFC

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I started reading this then realised how long it was and gave up. I'm too tired to read this much lol maybe ill read it all tomorrow
 
TheKAAHK

TheKAAHK

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Are you drunk?

lol

Nice book. I actually read the whole thing, and while I'm not a fan of Zoom I can appreciate the effort you put into this. It's just too bad that most of the players who would do well to read these scattered ramblings just won't have the patience to actually get through it all. And that's part of the reason why they need to read more strat. It's a vicious cycle...
 
Poker Orifice

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cliffnotes: OP suggests stealing blinds 'ALOT'. OP suggests defending blinds, 'ALOT'. (< wish I'd been able to read this instead of losing value.. err.. I mean monieszz)
 
vegasjj

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wow - you must be real patient - to write this much!

was cool to read - and there are things i really agree with - ie - do not play zoom - or any poker for that matter if you are not feeling good - healthy - able to focus etc.

as far as the specific advice - much of it makes good sense - however I think you would very likely change the advice A LOT - at different levels. I did play .02/.05 - still passive game - but try .05/.10 - it is a different game - and I assume - it changes as you go higher.

I am a horrible cash player - mostly lack of patience - zoom - is a place I have a chance to play profitably.
 
D

dazzammm

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I started reading this then realised how long it was and gave up. I'm too tired to read this much lol maybe ill read it all tomorrow
in that case, Zoom poker is perfect for you.
 
pfb8888

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nice post...funny too...

i might have missed it ...how much are you up?
 
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