Getting to grips with my zoom strategy so looking into the stats I've gathered over the last 100k hands at 2NL zoom and I'm finding that when I'm calling on the river I'm only winning with a set or better. And even then if I have a straight it has to be the nut straight otherwise it's beat more than 50% of the time. Even when I'm betting, villain is only getting to the river with effective nut hands so I'm getting very little value when I do hit.

Is this normal or am I just getting unlucky? And how do I adjust other than by becoming a super nit who only plays sets and better?

I don't like this type of poker! There are few fish in zoom and it plays more tight! Because of this, it is very difficult to beat the rake and earn!

in cash games I only see playing and paying with game or projects that are usually completed

I only played zoom type games a few times. I don't like it.
It seems they play tighter.

That does sound fairly extreme, and while I have not run these kind of filters in my database, I cant really recognize this description from the time, I played Zoom games on PokerStars and 888, and most certainly not at 2NL. But if its really true, that people only go to showdown with absolute nutted hands, that means, they must be folding a ton, so just bluff them more.

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Stick to your instincts, your normal play. If it "just seems like" a certain hand is ganging up on you, it's just a bad stretch.
Long run, better to tighten up, and analyze, than to chase your losses. An opponent hitting a hand is not excuse to loosen your play unnecessarily.

You have to try to polarize your game and raise more, especially when there are villains without a full stack.

They very often have it when betting on the river. So basically don't call river bets. Reraise and if your hand is not strong enough to do that then fold. Even pocket aces.

I've seen maybe 1 or 2 times someone trying to bluff out of thousands of hands. Sometimes on draws, but you can always hit those.

If they're all-in, likelihood they have you beat is super high.

Thanks for the replies. I think my problem is calling too often rather than lack of betting, I'm 3betting and 4betting a healthy amount and making a decent return. My losses are coming from calling TPTK and two pair.

I'm finding it very hard to get to get value form my big hands because everyone folds so often, so I'm winning a ton of small pots but then every now and then I'll have a big hand, face aggression and end up being against the nuts and losing a stack putting me back where I started.

I'm coming around to the idea of abandoning zoom.

Originally Posted by BustedKing

Thanks for the replies. I think my problem is calling too often rather than lack of betting, I'm 3betting and 4betting a healthy amount and making a decent return. My losses are coming from calling TPTK and two pair.

I'm finding it very hard to get to get value form my big hands because everyone folds so often, so I'm winning a ton of small pots but then every now and then I'll have a big hand, face aggression and end up being against the nuts and losing a stack putting me back where I started.

I'm coming around to the idea of abandoning zoom.

In my personal experience, I was a huge fan of the zoom game, but my winnings jumped up when I started playing at regular cash tables.
It is much easier to play with the same players, since you can have data from them and exploit them.
The zoom is profitable only for good regular players who want to put more volume

I think I've seen the most variance in Zoom/Zone poker, It's a lot easier to find yourself in position with hands you would normally play in your range, but for the most part it's just fast-fold until you hit a premium hand, or at least the rare occasion to be blinded in to a monster flop with a hand you would have mucked to a raise. In my own experience (which is limited, because after like 4 or 5 sessions of it I decided it isn't for me) I've found myself on the losing end of set-over-sets, KK vs AA type situations, AA vs hands like 33 that hit the 3 on the flop etc. more often than I'm accustomed to, and I think that is due to seeing a lot more hands and increasing the odds of me encountering these spots more often. It's quite possible I could be profitable if I stuck with it, but I'm convinced the mindset needed for that format is different than regular old cash games,