Aug 14, 2016 Since this is a beginner poker strategy series, moves like the check-raise must be handled with care. While the check-raise is definitely an essential move and deserves a spot in every poker player’s toolbox, if you start firing off check-raises willy nilly it’s only going to get you into trouble. There is a little-known fact in the amateur poker world: Poker is as much about the bets you save as the bets you make. This mantra is rooted in knowing when to fold - a critical part of winning poker strategy. Bad poker players are bad for many reasons but quite often their primary weakness is that they simply do not fold when they should.
Fast Fold is the latest sensation to hit the online poker world where you get to play more in less time – if you don’t play at least once you’ll really miss out on an amazing literal rush! Let me tell you how it is played very quickly.
How to Play Fast Fold Poker
They say that Fast Fold Poker is like poker on meth. You’re plopped down into a virtual poker table and immediately dealt a hand. If you click the check / fold button, the very second a bet is made, even before the action gets to you, you’re whisked away to another table and immediately dealt into another hand. Theoretically, you could still be back at that last table, waiting for your turn to fold a hand, and fold 4 more times or so before the action ever gets to you.
There’s no sitting around the poker table waiting for a hand for an hour with each hand taking up a minute or more of your time, especially with players letting their time clocks run down while they go to the restroom, answer the telephone or do whatever it is they do when they’re wasting your life as you wait for them to get around to taking their turn.
Where to find Fast Fold Poker Tables
Speed Poker from the iPoker Network – You’ll find super fast cash games when you hit the Speed Games button in the iPoker rooms lobby’s – there’s a choice of Speed No Limit Holdem or Speed Omaha. iPoker Rooms scrutinised, reviewed and recommended by us include: Bet365, Titan Poker and William Hill Poker.
Fast Forward Poker from Party Poker – Skip straight to the action with new Fast Forward Poker by hitting the FastForward button, flashed NEW, found along the toolbar in the lobby. These fast fold cash games can be enjoyed in No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha formats, you can even play on the move with their free app.
Blaze Poker from the Microgaming Network – At the moment the Blaze games are only played in No Limit Hold’em format. Download the Mobile Poker Smartphone App and play Blaze Poker whenever you want, wherever you are! Microgaming rooms recommended by us include Ladbrokes and 32Red Poker
Rush at Full Tilt Poker – The original and some say the best. Offering both cash games and tournaments in the Rush format. Full Tilt have fast fold covered, not surprising as they were the first site to offer the new concept back in 2011.
PokerStars Zoom – Zoom cash games have proved to be very popular with players and can be played in your favourite Hold’em ( No Limit and Fixed Limit), Omaha and Five Card Draw. Just hit the ZOOM tab in the lobby – you can play Zoom on your iPhone, iPad or Android device.
Now let’s talk about Fast Fold Poker Strategy
First we’re going to talk about cash game strategy in Fast Fold Poker games. The most popular strategy is to play the nuts and only the nuts, queens in the pocket or better or fold. In fact, many say that you should actually fold AK, TT, JJ, any of those hands pre-flop and move onto the next table waiting for your shot. That’s one way to play it and it’s a perfectly respectable way to play it.
Cash table Strategy, Steal ‘em if they’re there for the Stealing.
However… as I usually do, I have another perspective on that strategy. I say; if it’s not queens or better, don’t get ‘involved’. What that means is, try to buy them all, for at least the minimum bet as most Rush players have already pushed their check/fold buttons. So if you bet, it’s very common that the cards will all be flash folded around you and you’ll be moved on to your next table.
But don’t get ‘involved’; don’t get your heart set on stealing the blinds, just give it a shot, often. If the above is not the case, know going in that you’re behind. Don’t get fancy, there’s no reason to. Don’t try to buy the pot, or play this hand at all with your opponent, you were there for a pre-flop buy, if someone called, that mission failed. Hope for a miracle flop, and/or move on. If you hit a weak hand on the flop, again, don’t try to do anything fancy, fold fold fold and save your gold. If you do get that miracle flop, over-betting is usually a very successful move in Fast Fold Poker.
Now keep in mind however that when you first start out at Fast Fold you’re a new guy with no real reputation. People aren’t going to know how to play against you and you can therefore get away with more. If it seems like other players are re-stealing from you more and more often lately, then it’s probably true. Someone’s caught onto your fast fold poker strategy, and you’re going to have to adjust, for a while at least. Perhaps give up on stealing for a few days, so that you can trap the guy that thinks he has a read on you. Stick to those queens or better and bust his ass with them.
If you get re-raised after making that initial pre-flop steal bet, drop it like it’s hot. Don’t be cute, don’t think about it, just get rid of it and get moved on to your next table. You can get a hand every couple of seconds and the game is chock full of loose playing donks so there’s no need to try anything fancy at all, use a plain and simple preflop raise = standard followed by an all-in/fold type strategy.
Every once in a while, the game will slow down, while you and someone else seem to have a legitimate hand, after all don’t get to thinking you’re the only guy online that reads Fast Fold Poker Strategies, as it might very well be me you’re playing against! Take it easy if you don’t have the nuts, and there’s not much on the line, and he seems to want the pot more than you do, decide if the risk is worth the reward. If you have AK for instance, and you’ve bet into it pretty deep pre-flop and are called, and the flop is AK3, could he really have a 3? Is it really worth your entire stack to find out?
Now, if we were talking about a regular cash game, I say shove your chips in there as fast as you can get them over the line, but we’re not, we’re talking about Fast Fold Poker. Proceed with caution and carefully pick your spots. You’re probably going to be able to get all your chips in with aces or kings two or three times a session pre-flop heads up.
The most-taught strategy for Fast Fold Poker players is fold fold fold fold. Strategists all over the Internet suggest playing nothing less than pocket queens. What that says to me is … steal steal steal steal.
When you have Those Salty Nuts – Snatch the Sugar!
Fast Fold Poker is all about adrenaline. If you have the nuts in a hand, bet big. The minute you know you’re the winner get your opponent to get his chips onto the felt. It’s truly not often when an opponent with any part of a flop or two big cards in a fast fold poker game folds to an over bet, so don’t be shy. If shoving all in isn’t working then adjust to what is working but, when you’ve got the nuts, be sure to bet the highest callable bet.
Fast Fold Poker is a simple game – don’t complicate with Fancy Strategy.
You don’t need to do a lot of thinking to play this game. There’s no need for you to be looking for shots at showing off your fancy skills and do things like float the river. There’s no good check-raise in this game. It’s a simple straight forward game and, by playing the game that way, you’re going to earn money. It’s that simple.
Taking Detailed Player Notes is Good Fast Fold Poker Strategy
When you first start playing Fast Fold Poker it’s going to seem a bit intimidating, you won’t really see yourself keeping track of all of the players. It’s not the same as NL-Cash games you’ve played before where you can make a mental note of the player in seat 4 that constantly raises the button or how the player in seat 2 never plays his button.
Over time however you’ll find out that Fast Fold Poker Players tend to frequent the tables and many of them even sit at more than one table at a time. So, if you keep very detailed player notes and start really looking at the avatar of every guy that does something notable, and you make note of what he did, you’ll be able to use the information you’ve garnered in earlier games later on.
Be sure to note the date that you made the note and that way, in a year from now, you’ll know that that player has had a year to learn and improve his game. Also note the level you’re playing at as it’s likely at the micro-stakes tables for players to play a bit more loosely then they might at a higher stakes table. Also be very descriptive – What happened? What flopped? Who bet? Who called? Who raised? Why is this player notable? Don’t just say ‘good player’ or ‘bad player’ because your own opinion of what a good and bad player is changes over time in this game for one thing and, for another, bad players get good cards. Give your future self as much information about the situation as possible.
The Best Strategy is to Buy in at Max
As I said before, you can steal a lot of pots in this game but the big money is in getting hands like AA all in pre-flop heads up (if there are by chance 4 callers b4 you’re risking a large portion of your stack, go back to poker 101 and fold those pocket aces if you can’t narrow the field). When you do get someone all in with your monster hands heads up, you want to have enough chips to make a big hit.
Always keep yourself armed with a full stack at a Fast Fold Poker table, don’t let it go to your head, or turn you into a calling station, since you can afford it… but just wield that chip stack there menacingly as a weapon and use it when it benefits you the most.
Fast Fold Poker Tournament Strategy
When you’re playing a Fast Fold Poker Tournament, things are a lot different than in a cash game. Instead of clicking their check fold buttons, players are more fond then ever of going all in. If that seems to be the case, stay out of their way while they narrow the field for you. If it’s not the case and you can steal some blinds, then by all means, swoop them up.
Remember however, that in a tournament it’s not what happens in the beginning that matters, honestly, you can win the average tournament by actively playing no more than 4-5 hands. It’s fine to play conservatively in these events, in fact I recommend it. If the tables tighten up, then you loosen up.
Once you’ve cashed then, as Phil Ivey says, it’s time to have some fun. Play some poker and enjoy. You can also go the other route and hope that the players in the game will get a little froggy and go after each other, giving you a better position in the money.
If you find yourself in last place, wait for suited connectors or a big ace (don’t go all in with a3 or some other Ax card if you can help it, you’ll likely end up hoping for one of 3 outs…) and shove your chips until you’re no long the short-stack.
There’s one way to look at riding the short-stack. You’ve already got a lock on last; you can only go up from there, especially if you’ve already made the cash.
5 Card Stud Poker, which is believed to be the ancestor of modern poker variants, enjoyed a great deal of popularity till two decades back, after which variants such as Omaha Poker and Texas Hold’em gained popularity.
Although 5 Card Stud Poker is no longer as popular as it once was, a number of players are still fond of it and prefer it over other poker variants.
5 Card Stud – An Overview
There is a whale of a difference between 5 Card Stud Poker and other modern Stud games. Most of the cards in case of 5 Card Stud are visible, making it easier for players to determine if they have a strong hand and have any chance of winning and to track live cards. During the initial phases of the game, players must decide whether to play or to fold their hands. If players make the wrong decision, they will lose a lot of money.
Like other variants of poker, 5 Card Stud requires plenty of patience, strategy, and skill, and beginners must understand the basics of when to fold and when to raise in order to play a winning game.
When to Fold
Contents
- 5 Card Stud Tips
Needless to say, the strategies that must be used for 5 Card Stud Poker are not the same as the strategies generally used for Texas Hold’em. Five Card Stud is basically a game of pairs and high-value cards, which is why expert Stud players advice beginners to avoid focusing on flushes and straights unless the hand is in their favour right from the beginning. In other words, if players are not in the process of creating a flush or a straight before the Third Street, they had better give up the idea of playing for one.
Players should study their first three cards and ask themselves if it is possible to make a pair, and if they cannot, they must fold the hand. Players should also hang on to high cards such as Aces, tens, and others during the initial phases of the game. Players should always bet on high-value pairs and play only on cards that are higher in value to those on the table.
If players get an Ace, they can continue playing past the Third Street if they have one more high-value card that will help them create a straight. All low-value cards and mismatched cards must be folded immediately as it is no use playing them.
In brief, players can play if they have two cards higher in value to the cards on the board or the face up cards of their opponents or if they have a pair.
Learn how to play Five Card Stud Poker using the video below
This video has been provided by VideoJug
Best Poker Folds
When to Raise
Strategies related to raising depend on a number of factors such as the following:
- Gaming situation on the table
- Type of players (fish or sharks)
- Table position
- Nature of cards
- Chip stack size
Raising should be done with great self-confidence and never in a half-hearted manner. Many players make the mistake of not raising even when they have a good hand because they are afraid of being called or re-raised. Raising in 5 Card Stud Poker is risky business, and players should do it only when they are absolutely confident about their hand.
Raising simply means that your hand is strong and you are ready to challenge your opponents.
5 Card Stud Tips
Here are a few valuable 5 Card Stud tips for beginners. You can play your starting hand if it contains:
- Pairs
- Cards higher in value to those on the board
- Hole cards that are higher in value then opponents’ face-up cards or cards on the board
- Hole cards and face-up cards higher in value than cards on the board
Call And Raise In Poker
Here is a brief list of tested and proven 5 Card Stud strategies:
- Effectively track live and dead cards
- Analyse opponent behaviour carefully
- Avoid playing low-value hole cards
- Be as unpredictable as possible
- Bluff whenever required
- Fold whenever you find the slightest reason to fold.
- If a desired card is dealt to an opponent, it is better to quit the game.
- Bankroll management is of great importance.
- Above all, have fun, avoid chasing your losses, and continue learning newer and better strategies to improve your game.
