The first hand of all freerolls

Interesting assortment of replies. I try to stay out of the early all-in lotteries. If I want a lottery, I'll go buy a few tickets, or for bingo I'll head to the bingo parlor and maybe while I'm there make friends with some little old ladies. Problem with them is that they are like the poker all-inners - but playing 24 card set-ups - and there's a new game starting every few minutes...

Seriously, I go to play, I go to stay. Multi-hand all-in donkfests are terrible. You're going to be theree for hours, I can wait a few minutes.

I hate it to unless i have AA then no choice but do hate all the crazies

even with AA, you are only about 80% to win against any other random hand. with each additional hand in play your odds of winning go down dramatically. by the time 4 or 5 hands are allin your odds of winning are only a little better than everyone else. if i am playing a freeroll where prior experience tells me there will be this pokerlottery fury for the first few hands, then i will limp into the pot, even with AA or KK, and if we all limp into the flop and my hand does not improve i will play VERY conservatively. if i try to limp and some idiot pushes allin, then what i do depends on what the rest of the table does...for instance if half a dozen morons decide to play the lottery i will fold regardless of my hand, but if the allin initiates all folds around to me leaving just me and him/her/it i will likely call because i do not mind going heads-up with a premium hand, especially if i believe this numnutz is raising with anything hoping to get lucky.
now, if the whole thing just makes you too crazy for polite company, take a few minutes off at the beginning of the tourny (the blinds are usually so low that it really won't make much difference) and make a sandwich, answer natures call, call your mother, or do any one of hundreds of life-affirming activities that will put you in a good mood for when you return to the tourny and the source(s) of your irascibility have either died or is/are now the current chip leader.

What I love best about the freerolls...say in like pokerstars...the max is like 10,000 people...is that after the first hand...almost half of the field is eliminated...

That is very sad!

I've found the best method is to play extremely tight and then loosen up in the mid-late game after about 75% have dropped out. I entered my first tournament on Poker Stars a few days ago and it had 10,000 players. I ended up in 75th place which I feel isnt too bad. I did another one the next day with 7500 players but only got 230th place in that one. I kept getting horrible draws and was short stacked all the way through.

First dozen hands or so of any free roll, I'm lucky if I take more than a casual glance at my hole cards. 1 round and as a rule the first third of the players are out and the stack is at 1470 from 1500. Don't know bout everyone else but I for one have no problem trading 30 chips in order to see a massive field of donkeys thin themselves out.

This goes well beyond freerolls. It's becoming the nature of MTT's and exists at every level of entry buy-in.

At the end of the first hour of a PokerStars 10,000 entrant freeroll, there is only 1/3 of the field remaining. Many sources claim 1 hour online is equal to 1 day at a live table MTT. Best example was the 2006 WSOP Main Event. At the end of the first day, only 1/3 of the field remained.

What does that say about MTT's? A FR is no different than a $10,000 buy-in World Class MTT event.

Pokerstar's Sunday Millions MTT has an average 12,000 (?) entrants and it only takes what - 12 to 14 hours to finish, or less. Hardly a Freeroll, but yet, the same results.

If everyone played cash game style poker, it would probably take 2-3 days to finish a Pokerstars Hubble instead of the normal 6-7 hours. In cash games it is OK to call it No Limit Holdem. In MTT's it should be changed to No Limit Luckem...

i love it when everyone goes allin easy money lol

i hate when ppl go all in on the very first hand... especially with a crap hand like 7-4 off suit to catch the best hand... thats aggravating

But a positive is that... a few of the competitors are out... so i guess it could be a win/win situation

I'm not worried about getting knocked out the first hand of any free roll. IF I have a premium hand and a clueless person pushes in, there's no read to lay down a quality hand. I don't condone calling an all in with J2 offsuit but if I have a quality hand I'm not going to fold a likely winner.

I dont seem to mind even though I had KK 3 days in a row on the bodog 1k Every time they got cracked. It does get alot of people out.

I agree, I almost never play first hand, let the all ins go to it and get them out of the way, even if i have a good hand. 9 times out of 10 one of those garbage hands that goes all in is gonna win. I figure might as well hold on to my chips a couple hands then at least I might be playing against good players instead of donks

My wife and I call them the "All in Wankers", we fold every hand even pocket aces, for if we don't some donkey who went all in with 2 9 wins with a set of nines.

Cheers!

I really haven't had that happen too much. There is usally 1 guy tho that goes all in every hand. I usually just wait until he gets knocked out

What are you complaining about?
You probably have a weak first hand, so you're probably going to fold anyway. Why are you getting so bent just because there are players that are going all in and you have to fold? The game isnt won on the first hand. You having to fold the first hand isnt going to be the deciding factor in how you do.

Oh, no. Game over. You had to fold the first hand.

GGPO, everyone.

Also, to those that say that they would fold AA on the first hand in a freeroll because they're afraid they'll get beat? Really? Why? You have the best hand PF, it is a freeroll, and this is your chance to build a bigstack early on. OMG...get your money in there! You cant be scared that your AA is going to lose to some random hand. There is no logical thinking in that. Its a freeroll, for pete's sake! What do you have to lose? Keep in mind that no hand is a made hand PF-your aces will lose and your aces will win, but they will win more often than they lose. So, to reason that you would fold AA in such a golden opportunity is just silly. Are you going to fold AA in the later levels? Just because your opponents arent going all in doesnt mean AA cant lose to a random hand.

I agree 100%, play your premium hands and let the poker gods handle the rest. You can't worry about the crazies, if you are going to play poker then PLAY POKER and let the cards fall as they may.

Im not really stressing playing premium hands. I just find it silly that someone would complain about players at the table going all in on the first hand. Its going to happen in all freerolls. So, what do you do? You adjust, you tighten up your starting hand range, and you wait for a better opportunity.

Hi,
Sorry new here...

Figured I'd share the flip-side of the coin. It's only fair right?

Well this happened ages ago, so the specifics are foggy...

I was in a freeroll at one site or another(been trying out so many), okay who am I kidding? Been getting bonuses at so many. There that's honest.

Anyway, back to the point. I was in the BB with middle suited connectors, something like 9/8 or 8/7(can't remember exactly, too many hands played since then). I only remember as much as I do because of my logic at the time.

First position, all-in, crazy fast. It was like watching dominoes fall into each other, people were calling insanely fast. I normally don't have to take too much time to decide what to do. But that time I did. I thought about it and asked for time. (might have been Poker.com now that I think about it)

Anyway, I figured the first player had something like A/K or big pp. Then I remembered people don't fold pairs, aces, or pretty much anything from A/K to J/10. Okay I do but I'm an idiot. The point is, most players in freerolls don't.

So I figured BB in it for a bit, whoever won would have me completely dominated and thus bully me at the table. At that point I didn't care if I won. I just figured my cards had a better chance because all the big cards had to be out there.

Maybe it was poor reasoning on my part. But I guessed right and it paid off. Won all those chips with a straight and made it to the top 5 for that freeroll(not that I managed to hang on to the winnings).

Oh I left out the best part. Once you have a big lead early on, people will either fear you, or think you can't play your way out of a wet paper bag. You can use that to your advantage by simply playing your best for the remainder of the tournament .

Well it works for me. Sometimes, not always, but enough to keep me coming back for more.

I consider this as a one hand survivor match. The best one wins all the chips, and everyone else involved gets booted off the tournament.

The worst part of this is that one player now has doubled or tripled up on the first hand. These idiots that push with ace rag and lose make it unfair for the the other players at that particular table b/c now I have to play against a stack 2-3 times as big as mine after the first hand of the tourney. And to think about all of the freerolls I am unable to sign up for b/c they are full...when 10% of these fools shouldnt be playing in the first place somewhat aggravates me. (First post.........nice site y'all have here)

i have to admit, i have gone all in a few times on first hand, but im just playing my cards. and if i get knocked out, it makes the game go by much quicker.......lol

Here's an example of why we see some of the ridiculous play in FR first hands. It is quoted from a part of a blog posted by TheWall (I only give the name since the following is a quote from this source) on a different forum. He is a well respected, and in some cases, even 'revered' player by some members (and not me) on that site:

"I placed in the top 5 for at least 30% of the freerolls i played on full tilt for the afterdark thingy, this how i did it for the first half of the game i would play on total automatic this allowed me to retain my own game and not let the freeroll interfere with my mind set.

for the first half of the field find any good drawing hand(AK AQ suited connectors etc) or any pair and push all your chips in BE A MANIAC, BE A MANIAC, BE A MANIAC lol you have to get you hands on some chips otherwise you have next to no chance of going deep. Once you are half way through the field you can settle down with your chips and start to play but be careful alot of players will still push on a whim.

I also tried the be patient, played well, value bet etc etc and i never once made the final table My AA would walk into 46 and i would be crushed lol."

I don't mind I just fold til all idots are gone good for us really because the faster they drop and leave it up to us who want to play a real game

the first hand if there are 5 + people all in i just go in for the odds if I have even offsuit connectors......otherwise I usually play super tight for the first hour

This should be really simple:

If it increases their odds of winning, you should be doing it too.

If it decreases their odds of winning, you should be glad they are doing it.

Complaining about bad moves makes no sense.

Freeroll donkaments.....

The sad truth is if you tighten up as stated by many posters you end up against massive stacks. One bad beat against them and you out anyway. I play my premium hands, sometimes rubbish if the odds are there and hope to get lucky. Its not sound poker but on Fulltilt you dont have to wait long for another one. So GAMBLE! if you loose get into the next freeroll tournament.

Better to go out in the first minute that actually wade through the field and 2 hours later get donked out because you short.

Well just ranting so take it or leave it!!!!

I disagree. If Im getting a bad run of cards in the early levels, id rather tighten up and just wait for a better opprotunity to come along. You can get lucky, win a big pot on the first hand, play 2 hours, and still not make the money. So whats the difference if you play tight for 2 hours and lose and you get lucky, play for 2 hours and lose?

You signed up the game, you might as well play it as best you can.

Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. The thing to remember here is that if you strive to play your best at all times your bankroll will grow and as it does the amount of fun you are having also increases.

Turning into a fangirl cuz philthy's totally right.

There's a difference between being afraid of playing a strong hand, and being so fearless as to play just any old hand no matter the cost and odds. And yet, both seem to be the very wrong thing to do. Patience + Bravery = Reward(some of the time anyway).

Of course I might have to not be brave today cuz I wanna get a feel for the Cardschat freeroll, but still; in general, it's a decent if not good philosophy.

oh, you and your fangirlism.

^_^

just wait 5 - 10 hands, then the stupidity slightly goes away. Rember they r freerolls.