Zoom Poker
15:33
08 Jul
(Photo: Bodogpoker.com)
Many poker players came and went and only a chosen few survived and became regulars at these stakes. All of them are using complex Game Theory Optimal (GTO) software like PokerSnowie and all of them have huge databases and very sophisticated HUDs to help beat their opponents. But that doesn’t mean all they do is look at some numbers, apply the GTO theory, and just click some buttons; many still adjust and exploit the tendencies of both regulars and recreationals in order to maximize their winnings. And at the end of the day, they come up with unbelievable graphs.
Indeed, what some believed to be impossible, it is actually doable: 10 big blinds per 100 hands over a big enough sample size at NL500 Zoom in what many regard to be the toughest No Limit poker game in the world. Why is that?
Well, let’s just say there are quite a few cash regulars who play the highest stakes on PokerStars and ‘only’ beat NL500 Zoom at a rate of 3 to 4 big blinds per 100 hands. Not to mention other known high rollers who tried to beat this game and failed miserably. So is it really the toughest game in the world? And how can it be since one guy is crushing it at such an incredible rate? Well, luckily for you, we at PokerTube have the proof and all the right reasons to believe this is really the case and we are willing to share with the rest of the community. Are you ready? Let’s start with the ultimate proof then.
Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald’s NL500 Zoom Challenge
888 Poker is another huge poker site that you can use to play poker on Zoom. It has almost the same features as PokerStars, but it offers a more straightforward approach to starting your games. Many of the unnecessary steps in PokerStars aren’t in 888 Poker, so we recommend it for quick games. Adapting to Zoom Poker Pete Clarke 1 year ago in Zoom Poker ZOOM looks just like a regular cash table only with less waiting around, but there are actually some more subtle differences that call for quite large strategic adjustments. The name itself should tell you it's not quite your average game of poker. Designed to take the wait out of the game, Zoom Poker means as soon as you fold, it's on to the next hand.
At the beginning of last year, in one of Chicago Joey’s podcast episodes, known tournament poker crusher and wizkid, Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald, talked briefly about a certain prop bet. He didn’t go into much details but he did say that in order to win the bet, he had to make a profit at NL500 Zoom. The deadline was the 2015 World Series of Poker with McDonald not being allowed to hire a formal coach (he still could talk about hands with cash players).
Although he didn’t want the challenge to go viral, ‘Timex’ did post his results on 2+2, and surprisingly for many fans and players who rooted for him, the Canadian failed. According to this post just before the start of the 2015 WSOP, McDonald played 46,325 hands at NL500 Zoom and lost -$11,335.49 (-4.89BB/100). He said in the update that he ran pretty bad but admitted that he wasn’t as good at NL cash games as he thought. He started the challenge quite bad losing 20BB/100, recovered towards the end but it was still not good enough to finish with a profit. He told the poker community there are very good regs at NL500 Zoom yet still many who are awful and also enough fish to make the game beatable.
McDonald continued the challenge but towards the end of the year, he gave up entirely and hasn’t been seen at NL500 Zoom ever since.
So why did he quit? Surely, playing a tough field must be a very solid reason. Is the field that tough? And who’s actually playing these stakes?
Running Round The Clock
One of the most important reason why NL500 Zoom is tough - arguably the toughest in the world - is its round the clock action. It is basically the highest shorthanded cash game on PokerStars - the biggest poker site in the world. They run regularly, almost 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
We all know that the action at nosebleeds is scarce nowadays and is based on one recreational player sitting at the table. Without him, the games don’t run, so in order to fill in the gaps and keep up with the poker joneses, many nosebleeds players usually move down stakes and try NL200 Zoom.
Moreover, the regulars at the lower stakes like NL200 or even NL100 scarcely move up to play the toughest poker game in the world. And why would they? At NL200, a regular can be a slight loser and still make a nice profit from PokerStars’ cash rewards. At NL500 though, the rakeback cannot quite cover their losses thus it is a losing deal for them. And we didn’t even mention the softer field with much more mediocre regulars and recreationals at NL200 compared with NL500 Zoom.
Ok, you may say, but who actually is playing these stakes? Who are these tough regulars?
Moving Down From Nosebleeds
There are many high stakes players that play or have played limits like NL5000 or NL10000 and are forces to climb down from their ivory towers to where the normal people are grinding. Especially when they don’t have anything to play at nosebleeds. Players like Romanian superstar Liviu ‘0Human0’ Ignat - a well respected cash player at the nosebleeds just a couple of years back (he was at one point up $2 million) - Alex ‘Kanu7’ Millar - one of the biggest cash winners all-time according to HighStakesDB with over $2.6 million - or Russian poker guru ‘forhayley’.
Also since becoming a coach and streaming on Twitch, Doug ‘WCGRider’ Polk - the self-declared best Heads-Up No Limit player in the world - had his fair amount of action at NL500 Zoom trying to educate his viewers and give them insight into how a real poker player should think.
All don’t play the game that often, but they do come up in the game’s lobby from time to time trying to impose their will over the regulars and recreationals combined.
So Who Else Is Playing NL500 Zoom?
The real regulars however are as tough as they come and even these high rollers have a hard time breaking them. They are experienced with millions and millions of hands played online and can beat any No Limit poker game all over the world, from Las Vegas to Macau. But who are they?
Most of them are achieved mid-stakes winners who took shots at the highest of stakes at one point in their career but stick to mid-stakes for safety. Many are unknown from different parts of the world like ‘d3fault’ or ‘cipple444’ or ‘mynameiskarl’ while some are known poker grinders like Randy ‘nanonoko’ Lew - although we don’t see him that often at the online poker tables anymore - and three-time SNE achiever Bertie ‘bigstealer’ Bayley.
Others are poker coaches - Run It Once Team members Juan ‘proggrezive’ Manuel Copani and Mark ‘EluSiveMark’ Lammers fall into this category - or PokerStars Team pros like Jorge ‘Baalim’ Limon and local Russian legend who turned $50 into a fortune, Mikhail ‘innerspy’ Shalamov.
And of course, there is the famous Spanish-speaking team that is currently crushing NL500 Zoom. Part of that team is Raul ‘Sir_DonaldRM’ Mestre, the player who has the unbelievable graph shown at the beginning of this article. Another member is Andres ‘Educa-p0ker’ Artiñano - a former high-stakes Heads-Up No Limit player who transitioned smoothly to shorthanded play and Zoom. All of them are probably using very complex GTO programs constructing ranges for their opponents and trying to exploit them as much as possible. And all of them are probably using a HUD similar to the one below:
No this isn’t Matrix, it’s just how far a NL500 Zoom regular can go to beat the game and annihilate the good but not best poker player. Now how can a NL500 Zoom newbie with not much Zoom experience, even seomone as legendary as McDonald or Phil Ivey or Tom Dwan, beat that?
Do you agree that NL500 Zoom is the toughest poker game in the world? And if not, what other game that runs on a regular basis could be? Have you ever railed the action? Who do you think is the best at this game? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Zoom Poker Games
Most people in the world have used Zoom in recent weeks. Whether it’s to stay in touch with friends or family, work from home or just connect with important people in all areas of your life, the familiar appearance of a pixelated face of the ones you care for has become commonplace as the world has altered around us.
When it comes to playing poker, however, can Zoom conferencing be useful? Zoom web conferencing connects people in real-time, so we reached out to poker player Danielle Andersen to see if there were any tips and tricks we might pick up. It turns out that Zoom, just like poker, can be a guide to shepherd us through these quarantine days just as much as it is a conferencing tool.
A SEPARATION FROM THE GAME
Like many people, Andersen found that when the Coronavirus crisis began, she didn’t have the same drive for poker that she had enjoyed for many years as a professional.
“When quarantine started I had literally no interest in online poker,” she says. “Since switching to live, I’ve just always found online to be boring. Yes, it’s faster play but I enjoy the social dynamics of live [poker] enough to overcome the slow pace.”
Faced with no poker to play for a poker professional used to making a living from the game, Andersen focused on family time. However, after turning down some requests to play online poker, one offer included the social element she’d missed.
“A friend invited me to a game played while on Zoom together,” says Andersen. “This was the first online poker option that was at all intriguing to me. I played, had cocktails, laughed, talked smack, and had a blast. It was as close to live poker as I was going to get for a while, so I started participating more frequently and then running my own smaller stake game with Zoom so anyone could participate.”
PLAYING WITH FRIENDS ON ZOOM
While some players might have had some qualms about using online screens like Zoom, Andersen was happy to say that it wasn’t too difficult for her to adapt.
“It’s been pretty easy.” She tells us. “I think most people miss socialization right now. I open up the hangouts I’ve been organizing to everyone, regardless of their ability or interest to play.”
Zoom Poker Ideas
Keeping poker fun and friendly is crucial if you’re organizing a poker game on Zoom during quarantine or lockdown situations. If there’s a way to open up people’s houses and make everyone more connected and host a poker game, what could be more important right now? “There are quite a few people who join the Zoom room just to hang out and socialize without even playing in the games,” says Andersen. “Human interaction is an important part of mental health for many, if not most people. Being able to see faces and have conversation helps fill that void right now.”
MAKING THE MOST OF THE GAME
Danielle Andersen is an experienced player both live and online, so is probably the ideal person to host such games but as she tells us, some players were a little timid about joining in, to begin with.
Zoom Poker With Friends
“There were a few people who said they were too shy to join at first but eventually, as quarantine lengthened, they gave in. All I’d say to anyone who is interested is to ‘just give it a shot’. Nobody bites and it’s therapeutic to interact. I’ve already met some really interesting people who I’d never have met otherwise.”
Zoom Poker Lessons
However, you’re setting up your own Zoom poker game, getting used to the technology yourself is a great starting point. Sure, you might want to brush up on certain elements of your game if you really want to turn a profit, such as facial tells, how players act when holding strong cards or weak ones. But the crucial aspect of any poker right now where each player can see the others in the game is fun – make it enjoyable for everyone and keep your friends and family interested and happy. It’s how we’ll get through this period of poker restriction and come out the other side with a refreshed love of playing the game face-to-face and in person at the same time.
Zoom Poker On Ignition
Some of the best live poker clashes you’ll ever see are in shows like Poker After Dark or High Stakes Poker. With everything on the line, how will the best players in poker history behave? Check out the latest episodes added to the archive 24 hours a day by subscribing to PokerGO today.