How to Succeed in Online Freerolls

Awesome advice!!

Great advice indeed,
I would have to agree with what duesxmachina added also.
During one of the WPT events last year Phil Hellmuth finished in 5th place from a field of over 1000 dominating his opponenent pre-flop only to be outdrawn.
One of his many parting comments was the fact that he had not gone all in at any point of the tournament up until that moment.
When i heard him say that, i decided to adopt that approach and it has worked very well for me in freeroll events.

Like duesxmachina said, always having chips infront of you is a very important aspect of successfully cashing in these events.
OK, i know this is not always possible, but if you get off to a good start, then it is something you should try to achieve.

Good luck at the tables, zinzan1000

great stuff thanks.

I totally agree with your tips, that is exactly what i do...i played a freeroll on PokerStars two nights ago, 5,000 players entered it and the final 27 got to move on to week 2, (played on Sunday for a $1,000 prize pool) and i got to the final 27 players easily and entered the final table with 9 players left with alittle bit over a million chips in the freeroll tounament...Great tips!

James Mendoza
PokerStars ID: J_MendozaTX

Great tips, I play thm every now and again. I have fininshed well on some but get knocked out with the river on most. I have learned not to chase the strt & go on hunches like you said.

on the topic of the free rolls how would you say i change my game plan if 5 of the 9 players are sitting out should i open my game up more and play hands that i wouldn't normally or should i play what i always play if anyone has some good advice let me know (this goes for all big tournies)

well when there are that many sitting out, it's basically like playing a really short-handed table.
The blinds aren't hitting you that frequently like in short handed tables, but you still have only 4 players who are actually playing.
in this situation you have to loosen up and start stealing the blinds.
play a wider range of hands; when that happens with me (i've been in that situation 1 too many times) i'll play almost any hand with a face card in it if i'm in middle to late position
so basically you want to widen your hand selection considerably and start playing more aggressively

-ChuckTs, freeroll connoisseur (or, if you will, too cheap to play real money tourneys) lol

I would tread very carefully in this situation and pick my moments well.
What you dont want to do is get into a betting war with one of the other players still at the table.
I have seen it happen many times, and while it does give you the chance to increase your chip stack, it can also be harmful to it.
The other remaining players at the table will be of the same mindset as you, and will want to pick up chips cheaply.
As chuckTs said, in late position you can pick up your fair share of the blinds from those sitting out, but in my opinion increasing your betting amounts in these situations can be as harmful to you as they are good.
Be aware of when you are at no risk or low risk of losing a large amount of your stack and use it to your advantage.
Almost always, one player will become very aggresive in this type of situation and that player can damage all your good work up until that point.
But there will be openings for you to get your share with a little care and thought.

Good luck at the tables zinzan1000

Thank you for the advise it sure answed some of the question I had been wondering about

I really suggest that those of you who play any 2 suited really need to think out the logic of your play. (I'm not saying that the great people in this forum do it) You have very little chance of actually hitting your flush. (though it could be argued that you see a lot more flushes online)
I'd also recommend not thinking that just because you have TPTK that you actually always have the best hand. Many of the poor players will be playing junk and hit 2 pairs even though its like 49:1 to make 2 pair on the flop. Seems to happen often enough.
The aggression part is very important just don't get married to hands that look great preflop but don't hit the flop.
Just my 2 cents.

Just a little tidbit I would like to add from my hours of online play I'm not a pro far from it but I do keep a journal of games I play......be carefull playing Ax under 10 not suited. Play them for cheap or free. take a peek if you are in late position and its cheap with only a few players in the hand. They are more of a headache than anything save the stress and your chips. Better kickers come along. Its kinda like playing a slot machine takes your money and gives you little in return

This is very good advice for all poker games not just freerolls, however you have to stay at the good playing habits longer in MTT's is all. Discipline works best I think.

They are very good tips to follow, and i learned you have to be patient, and wait for the best hands to play, especially in freerolls, where you got a least one idiot who will go all in on every hand, so just play the waiting game and hope a little luck is on your side

You guys new I really needed this one after Sundays free roll. I'll try and keep this all in mind at the next one. Very good advice with 1triel and Nick's site I checked out.

Yeh very good advice T1. The problem is as you stated you cannot legislate for bad beats and the fact that Freeroll players tend to call/raise, re-raise and go all-in with nothing (even when you have pocket KK, QQ, JJ or even AA) they tend to 'cop' a card on the river.

Still, as I say, very good advice. As long as you stick to it rigidly.

MackemMan

ROCK ON FREEROLL REBEL

great tips, i havn't been trying alot of that, so maybe i can turn it around, thanx...

very good article. my only thoughts on it were with the play less hands. now yes, i do agree wiht that, but that doesnt always mean play premium hands. i understand it was only a guideline, but even if you have a card less than an 8 in your hand, doesnt mean its a bad hand. for example, any low connectors or pocket pairs. if you have, say, A3 suited, if its cheap to call you can always chase for that nut flush.

but again, theres a lot of different styles and choices to make. the article was definitely helpful! : )

Very great information and very true.

Patience is definitely #1

Have a great weekend all

Alf

EVERYTHING U SAID MAKES A LOT OF SENSE THANK YOU FOR PUTTING IT IN WRITING

Good tips section, well thought out.

I remember someone posting this great strategy before so I will copy.

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Its all the things we are supposed to do, yet try to do it another, and lose! Its nice to see a refresher, especially when you are on a losing whirlwind! ty~july

What I have found in freeroll in being very patient early on, meaning only playing premium hands, is that when all the fish get knocked out, you are left shortstacked and in trouble because you were never able to double up off of your premium hands.
what I like to do is take in a lot of flops for a cheap $$$, and then just play my premium hands aggressively, but if i can see a flop for just calling the BB with 45 suited then I will do it, make sure that i have a hand that will beat any type of over pair, and double up..

In the 2700 freerolls on full tilt it is very hard to make the money in a tournament unless you have 15K after the first break, and 50K after the second break...

if you wait an hour and only play premium hands you find yourself with about 3500 in chips after the first break and playing shortstack poker for the rest of the night

maybe im one of those donks early on but my strategy tends to take me deep into freerolls very often

that's a really good write up, and if you guys follow this up, at least at beggining play holdem, it will help you out to develop some skills which they will pay out in long run

good tips! thanks for the advice.

nice post i played agenst guys like u b4 all i gotta do if bluff u in a margenal area and u drop like a dead fly

keep rushing those posts to 15, only 8 more to go!!

All good advice, but I might add a blurb about the temptation to enter a pot with a marginal hand, then flop a marginal continuation, and before you know it, you've put half your chip stack in the pot cause you haven't seen this good a hand in 45 minutes and you feel the need to increase your stack, and you're still MARGINAL ....

And not a word about the otrosious spelling.

I used this yesterday and really followed it as close as I could. I ended up getting 20th in the $350 Fulll Tilt Freeroll. Pretty excited as best I have finished in a freeroll.

I have played close to it in a 250 + 25 big tournament on Full Tilt and got 3rd out of 1200

Gl on the felt.

I JUST WANT TO SAY I TRIED THIS FAITHFULLY THE FIRST FREEROLL AFTER I READ THIS AND MANAGED TO MAKE A VERY VERY SMALL BIT OF CHANGE BUT SOMETIMES IT IS SO HARD TO BE PATIENT AND WAIT FOR THOSE CARDS THAT ARE SO FAR AND FEW BETWEEN. TODAY I PLAYED IN ONE ON FULTILT AND THIS GIRL PLAYED ALMOST EVERY HAND AND HER CARDS WERE NOT SUITED NOT LARGE AND SHE SEEMED TO WIN ALMOST EVERY HAND, IT MADE ME REALLY WONDER IF SHE KNOWS SOMETHING I SURE DONT. THANKS AGAIN FOR THE GREAT INFO.

I just started online poker about a month ago and have been in a number of freeroll on FullTiltPoker. Your advise is right on. I've always played a tight poker game but it is hard to get to see a flop early in a tournament because the all-ins come like exploding popcorn. I have made it to the final table several times and got as far as third. I was on a short stack for most of the game but had to get agressive and expand my acceptable betting hands as the games grinds down.

All things considered your advice is very good and basically the way I want to play -- if they allow me too.

Wow! I started this thread nearly two years ago and it's still getting replies!

Thanks for the post and the very good advice