Fast Fold Poker Strategy

In that respect fast fold poker suits me a little, as I suspect it does a lot of other ‘bad regs’. It’s a lower variance, more ABC style of poker where you can get a lot of volume in. So rather than attracting huge groups of recreational players, I would argue that it is made up of more close-to-break-even regulars. Early Stage Fast Fold Poker Tournament Strategy: Due to the ability of players to quickly fold their hand instantly Fast Fold tournaments and multi-table sit and goes are a lot tighter than normal tournaments, with one important early stage difference. For the most part you want to adhere to traditional poker strategy while playing Fast-Fold Poker but there are a few extra wrinkles. First of all you’ll tend to encounter stronger hands as players are able to pass on less-premium hands. Don’t be surprised to run into a large number of. Fast-fold poker is still hugely popular several years after its launch. Partypoker 's take on this format is known as fastforward and it has the potential to be massively profitable. Fast-Fold Poker Strategy. When Fast Fold Poker hit the market in 2010 it revolutionized the way online poker was played. No longer did recreational players need multiple tables if single table action was too slow. Fast Fold Poker also allowed players to put in enormous.

“Fast-fold” poker — e.g., PokerStars’ Zoom, Full Tilt’s Rush Poker, iPoker’s Speed Hold’em, partypoker’s FastForward Poker, GGPoker's Rush & Cash — continues to be one of the most popular ways to play cash games in the online poker world, thanks both to its frantic pace and the fact you’re often playing for larger pots than in a standard cash game.

For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past couple of years, or perhaps those of you who are new to this crazy game called poker, let me explain what fast-fold poker actually is. Fast-fold poker plays almost exactly the same as a standard cash game, but instead of being seated at the same table and against the same opponents for the duration of your session, you are part of a pool of players.

Unless you are in the big blind, you can fold out of turn whenever you like and are instantly whisked away to a new table with fresh opponents. Don’t like the you’ve been dealt on the button? Click the fast-fold button and receive new cards and opponents in a flash.

When playing online at a regular table of six-handed no-limit hold’em, you may see as many as 80 hands per hour, depending how quickly everyone is playing. But at a similar fast-fold table, you can often see 300 or more hands per hour!

Because of this huge difference, my first tip for attempting to beat low stakes fast-fold poker games is to play fewer tables than you normally would. They say that each fast-fold table is like playing four standard tables, so bear that in mind before you go fire up four tables, because doing so will be like playing 16 standard cash games!

The first thing that you’ll notice in fast-fold games is that play is generally tighter than in a typical cash game. Since players don’t have to wait as long for premium hands, they will often instantly discard their trash and marginal holdings preflop.

That’s not to say there aren’t any maniacs out there, because there are plenty of recreational players who are attracted to fast-fold poker and are looking for a quick poker fix. These tighter ranges often become more apparent in three-bet pots where a large percentage of players will toss away their marginal hands and only continue with the strongest part of their ranges.

This tendency leads to your opponents playing a more “fit-or-fold” style postflop. This means you can take more stabs at the pot on the flop with a continuation bet, yet you should be less inclined to fire bets on the turn and river without holding the goods.

The majority of players are eager to fold their marginal or weaker hands on the flop. Why would they want to spend time analyzing a marginal spot to call when they can fold, start new hand right away, and promptly replace that tough decision with a much clearer one?

Due to this fit-or-fold nature, you can often continuation bet or steal blinds from the button with smaller bet sizes, as your fold equity is larger than a standard speed cash game.

These are a few of the differences between fast-fold and regular games that affect strategy. However, there are still plenty of aspects of fast-fold poker that remain the same as a standard cash game. While it is easy to forget that fact, I suggest you commit it to memory.

Fast Fold Poker Strategy Ideas

Position is still king and always will be. Much as in a normal cash game, you should be playing tight from early position and loosen up the closer to the button you get.

You should also be taking as many notes as you can on your opponents, because reads are difficult to make in this format. Knowing if a player is a habitual defender of his big blind or will let you steal it with a min-raise from the button is a great piece of information to have available to you.

To recap, to improve your chances of beating low stakes fast-fold poker, you should...

• Remember that it is, for the most part, the same game as a standard cash game
• Remember that players generally play tighter, particularly in three-bet pots
• Know position is still as crucial to success as ever
• Make notes, which will be of great help
• Steal liberally from late position unless you have notes dissuading you from doing so
• Three-bet late position raises lighter than you would usually
• Take plenty of stabs on the flop with continuation bets
• Size bets smaller for button steals and continuation bets

What strategies have you employed successfully in fast-fold poker cash games? Let us know in the comments box below.

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How to Beat Fast-Fold Poker Games Online

One of the frustrating things about poker games is that you need to fold more hands than you play to make a profit. Whether you are playing live poker or online games, you’ll spend more of your time waiting for others to complete their betting and play of hands than you will playing yourself. Of course, you could play more hands… only that runs into the issue of wasting money vs. players who stay tight.

Fast-fold poker was invented to get around this wasted time issue. It does this in a novel way. Instead of sitting at a poker table, you join a pool or group of players – one for each buy-in level. You’ll go to a table, and things will look normal, until you hit the fold button.

At that point, you leave your table, and will find yourself in a brand-new hand against other opponents from your pool. No need to wait and watch the other players in the last hand complete their betting (unless you want to, in which case you can click a ‘fold and watch’ button.

What makes Fast-fold poker even faster is that you do not even need to wait until your turn to act to get a new hand. If you get trashy cards, then hit the ‘fold’ button right away. You will move to a new hand, and your opponents will not know that you have folded until the action gets to you.

This makes it possible to play several hands per minute. You simply fold the trash and wait until you get dealt something playable.

Fast-fold poker started off as a cash game, and has since been adapted to tournament play too. In tournaments, the final table is played with static seats. Pot Limit Omaha Fast-Fold games are also popular.

Strategy Basics for Fast-Fold Poker

The fact that most players are folding their trash hands, and even marginal hands in many cases, makes a big difference to your strategy. You need to take account for the fact that when your bet is called, it will be with a stronger hand range on average.

You also need to keep in mind that your opponents will know that this is what you are thinking, and that many of them will try to take advantage by stealing often!

This makes taking notes on the tendencies of specific players even more important than in regular cash games. Just a few notes a session will soon add up to a valuable resource. For example, you might find a player that 3-bets most of the time on the button. If you raise, get 3-bet in this spot and know that your opponent could well be raising light, then you have a shot at winning a big pot. Let that same opponent build the pot by bluffing.

Loose opponents do not last too long in these games. Mathematically speaking, bridging the gap in hand strength when they are called is too hard.

Hands Which Play Well Against Strong Ranges

If your opponents are raising with strong hands, then you have an opportunity to adjust your own starting hands to exploit this. If people’s raising range is made up of premium pairs, they are less likely to want to fold after the flop – at least on average.

This makes small pairs valuable in Fast-fold poker games. You can call with these – preferably in position. When you miss the flop and face action, no big deal, fold and move on. When you do hit a set, you have a big chance of winning a big pot from someone with aces. They are less likely to have a read on your tendencies, and know that you are adjusting in this way.

Suited connectors and suited ace-x hands can also work in these spots. What you will find is that you partially hit the flop more often, so you’ll need to know which opponents you can raise and when to slow down. I prefer a raise with these hands, though once again, position is key.

What Fast-Fold Poker Games Can I Play Online?

To make Fast-fold poker work, a site needs to have enough players to populate the pools at different buy-ins. If there are not enough players, there will be gaps between the hands while waiting for enough people to recombine into a new one. This somehow defeats the purpose of fast-fold in the first place.

Here are some big sites, and what they have to offer in terms of Fast-fold poker.

Zone Poker - Ignition Poker and Bodog Poker:

Fast Poker Games

These sites share a game called Zone Poker. Ignition Poker are US friendly, and are currently the only poker site to offer this format to US players. Bodog are open to Canadian players and have recently expanded into Latin America. Zone Poker is in cash game format only, and only gets busy at the lower buy-in levels. This game works on both desktops and mobile devices.

Fast Fold Poker Strategy Templates

SNAP! Poker – 888

This is the softest fast-fold game for global players, and is available in both No-Limit Holdem and PLO format. The smallest SNAP! Poker buy-in is just $1 for the 1c / 2c game. You’ll find 6-handed tables and a lot of action, especially evenings (Europe time) and weekends. SNAP is not currently available in tournament format.

Zoom Poker – PokerStars

This is the biggest site for fast-fold poker, and has the most variety and biggest buy-ins with regularly large pools. Zoom is super-smooth and very fast. You can play different table sizes (9 handed or 6 handed) and choose PLO or Holdem. Zoom is available in tournament formats, with very quick blinds, you will find rebuy tournaments work very well in this format.