How to Beat Zoom Poker on PokerStars | 5-Minute Zoom Crash Course

What’s Good About Zoom Poker (Hint: Volume)

Zoom Poker is a godsend for any ADD-riddled poker player who simply needs more action.

It’s also very good for generating massive amounts of reward points for the PokerStars rewards program. 

You can triple or even quadruple the amount of hands you can play in an hour quite easily with Zoom Poker. 

Is Zoom Poker Real Poker?

This remains a contentious issue as Zoom Poker is lacking one major aspect of regular poker – the chance to develop a read on a player.

Because you’re always moving to another table you’ll constantly be playing against opponents you know nothing about.

It gives the game a much more robotic feel.

It also means that math plays heavier into the game as well as the ability to develop quick reads on virtually unknown opponents.

Zoom Poker also discourages seasoned grinders from hunting inexperienced players because they are constantly being moved.

Some Quick Tips for Playing Zoom Poker

• Tight tends to be right in Zoom Poker. No one can tell how tight you’re playing so it’s possible to fold every hand unti you get aces and stack someone who has AK.
• Speaking of AK, be careful with it. It’s far weaker in Zoom Poker than in a normal game.
• You can watch the end of a hand by holding the CNTRL key when you click the fold button (That’s the command button on Macs).
• There are several different Zoom table animations. Some feel faster than others. You can find these by clicking ‘Options’ > ‘Table Display Options’ > ‘Zoom Animation’. We like ‘Flip’ a lot but default ‘Fade’ still seems fastest
• Play fewer tables with Zoom Poker (It’s freaking fast!)
• Be mindful of your blinds as you’ll pay more of them
• The big blind is the only player who doesn’t have the option of fast folding. Expect a wider-range of starting hands.
• Each Zoom Poker game or tournament has hundreds of players. You can open multiple tables in the same game.
• Be prepared for massive swings as you’ll being playing a massive number of hands
• You’ll see a fair amount of min-bets from late position as people attempt to steal a pot off the players who have already fast folded.
• Quite often you’ll run into deep stacks with 100+ big blinds behind. Check this article on NLHE Deep Stack strategy.

What’s the Best Strategy for Zoom Poker?

So what’s the correct strategy for winning at Zoom (aka “Fast Fold”) Poker? The biggest change to the game by far is that you instantly change tables when you fold your hand. Meaning you never have history with your opponents.

Each hand is at a new table with new opponents. You don’t know who the fish are and you don’t know who the regulars are. Everyone’s just a blank face. Because you can’t develop reads through playing multiple hands with the same opponent you have to treat each opponent the same. But that works both ways.

Since you can’t develop reads on your opponents, they can’t develop reads on you. In Zoom Poker you don’t have to worry about levelling, balancing your range or anything like that because your history with your opponents is going to be minimal.

How Should I Play Zoom Poker?

In small-stakes poker the bulk of your profits come from fish. Even if you’re the best small-stakes player in the world and you regularly own other reg’s souls, the majority of your profit is still going to come from playing the fish.

Unfortunately in Zoom Poker you may not know who the fish are and who the regs are until after the hand’s over. And by then it’s too late.

So the best way to play is a basic ABC poker game. In fact you can play even tighter than you would normally because your opponents are never going to notice and never going to be able to adjust.

When you’re moved to a new table it’s a clean slate. They have no idea that you just hit quick fold 20 times in a row and are now cold four-betting AA from the blinds.

They’re just thinking, “Wow, I’ve got AK. I’m supposed to felt AK.” And they call it off, drawing nearly dead and chalk it up to a cooler. Just like when you first started playing poker, tight is right. The mantra is especially true for Zoom Poker.
Wait for big pairs, AKs, set mine, make top pair or better and value-bet relentlessly.

Related Reading:

• 10 Essential Holdem Moves: Set Mining
• The Value Bet for Beginners

How to Make Money in Zoom Poker 

Of course the whole game is changed by the fold and quick-fold buttons. Players don’t have to wait around for a great hand. They can just fold their junk and move on to a new table and a new hand.

That means your average player’s range is going to be significantly tighter. The fish are going to be fish and do what they always do: play strange hands and take them way too far after the flop. But the regulars are going to be playing a much tighter range.

Example: You open-raise to 2.5 big blinds with K Q in late position and get called by the cutoff. On an unconnected flop where you hold two overcards, c-betting will often take the pot down immediately because your opponent’s range is generally tighter in Zoom. However, always pay attention to stack sizes: if the cutoff starts reraising aggressively, it might signal big pairs or a strong draw, given he chose not to fast-fold. It’s because of the quick-fold button. If you’re sitting with 6-8o in the small blind, are you going to wait around and see if you get the chance for a Blind vs. Bling steal? No, you’re going to hit quick fold and move on to another table.
So when you raise from under the gun and get called in the small blind you have to realize that that player had the chance to quick-fold and get a new hand at a new table but didn’t.

He waited around to play against you. Either he’s a fish or he has a pretty damn good hand. Because he didn’t choose to quick-fold you can already start assigning him a range.

It looks something like JJ-22, AQ and maybe AJs. Anything else is definitely too wide vs. a UTG raise. From there, as the hand plays out, you do what you always do. Start narrowing his range down until you have a good idea of his actual holdings.

Further Reading:

• How to Put Your Opponent on a Range

What to Do in the Big Blind

The big blind is the only position where you can’t insta hit quick-fold. That’s because you have the big blind invested already. You have to wait until there is a raise before you can quick-fold.
Meaning that the above is not as true for the big blind in unraised pots. He didn’t have the opportunity to quick-fold his hand, so if it’s folded to you on the button or in the small blind and you raise, when he calls it doesn’t mean his range is necessarily tighter.

For that reason, as of now, the majority of “light three-betting” comes from the big blind. Because any other position wouldn’t wait around until their turn to three-bet some trash hand, they’d just fold and move on.

The big blind doesn’t have that chance so he gets mad and three-bets those steal raises far more than he would from the small blind.
Obviously not every player plays the big blind like this, but it’s something to be cognizant of.

Related Reading:

• 10 Essential Holdem Moves: Defending the Blinds

No Need to Play Marginal Hands!

Like in any form of poker the difference between shorthanded and full ring is very real, only in Zoom Poker it’s absolutely huge.
A six-max Zoom game plays only slightly different than a regular six-max game. With so few players and everyone playing so fast, you often can’t even hit quick-fold before the action is on you.

While everyone’s early position ranges tighten up, the late position raises remain wide.
In full-ring the tightness is extremely magnified. Why even bother calling a raise with ATo when you can just insta-fold and get a new hand? There’s no reason. Ranges are, or at least should be, tighter across the board.

There’s just no need to be involved with marginal hands!

3 Major Upsides of Fast Fold Poker

3 Downsides to Fast Fold Poker

Incorporating Solver-Based Approaches

Modern poker theory and solvers have introduced concepts like GTO (Game Theory Optimal) ranges, multiple bet sizings, and balanced frequencies. While absolute GTO play is rarely required at lower stakes Zoom, a solver-based approach can still help you build robust preflop ranges and logical postflop strategies. For instance, if you are out of position and face a late-position raise, referencing solver-approved ranges for three-betting can prevent you from losing value with strong hands or overextending with marginal holdings. Balancing your c-bets on coordinated flops is another area where solver insights can help. Even though player reads are harder to establish in Zoom, you can rely on theoretically sound lines that perform well against unknown opponents.

In addition, it helps to re-evaluate your game selection and table usage. Many experienced players sit with shorter stacks and aim to implement a push-fold or three-bet shove strategy in certain spots. If you’re not aware of these short-stack strategies, you might be caught off guard when players decide to reshove over your open-raises. Using solver-inspired analysis, you can fine-tune your calling ranges and ensure you’re not folding away too much equity or calling off with hands that fail to stand up well under pressure.