For about a year, the fast poker craze died out because Full Tilt went down along with its Rush Poker software. Rush was well known for allowing people to play more hands in less amount of time.

But ever since the emergence of Zoom Poker at PokerStars and several other sites rolling out speed poker versions, this craze is back again. Assumming you’re somebody who’s just beginning with fast variants, here are some tips that’ll help you get off to a good start.

Tip #1 -Make sure you’re conquering Regular Poker First

While you can take your time to make decisions in speed poker games, you’ll still be playing at an accelerated pace. This being said, bad players can lose more money when they’re forced to play extra hands. Assuming you are a losing player, it’s definitely not a good idea to opt for fast poker variants because you’ll only lose money at a quicker rate. If you’ve proved yourself in regular cash games over a long time period, then it’s safe to try faster tables.

Tip #2 – Expect Different play

One phenomenon you see in a lot of speed poker versions involves different table dynamics. On a per hand basis, you’ll notice nittier play because it’s so easy for players to fold their speculative and marginal hands and get new cards. That said, you often need to play stronger hands on average and do a lot more folding to keep up with the nits. Of course, this is just what you can typically expect so adjust your play accordingly.

Tip #3 – Don’t let Rake Races dictate your Play

Seeing as how fast poker versions enable people to play more hands than usual, they’re good for winning money in rake races. Unfortunately, the prize money you win in rake races isn’t going to help much if you lost $500 throughout the month trying to earn the cash. Case in point, you should concentrate more on improving your speed poker game by playing when you’re mentally prepared and fresh. Once you start playing well, then you can use fast poker to chase rake race prizes.