Has fast fold poker improved or damaged online poker skills ?

Has fast fold poker improved or damaged online poker skills ?

I don't know how to answer you more correctly, but I don't see much difference in this)

anbu210 said:

Has fast fold poker improved or damaged online poker skills ?

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I'm not sure how playing a large volume of hands over a shorter period of time could 'damage' one's online poker skills? Can you explain further where you're going with this?
In my case, the only negative impact I find from playing 'fast-fold' poker (Z00m-style I call it) is that one might become bored playing regular tables (if they weren't able to play enough tables).

I think fast fold focuses more on how to play against the "population" and regular poker is more how to play against specific villans.

There is a place for both skills, say you are playing a mtt on a new site and do not know any of the players but you expect them to play similar to other sites at the same level, so you play against the "population" until you are familiar enough with the players to play against the specific villans.

It can go the other way also, say you are playing fast fold and you recognize several villans which you have a vast amount of experience against, then you can tailor your play to the specific villans when they are in the hand.

Both way has its pros and counters...

I am not really sure, where you are going with this either? By nature fast-fold games make it more difficult to pick up reads on opponents, because you face new opponents in every hand. So its easier to get away with unbalanced strategies like varying your bet sizing after hand strenght, and you are forced to treat most opponents as unknowns, because you do in fact not know much about them.

You can still use trackers in some fast-fold games though, and then you will eventually pick up information about your opponents. It just takes longer, than it does on regular tables. A fast-fold game with 30 players is also less anomymous than one with 300 players, since you will see the same players often enough to remember them and get at least some idea, what they are all about.

Personally I am not a big fan of the format, mostly because it makes it easier for bad players AKA fish to fix their most important leak.
On traditional tables boredom is a factor, and therefore it can be tempting to limp in with from UGT, "because its soooted". In a fast fold game though you can just fold and instantly get dealt a new hand, and therefore you see much less limping and far less players with a 40+% VPIP. But on the upside the format is very convenient, when you only want to play a short session or want to be able to instantly sit out, if something comes up.

I think it did both.

Fast fold formats are great for improving volume, discipline, preflop fundamentals, and spotting population tendencies quickly. You get way more hands per hour, which is excellent for learning ranges and reducing emotional attachment to individual hands.

But at the same time, I think it can hurt deeper poker development if that’s all you play. A lot of players become too robotic, auto-pilot too much, and don’t develop strong table dynamics, exploitative adjustments, or patience for slower games.

So in my opinion:

• Fast fold = great for fundamentals and volume
• Regular tables = better for reads, exploits, and overall poker IQ

The best approach is probably mixing both depending on your goals.

Baco said:

I think it did both.

Fast fold formats are great for improving volume, discipline, preflop fundamentals, and spotting population tendencies quickly. You get way more hands per hour, which is excellent for learning ranges and reducing emotional attachment to individual hands.

But at the same time, I think it can hurt deeper poker development if that’s all you play. A lot of players become too robotic, auto-pilot too much, and don’t develop strong table dynamics, exploitative adjustments, or patience for slower games.

So in my opinion:

• Fast fold = great for fundamentals and volume
• Regular tables = better for reads, exploits, and overall poker IQ

The best approach is probably mixing both depending on your goals.

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Thanks ChatGPT

fast fold isnt real poker ...just another way for poker sites to score more rake .

Fast fold poker improves technical fundamentals like hand selection, discipline, and volume-based decision making. But it can also damage deeper skills such as player reads, table dynamics, and long-term exploitative strategy because you rarely stay with the same opponents long enough to adjust.