Planet Mark's Blog. Thoughts, News And Strategy For Poker Tournaments Of All Size

First Look At Zoom Poker

My afternoon’s work was rudely interrupted by a tweet today… it simply said ‘Zoom Live’ and, well, as a recovering PLO rush addict, what else could I do but download the latest software and get playing! Here are my initial thoughts.Firstly, this is not a ‘Rush-Like’ game… it is basically the same thing. You join a pool of players and do not have to wait while the hand plays out, ‘fast folding’ at any point.

At the moment the tables are 6-max and 9-max and the buy-ins limited to $2. This is just the beta phase, so I am sure it will only be a couple of days before we get to play for some bigger money. Only No-Limit Holdem and Pot-Limit Omaha are available at the moment, though there is a tab for ‘Other’ already in the lobby and the Omaha tab does not specify high-only. I’m sure high-low will be part of the deal soon. You choose the number of times you want to buy-in to each pool, with a cap of 1500 players in each… and off you go! Here is a shot of the lobby – the tables look just like Pokerstars normal ones – except for the Fast Fold button appearing.

zoom-screenshot

You can click ‘sit out next big blind’ which is handy, vaguely remember having to guess for the original Rush Poker. One other thing which I am a little confused about is a red spade which appears next to one player’s name on each hand. Thought for a moment that this indicated who is BB next, however that does not make sense… since this is a pool game and the BB might well be from another table completely. Will report back if this turns out to be anything interesting. So, after another Zoom PLO session I am 14 buy-ins up! Would be something to be proud of if the buy-in was not $2 - doh!! Anyway, was a fun game, I got lucky in a couple of spots and way playing pretty loose and aggressive…if the money had been bigger I would probably not have found myself in as many good spots. As a tongue-in-cheek sign-off for Friday, I’ll leave you with some hints about how to play against the different nationalities who dominate the Zoom tables at the moment... remember, every recreational player and his dog will be checking them out. As I have always said, the best time to be playing any games is when they are new - before a set of 'regulars' get settled in!

Germans: Their methodological upbringing means that they *have* to raise the button and attempt to steal BVB when folded to. You should also not that failing to c-bet is considered very un-German indeed. The turn is where you get to find out about their hand.

Dutch: European 3-bet bluffing champions 2012.

Russians: No backing down! These players will raise from any position with any cards at all times. Passing even one opportunity to raise would be a sign of weakness… most Russians I know would prefer to wrestle a polar bear than fold to your mini check re-raise!

Spanish: Do not try and work out what a Spaniard is thinking or the hand he holds in Zoom Poker based on his betting action… this is impossible to do and may result on you going permanently insane.

Brits (that’s me!): They are bluffing, always… so let them bluff.

Brazilians: Nothing gives away a Brazilian holding a nut hand more quickly than a check on the flop, followed by a check on the turn followed by a desperate big bet on the river… if they bet early in the hand see above. Anyway, no offense intended… Zoom is going to be huge – and with it looking like Full Tilt are on their way back this is great timing from Pokerstars. If you do not have an account there then choose ‘Affiliate Marketing Code’ from the ‘where did you hear about us?’ choices and enter Pokerstars Marketing Code PSP3108 in the box which appears… you’ll get up to 3 deposit bonuses at 100% match up to $600 to start your bankroll with a bang! Click this link to check out the all new Zoom Poker at Pokerstars now!

GL at the tables, Mark

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