Zoom session 700 hands 0.02/0,05

Here's a few hands that Rolands excellent post addresses. I played approx. 700 hands on two tables(buy-in 5,- each). 1st table was approx +/- even until this happened;



Bummer! I lost 4,10 on that table

Anyway, the upper comes on table 2 with this hand among several;



And this one eases the pain at table 1 too;



All in all 8,- profit for a pretty short session (forgot to check time).

ZOOM Poker

Pokerstars has finally introduced ZOOM poker (aka Rush poker at FT). Zoom is still in beta. They started with the micro stakes ring games and keep rolling out new buyin levels and formats. I've only played the full ring NLHE.

If you are not familiar with Zoom/Rush format, here is the concept. You are not seated at one particular table like a normal cash game. Rather you are put in a player pool with a maximum of 2000 other players. Every time you fold, you automatically, and instantly, get seated at a new table with two new cards and 8 other random players from the pool. You can quickfold out of turn which means no waiting what so ever. You can also play up to four tables within each Zoom game.
PROs:

• More hands per hour. A normal "Fast" full ring game plays 80-100 hands per hour. Zoom is averaging 300 hands per hour. Playing 3 times as many hands per hour means 3 times as many fpps.
• Your style is less exploitable. Since you keep changing tables, no one will know if you are super tight or an agro maniac. Note that both HEM and PT are updating their tracking software. In a few weeks our HUDs will be functional for Zoom.
• No waiting. This is a pure clickfest! It is great for those times when you don't have enough time for a tourney. 

CONs:

• You don't have any reads on the other players either.

Strategy: "Small losses, but Big wins"
I've played about 5K hands of .02/.05NL this week. I've won a ton of big pots, but I also lost several HUGE pots too. All of my losses were situations where I overplayed AA or KK post flop! Remember: "It is just a pair." Well, I made some adjustments to my game. Here is how I've been playing the past few days. It has been consistently profitable.

Preflop (set mining)

• Unopened pot any position: I raise 2.5x with any pocket pair. I raise 3x from any position with QQ, KK, AA. You win quite a few of these due to the quickfold in Zoom. Furthermore, you build the pot for the times when you flop your set. In other words, I've learned from all the AA, KK stacks I've lost post flop and am trying to to the same to other people now.
• Facing a raise any position: I call a 3x raise or less with any pocket pair. I reraise 3x the original raise size with QQ, KK, AA and AK. If i get 4-bet, I move all in with KK and AA, but may fold or call with QQ and AK depending on the situation. I don't risk a big stack by going all in preflop with QQ and AK. I can also call a raise in a multiway pot if I have Axs type hands. However, I am folding AQo every time in this spot.
• Facing limpers: I limp from any position with non-premium pocket pairs. Limp from late postion with Axs and suited connectors IF at least two limpers are already in the pot.
• Unopened pot from btn: Raising 2.5x with standard steal range.
• Unopened from sb: raising 2.5x any above average hand (Q7o+)

Postflop
Vs one opponent: I c-bet 100% of the time if I raised preflop. My standard c-bet is 75% of the pot. If they play back, then I only continue if I have pot odds. If I have an overpair I slow down considerably after my c-bet.

My golden rule is just like early stages of sngs: Post flop I will NEVER get all in with "just a pair"! This has meant folding AA already. I try to keep the pot small post flop so that I can go to the showdown with an overpair, but I won't call off my stack to a river shove.

If I flop a set or heavy draw hand, I make a pot sized raise. NEVER SLOWPLAY! Note: sometimes you flop a set on a drawing board. If the straight or flush gets filled and they make a big river bet, I fold. I've made enough hero calls the last few days to see that that they usually have the better hand.

If my hand misses the flop, I just fold.

This approach seems looser than my normal game. I play more hands than normal, regardless of postion in hopes of flopping a set. This means I lose a lot of small pots, but I win a stack when I go to the river. However, I'm still only seeing about 10% of the flops. I am winning quite a few steals preflop too.

I'm having fun with Zoom right now. I hate the name, but I love the game! The turbo MTTs are all about preflop shoving/folding ranges. Zoom is all about post flop play with deep stacks.

GL!

Roland GTX

Well, what can u say

Hi friends,

thanks a ton for a great live game yesterday. I haven't been playing much during the last months, and probably I'm getting a bit too rusty for this.
Kind of tired of all those bad beats, and heading to play away the rest of the stack that I've been playing with for the last 3 years.

PS is doing a great job these days, and I got a nasty Déjà vu.




Not much you can do about something like that, lol.

Are You Ready for the Big Game Tonight?

What do you get if you have two Danes, one German, one American, a half Brit and 4 Norwegians at the same table?

Well, we will find out soon because that is how the table is looking for tonight's game.  The table topper is ironed, the cards are washed, the chips are counted out, and I am stoked!

Good Luck!

Roland GTX

WBCOOP Event 21: NLHE Turbo Shootout

I played this WBCOOP event last night. Being a shootout, each table plays like a single table sng with the winner progressing to the next round. It started with 100 tables with two or three players on each and starting stacks of 3000 chips. Top 100 players are itm winning an $11 scoop ticket. Top 10 (round 2 winners) win a $33 ticket and the winner got a $150 ticket or something.

There were three players on my table. To my left was a sitout. To my right was a true donk. He raised every hand preflop and followed with a c-bet. That is fine, but he also showed me his cards every single time he won! If I raised, he would call my raise on every street then reraise all in on the river ending the hand by flashing his hand to me. I had plenty of chips and could afford to be patient. I value raised preflop, but let him have the pot if I missed the flop. Finally after about thirty hands I picked up AQo on the button and made a standard preflop raise. The villian called. The flop was A10J rainbow. I c-bet half the pot and he called. The turn was a K giving me the nut straight. I bet about 30% of the pot and he called. The river was another low card. I checked, he shoved holding two pair with KJ and I stacked him - nice! After that I just needed to finish off the autofolding sitout guy. Once I had won my table I started watching the Pokerstars pros playing in this tourney.

Battle of the Sitouts!

WizardOfAhhs was on a table with only one other player. Both were sitouts which meant they just kept trading blinds back and forth- LOL! I called a mod and she explained that they have rules for handling these types of situations. They kept trading blinds with only a few tables still playing, but finally the table was closed. The pro was deemed the loser but the other guy made the top 100! Perhaps he thought sitting out was his best chance to beat a Pokerstars pro! It is worth mentioning that there is an $11 scoop ticket bounty put on all the pros playing in the WBCOOP. Did the sitout guy win this bounty as well...!?

By the time round two started it was one in the morning. A ten man table was going to take more time than I cared to invest. I waited until I picked up a premium hand and made a move. I reraised all in preflop holding QQ vs a guy that had played 60% of the hands thus far. He called holding K9o. The board rand K9x9x - LOL! I won a $11 ticket and could finally go to bed.

This WBCOOP has been fun!

Roland GTX