Freerolls

I have lately begun to realize the wonders of freerolls. Even freerolls for no real money. Practice in tournament situations is extraordinarily valuable. And to be able to practice with so many money and for free is something that should be taken advantage of. If you have the time make sure to play often.

Freerolls for no money are a wonderous thing. Play time for nothing and a chance to improve your skills.

From the last 5 freerolls i played, in 4 of them i reached the final table (including the 2nd place at the cardschat freeroll) and in the other one i placed in the money. I realized that playing a freeroll gives you experiencie specially against loose players, because in a freeroll there are lots of players who, at the beggining, plays very bad (because they have nothing to lose and something to win), but also when you´re in the final table almost all players plays seriously, so you have a good chance to improve your skills (obviously is not the same as a real money table, but even Chris Ferguson practiced a lot with play money).

I love freerolls that allow you to win money or allow you satellites into other tournaments that allow you to win many things such as WSOP seats.

I enjopy freeroles but you have got to play them different than you would a regular tourny because alot of people play looser in free roles which means don't pick up all your habits from freeroll.

Freerolls are a beautiful thing, I'm sure online poker would be even bigger than it already is if more people from the real world knew how lucrative it was. Especially when I seem
to be running into a lot of bad luck... a freeroll is a great opportunity to play without
being able to add any further torment to your unstable mentality when I take that bad beat elimination for the 17th tournament in a row.

I enjoy playing in freerolls. They are fun for free. I do get frustrated with all the all in bets especially during the early rounds but if you hang in there and last, it is worth it.

I agree freerolls really give u that tourney experience that u need, Ive tried some jetset freerolls and they are really good. Max 600-1200 players so there not so much like other sites. If theres something to be won, so much the better. In Jetset u can collect Gps and trade them for books, items, custom avatar etc. U guys should give it a go its pretty cool.

Practice practice practice. Their free, try as many sites as you can. Then realize that in NL tournys I've seen as many as 450 players drop out in the first hour of a 900 person tourny. Don't be afraid to play alot of hand in the early rounds. They're cheap opportunities to hit a pot or two. After you've padded your amount then be more cautious as the rounds move up in blinds. But make sure not to get forced so low that the only move you can do is all in.

I agree as well. Freerolls are a great way to practice. I played only freerolls after I tried the play tables. So far I never made it to the final table, in part cause some guy hit a lucky river at one point that got to me. I force myself to play tight at the beginning, folding almost everything on an all in. No need to get caught up in that, especially a lot of all ins happen preflop. It still is a fantastic way to learn and every single time I lost all my money, well, not realy mine, is it, I leave the table and have learned something. And that is what playing freerolls is all about, other than getting a bankroll started without putting any money in. That's my goal, anyway.

yelp freerolls are a great place to master your skills. one of the hardest things to learn is to pace yourself. patients patients patients is hard to learn, its hard to fold poc Qs when youre still 33 players from the money and your opp. has bet up big throughout the hand. Now is not the time to flex your muscles with the two ladies. But those lessons come from lots of practice in the freerolls.

when you can make the money 11% or more of the time, youre ready for the more serious tourneys

Yea i love freerolls. You get to practice and, in some of them, get a chance to win money.

but is freerolls really good practice? I've heard from many good poker players that I should insert like $100 and learn that way instead of just playing freerolls, but I haven't got that money to spend for learning poker :\

I use freerolls to start a balance. They are a great way to learn tournament poker. If you learn well and make it into the money, then you have some FREE money that you can spend on other tables and learn those too. At the moment I am trying to see if I can earn $100 on a site without putting any money in (i.e. using only freeroll winnings). If you can manage to do that, then you are doing well (and you will thus have a bigger bankroll for bigger tables).

In fact, why don't we start a competition.. see how much money you can earn without spending a PENNY/CENT. To earn cash, you would only be allowed to play freerolls. Once you have earned money, then you could play at any table.
You could use any site to try and amass your fortune, but you can only use money earned on a site on that same site (thus avoiding deposits).
What do you reckon?

Buster Gonad

the only way to truly improve ur game is to play as much as u can... trying out new things in freerolls can be very helpfu

i do play them daily, and i have to wonder how beneficial it is to a real table experience. i'm not saying that it isn't, just unsure. i can gaurantee you will see the gambit of poker styles in any freeroll. hagd

For us players that don't have creditcards they are beautiful these freerolls

Yeah man buster gonad is so on point with his post..I did exactly just that...used freerolls to ....ive been playin on the money i earned throough freerolls mostly...havent made deposit yet..YET! sure with some sites you would have to sit through an amazing amount of people..BUT..you just look around and find a real money freeroll with the right amoount of people and play..some are not worth the time and energy though too many people not a big eanough payoff but there are good ones out there you only have to findem..good luck with your play at the tables

Thanks for all the interesting opinions. Just to add my own, I've noticed an interesting split in freerolls with large fields. Some people play very loose, either because simply they don't know any better, or because they figure if they don't start strongly, they might as well be out quickly.

Others play pretty tightly, presumably knowing that they'll be far off the early lead, but choosing to avoid the early carnage in the belief they can catch up later on.
Is either approach actually better, or is it a matter of personality?

I agree with all of you in that freerolls are a great way to gain experience. From a newbie like me, I definitely need all the practice I can get without having to lose so much money. As for which approach is actually better, I believe that many people play loosely in the beginning because they don't want to have to spend a lot of time playing tightly in the beginning only to find that they lose after playing for 2 hours with nothing to show for it. I certainly have gone all in in at the very beginning (of course with premium hands) in the hopes of gaining a large stack early on. And if I lose, it's no problem because I didn't waste my time and I played for free.

Premium hands, yes. But I just don't get it when three or four people jump in pre-flop and the best of the lot is A7o. Yesterday, I saw someone go in with 6s 9s after two people were already in. Gah!

I find freerolls fun the beggining people go all in just play tight.Once the all inners are gone play really improves.

freerolls are fun , and you risk nothing.

already starting a small bankroll with them. finishing 7th in a Holdem, and 10th in a Stud tourney.