Official "how on earth do i win freerolls" thread :p

Hey there. I play a LOT of freerolls.. and rarely end up in top 100.. my problem seems to be this:

I either

1) start aggressive thus make lots early but then lose it all on a bad beat
or
2) start conservative. Build up chips on premium hands only.. does well and gets me far.. but as blinds increased and the good cards stop coming I get stuck, and everyone is raising preflop to stop me from limping with marginal..

Tonight in paradise WSOP freeroll i was in last 200 out of 4000 with $10k and BB at $1.5k... i was talking to a friend, and telling him my hands.. i noticed 10 hands in a row i got no card higher than an 8. Ante and big blind took me to $6k by then and BB was now $3k thus pushing me all in.... Is that something I did wrong earlier or just bad luck? Only time I had AA in late position everone folded to me.

Heeeeeeelp..
Merci

The key is you just have to get lucky, not necessarilly by getting good hands but just putting all your chips in the pot and hoping nobody picks up a hand to call you with. You got to try to steal the blinds one time around the table and fold all marginal hands that way your blinds won't knock you out. I have never one a freeroll because like you i get bad beats but i have been in the hunt for the money several times and it comes down to can you get a big hand that pushes your stack where your in a safe position.

I managed to get to 12th out of 800-ish on PokerHost tonight. I tend to play very tight (it is crude, but effective). I regularly get into the prizes, but often only limp into the bottom of the prizes. This is because once I have made it into the prizes, I stop playing tight and try to build up some chips with a bit more agressive play (well I try to be as aggressive as I can with my small stack) - so I either do really well, or go straight out.

At the end of the day though, part of it comes down to luck and you need to be the lucky in the home straight to get a decent position. You could have been lucky all hand, with a chip lead, but if your winning hands dessert you at the end and you cannot create much else, it doesn't take long to eat into your stack - I'd rather be lucky in the last 10 hands than the first 100.

But this is for my 'win some money if at all possible' freeroll tactic! Sometimes, I think I should aim for the win... but whenever I do, I go out quickly.

Buster Gonad
"The system works... stick with the system!!!"... Siegfried (or was it Roy??)

tournament structures is designed in such a way that when the blinds increase, it favors calling with marginal hands, coz if u do make ur hand u'd be getting close to 3 to 1 or even 4 to 1 for ur call...so u have to steal blinds to survive a tourney

I am getting really sick of the Paradise free-rolls. Tonight of course there were 4,000 people in it. And, for the third straight time, I was in the top 100, but did not break the top 50! I have sunk about 8 hours into it, and still no seat in the finals!!! So, I here you on the problems with free rolls.

Wow, couple of quick tips.

NEVER LIMP, if you can't raise then you should fold.

10 hands in a row, nothing higher than a 8. This isn't a problem, bet them anyway, its only an issue if they don't fold ;]

In freeroll tourneys you have to have a bit of luck to go with your skill,i know,last year 9/6/04 i won the freeroll at fulltilt 900 people,everything went rite and when i needed the luck it was there, so to win you need a bit of luck to,even the pros will go out if the cards are not coming for them>it takes both luck and skill and when it all goes rite you will win. gl>>buckster436

I played really really tight... once i get into position where 1/2 of people will make money i get even tighter even if i only have 5-10x bb i once played only 6 of 100 hands in a touney where i ended up getting 3rd for 116$

27 people placed in that one and i was very low for most of it ex. 45 out of 47

30 out of 34 and so on

i didnt acummulate any chips until there were only 18 left when i somehow caught 3 big hands in a short amount of time and got up to 3rd in chips

Grumbledook, you've said this or something like it before. But you can't be serious. Never limp in?

Please elaborate on "never limp in"

Limping is when you just call the big blind.

There are a few hands that are worthing limping with, though that kind of play I normally stick to ring games. For tournaments I would rather go in for a raise.

OK, so let me get this straight...

Don't make a bet if you can't stand a raise.

But you should go ahead and bet with nothing larger than an 8.

HUH?!?

Beware of the guppy's and maniacs going all in early ....snap them off if your loaded early w/ cards but stay out of their way real early..they will take care of themselves later and give you their chips in just a bit...

ive won a few freerolls and one thing's for sure....you gatto be lucky!!!
(and play VERY smart poker)

i dont really have the answer, but i run into the same thing. please dont feel alone in this. i do think that the unknown factor (LUCK) does play a huge part. you can read all kinds of books, and get all different inputs, but the one thing that cant be beat...is luck. it is the equalizer for all!! hagd

when it comes to freerolls the key is luck..Your cards have to hit and hold up. When there are 2-3k people playing in a free tourney, lots of people are willing to gamble. Theres nothing you can really do if your way ahead and get sucked out because someone called you with a dominated hand and hits their miracle card - because they just wanna gamble...

Well, you are getting late tourney so you have the fundamentals right.

I have won a few freerolls and I played slightly differently at the start but towards the end reward favours the brave. You cant compensate for bad cards but you are the only person who knows those cards, remember!

So when you are BB or even SB, see what happens as it goes round the table. Now when BB is 3,000 you will get people trying to steal, of course. If you are BB and someone raises you and they are short stacked, re-raise, see their reaction. Or when you are SB, raise the BB, dont let them check for nothing. Often they will fold and you now get a free ride next time round, and you get 8 free hands on a full table and hopefully you will hit something that will allow you to build your stack up

Blinds are the difference between a 200 place finish and final table

The luck is essential. The third freeroll I ever played in my life, and it was like the third time I played poker in my life - I managed to become a chipleader and finish 4th place, 600 players and it gave me like 40 bucks. I though i was some sort of poker god, but two months later, I have never made it to the top10 again.

lol! That made me laugh!

Well done anyway, 40 bucks for finishing 4th in a 600 player tourney is very good, usually its only ike $5!

Thanks all..

I had ideas of what to do and this threads confirmed them! I will try as hard as I can to win now :P

I was in the noble freeroll last night, and if my pocket ACES werent beaten by 4 Kings I would have done well

Ciao

Freerolls always seem to take me out early. Anytime I do the "all-in gamble", I always seem to get beat, regardless of what I have in my hand. AK suited.....get beat by the 4-5 offsuit. I've told myself not to go all-in before the flop, but then I get that hand I just know I'm going to win with....NOT! I think I will do better if I don't play the "all-in gamble". I've won enough mini-tourneys to know I'm not a horrible player. I actually finish in the money on those quite frequently.

I think playing tight at the beginning is the only way. Hopefully there will be a few hands that actually play poker and I get cards on those. Then slowly build my stack. Now to implement the strategy without falling for the "all-in gamble".

Folks no one every won a freeroll early on. Why go allin? Do you think the pros sit down and say All-in all day?

Play strong hands strong and weak hands fold fast. Don't hesitate in either play. Serious players who realize you are tight won't play when you do call or raise the pot, these are the players you will see day in and day out in the money. The dead money players you cannot control. They play anything and bet it like the nuts.

I have won countless freerolls and even 2 in a row (back to back) on 1 site with almost 1000 players in each. My best payout was $360 for 2nd at Interpoker.

Was I lucky? Yes, but I try to put myself in a position where luck is not needed. It is awfully hard to fold premium hands preflop such as AA, KK , QQ , AK,or suited connectors if the price isn't too high. But after the flop if you believe you are behing, unless you are getting great pot odds, fold em! Know how many outs you have and decide if it is worth the risk. Otherwise live for the next hand.

freerolls are really a crapshoot

I've only won one freeroll, and the only thing that was different than other freerolls i've played was that i was extremely lucky all the time

well, you shopuld play fairly tight overal, but when you geta and play it strong and hope to double through a few times, the highest i have finished ina a ny tourney money or free is 6th so maybe im not the master of MTT's but i doo know a thing or two about em. limp in at the start while the blinds are low, get to about 5k and then wait for hands until playing, if you blind yourslef out, at lkeast you know its only coz you didn't catch hands, and not coz you played bad poker.....

Well if your in that situation, the blinds are getting higher and you got a some what small stack. And the blinds are taking more than 1/10 of your stack, then its not the right time to just fold every single hand, you have to make a bet and hope that no one got the hand to call you down and luckily you will get the blinds. And one more thing, if your short stacked and the blinds are killing you, then never ever just call a bet, either you fold or you reraise/allin.

i never new there was so much af a strategy in playing. I have got alot to learn. i have never won a free roll game but have placed in the money several times.

When i have done well in freerolls it is because of how i started.
If you are lucky enough to get a good hand, play it smart to get as much money in the pot as you can.
If you do not have a good hand, see the flop anyway as the blinds are small and you dont know what is gonna come out. If your cars do not come out then you have only lost 10 or 20.
Then you can use your chips to scare people out of the pot. Be careful though, watch how they check/raise to make sure they dont get you.

Best advice is to always call the blinds early on, even if you hav crap.
If your cards come, great.
If they dont, then you have only lost 10 / 20.

woodsy... thing about that.. if u get bottom or mid pair u risk losin a lot more! even top pair!

just how tight are you sipposed to play? If three or four people are all in and you have AA, is that good enough. I haven't checked the math, but I think you're less than 50% to win, although your odds are the best of any single person.

hello to all. I think that the best way off playing tournaments is being pacient and play agressive when we have good hands.That works whith me and i have won some whith this.

Your right. But I don't think I could pass up an opportunity early in the game to quadruple up.

It appears that the blinds increase rather quickly at that poker site you are playing at in a freerolll, my advice is not to play freerolls that have over 500 ppl in it because the blinds increase so fast. But their is so many people that it is hard to place even if you have a big chip leader at the start. I think if you werent getting anything and the blinds were getting high you should have started playing more aggressive. I always use this saying when playing cards


Poker is not a card game with people. When you play poker you dont always rely on your cards, cause something will happen like what happened to you, the blinds got high and your cards were no good so the blinds ate your chip stack.

This is the true statement......

Poker is a people game with cards. You have to take notes or whatever to find out how the person plays, if he is aggressive and likes to try to steal the blinds when he is in late position. RE raise him all in and hope he doesnt call to increase your chip stack.

Poker is a people game with cards, not a card game with people

The key is to stay in and keep staying in. Try to get some chips early so that you can survive an all in if one comes(or don't go all in).

Try to not call an all in before the flop (maybe call with AA or KK).

You MUST steal some blinds later on if you want to win.

Don't limp with a marginal hand if someone after you is on tilt or has a small stack, they may go all in and you will have to fold. Raise or fold.

Look out for people that are sitting out and steal their blinds.

Don't get below 10xBBs. If you get that low look for a quick opportunity to steal and then when you get back to 15 or 20xBB calm down again.

If you feel that you are winning on the flop or turn don't be afraid to bet big and take the pot down there.

Don't play anything for the first half hour (maybe AA or KK).

Be very cautious if the flop helps you partialy (especially from the BB).


Here is how most people that I see go out of freerolls:

1. Calling a pre flop all in with AQ AJ AT KQ or hands like that.

2. Refusing to believe that their QQ JJ etc. is beat with an A on the flop.

3. Calling a pre flop raise with a mediocre hand and then flopping a pair.

4. Making 2 pair or trips on the turn or river and not noticing that the board now has 3 to a flush or straight

5. Calling pot sized bets on a flush draw that doesn't make until they have no chips left and have to go all in with any rubbish.

6. Calling any raise that I make!!

Here's a suggestion. If you're struggling with the pacing of your game throughout the tournament, so that you consistently find yourself being blinded down and anted out in the late rounds, try playing a few "turbo" tournaments. The betting levels rise every five minutes in these accelerated affairs. I found them helpful in seeing the tournament's "big picture"... getting from point a (the start) to point b (the final table). Just like playing single-table sit-n-go's are excellent practice for the final table itself, the turbos can help you envision your total game plan.