Poker enthusiasts are always looking for ways to take their game to the next level and maximize their playing time. Lots of approaches have helped with this – particularly the inception of the online casino, allowing you to join poker matches from anywhere and at almost any time.
But even this has its limitations. Yes, playing online has put poker at our fingertips and given us the ability to test our skills against a huge range of players, ultimately broadening our understanding and improving our approaches, but it’s still hampered by the necessary waiting times and the need to let other players finish, even when you’re out of the game.
Enter zone poker. This game is designed to eliminate that waiting as much as possible and let you maximize your playing time by taking part – actively – in as many hands as fit into your time slot.
How Does Zone Poker Work?
If you choose to play zone poker, you’ll find it’s much more fast-paced than traditional poker for two reasons. One is that it eliminates most of the waiting time between hands. If you fold or finish up a hand, you’ll almost immediately be transferred to a new table – no waiting, no twiddling your thumbs, no sighing over action that doesn’t include you.
That’s really valuable if you don’t have a lot of time and you want to get good at poker reasonably quickly. Sure, if you’ve folded, you can learn from watching how other players handle their cards, looking for tells, and generally analyzing the game, but that’s got nothing on the practical learning you get from actually playing yourself… and if you’re on a time limit, it’s kind of frustrating to just be watching. Both observational learning and hands-on learning can be useful, but many players want to actually be playing most of the time.
By switching you to a new table as soon as you’re done with your current one, zone poker ensures you are maximizing the learning opportunities, and you never end up staring vaguely at the screen. It’s also one of the huge advantages of playing in the digital world – you couldn’t do this in most land-based casinos, but online, it’s not bad etiquette at all.
The other important thing to note is that when you play zone poker, you’re required to play fast. Most zone poker games impose a strict time limit on player turns – you have to make swift decisions, often within 15 seconds. This keeps play moving very quickly – ideal for those who want to learn poker fast and dislike protracted games where everyone seems to think about things forever.
Of course, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but for learning or for those with short windows, it can be ideal. Let’s look at why it’s such a good learning tool.
You’ve Got To Think Fast
The most obvious factor that makes zone poker great for learners is the one we already looked at – you can cut a huge amount of the hanging around time. That helps you cover more hands and condense your learning into a smaller space of time, but it’s perhaps not the most important element.
Instead, it’s the speed at which this poker is played that makes it significant. We wouldn’t recommend it for real beginners – when you’re just learning the basics, you’ll want to spend a bit of time observing and analyzing, but once you’ve got the hang of things a bit, speeding things up is a great way to start honing the skills you’ve begun mastering.
This makes zone poker especially good for those who deliberate for long periods over the cards. It forces decisions. You’ll have to memorize certain patterns, and you’ll also have to get good at watching people’s cues and analyzing them at speed. As this video explains, reading both the cards and your opponents is key in poker, and zone poker really sharpens your edge.
You Face More Opponents
The other key advantage of zone poker is that it pits you against a larger number of opponents than you could possibly face playing traditional poker, online or in person. There are lots of subtle advantages to that, with one of the biggest being that you’ll see different strategies and clever approaches that might never occur to you if you face the same players week after week.
There’s a good chance you’ll be able to draw inspiration from the variety in your opponents, and there’s also a good chance you’ll learn what doesn’t work as well as what does! Remember, you don’t have to be playing against someone better than you to improve – you can learn a lot from playing against weaker opponents too.
Additionally, when you pit yourself against many different opponents, you’ll have a chance to see patterns in behavior that might teach you more about reading people’s intentions, spotting bluffs, and more. If lots of players pause before bluffing, that’s information you can use to inform your playstyle going forward.
Another benefit lies in the fact that playing poker in this way encourages you to go outside your comfort zone, presenting you with fresh challenges regularly. That can make playing more fun, meaning you get more value from each session.
So, zone poker has a fair few benefits when compared with traditional poker – and if you find that you want a snappier pace and fewer waiting periods, why not give it a whirl for your next session? You’ll be doing your poker-playing prowess a favor!
