Large freeroll tourney question

I've noticed that many players in large freerolls play a lot of rag hands pre-flop while the blinds are low. Is this a sound strategy or are they just fishing. I don't quite understand playing terrible hands but these folks seem to hit their "rags" fairly often. I would like to hear an opinion from some of our better players regarding this method of play.

people play badly in freerolls. and there is a ton of implied odds. if you can see and hit a flop cheaply it often pays off. say you hit 2 pair on a flop you can often shove and get called by ace high. yes this strategy can work. i like playing all sorts of hands but try not to play total rags. i like this better than sitting back and waiting for a good hand.

Course its fishing, and it can pay off, but its not really advisable.
People see that they can see a flop for 1%-2% of their starting stack, and peel off a flop with any muck.
Bear in mind though, if you dont make a big hand to double up (MINIMUM 2 pair i'd suggest, preferably better) within the first couple of orbits, your going to leave yourself short for when you finally DO wake up with a strong starting hand.
I'd recommend sticking to a high range and start tight. The donkeys will drop like flies and you'll get action for the majority of your good hands. If you can see cheap flops on a weak table, then by all means open up to high connectors and mid-high suited cards, but dont get too used to playing these hands as you'll need to tighten up and play more solid during the mid-stages.

I haven't played in large freerolls (e.g., 2700 FT freeroll) since sometime last year, but in these kinds of tourneys, my impression has been that this isn't so much a strategy as so much that these players (especially early in tournaments) overvalue or find it difficult to fold ragged/baby aces. Of course some more experienced/knowledgeable players may play it as part of a strategy but some of the newer players to poker will overplay rags because there's a general thought that an ace is strong.

normally i just try to fold until the crazy begining play kindof dies down... obviously with AA or KK or AK you will have the chance to push early and more or less win... but i would not get suckered into calling with all of these low hands just because others are calling... just kinda wait out the first 600 who get KOed... and u will be fine and ready to play solid poker.... usually the first 600 out takes like 10 minutes haha... so pleanty of time...

Most of the players in the huge free rolls are terrible players. They don't even know what a strategy is. I would do like many players here said and play tight. You can open up your range a little in LP, but stick to a tight game and figure out who is seeing more than their fair share of flops, that's where your money will come from.

if 5 people see the flop with random hands, one of them, at least, is bound to connect with 90% of the flops. Do you feel lucky enough to be the one?

The only ones that I seem to notice using the loose strategy are the ones who are playing every freeroll they can find on every site that they can open an account on. They are often playing 3, 4 or 5 freerolls on various sites, all at the same time.

The 'strategy' is ... double, triple up and play big stack, bluff poker and bust out of the rest. Why ? IMO, it's because they are incapable of playing poker ...

Throw enough spaghetti against the wall and something will stick.

aren't you supposed to call with rags if you have pot odds? i'm not talking about limping in. but if you're in the small blind, or are raised to in the big blind. Was in that situation last night, got raised to and I called and I had 7h 5c. The flop came, 7d 7c Kh. I was first to act, and I checked to him because he was the big stack and being very aggressive and of course the flop totally missed him and he bet out 7k. I pushed all in and he called and I doubled up 47,298. Tho I busted out on the very next hand pushed all in with fish hooks which was stupid of me.

if ur going to play in several freerolls at time, maybe fishing early can work against everybody else who is fishing. I just wait and pick the right moment and push. If i build a stack, lets say 10k then i play my game before that i will push if i think i have the best of it, don't really care about odds and all that crap, if u feel the hand is yours get all ur money in and see what happens.

With freerolls one of the biggest problems is that there is NO money invested so a lot of players just don't care abd play that way. That is why the rags are played so often.
I tend to stay tight early on. Usually until the first break. By that time a lot of the fishing is done and the real play starts.

Just my .02
See you at the felt.

ppl play like that because its a (FREE-roll) key word free ..i guess those players are thinking they can play like that because they didnt invest any of their money ...i look at it as investing my time so i might as well make the best of it and enjoy a good freeroll ...i know its hard when ppl play horrible but that only makes u try to play better to beat those donks ..

Rag Hog play usually contributes to habitual play in the future. Not only am I stating this due to past beats, but this level of play grows on people like a disease. Hand selection is by far the most important stage of building solid play. Excellent players monitor how high his/her win percentage is going into the flop with high marginal and solid starting hands. This strategy results to high tournament placement wins and significant cash game earnings.

in most of the freerolls ive seen.....lots of ppl will play or shove with just about any 2 cards.

they dont really care about card value all they care about is a quick suckout and double up.

be patient and wait it out. after the first hour your done to decently solid poker lol

You have to keep in mind that some of these people are moving up in class to play freerolls for real money. They have been playing for play chips.

A lot of people play freerolls completely fifferently than they play buy in games. There are a lot of reasons for this. Some of them do not want to sit for up to 4 hours to win small amounts and are only interested in the game if they finish in the top 2 or 3. So they take chances early and if they go out it does not bother them. On the subject of A rag there is a 24% chance of hitting the paired A and if another 3 or 4 players are in the hand it can be worth calling.

Key word is FREE. These donks want to double or triple up early then they think they can win the whole tourney. The ones who play this way will usually not make the money cause they dont know how to play solid poker

there usually is no thought behind their actions. They simply play everyhand until they go out or get 100K and sit on it for hours. You have to hang tough for about 2 hours bwefore the game becomes a game and not a crap shoot.

i play those things real tight and wait it out. donks always make it to the last table though, there's nothing you can do about that...everybody's entitled to an incredibly lucky day. because of this, even if you play it tight and play it right, you're usually still very lucky to make it to the bubble and i'm usually shortstacked by that point...that's fine by me. early on though...if i really have the cards and 5 ppl have shoved...whatever, its free, i'm not afraid to shove em out there...cause if you win...you've got a nice stack and plenty of time to just hang out with them and play it right, and if you lose, you're out...whatever, you'll play the next one, didn't cost you anything. the idiots that shove with 3To and 4Jo on their first two hands and manage to win just end up blowing their entire stack by/shortly after the first break anyway.

good way to kill time when you've been drinking just enough that you don't want to play for money, or you just don't wanna play for money right now

Just because everyone else is playing bad doesnot mean you have to. Usualy the person winnning the most pots early isnt going to be around that long. I play pretty tight early especially with big fields, but if u spot a player being continuallly overaggesive you cant be afraid to gamble, it is a freeroll after all. their idea of a good hand is usually alot different than a good player. If your a good player an early big stack can take you a long way ina freeroll. The over aggressive players usually will give it away before they get in the money because they just cant seem to switch gears.
Just my thoughts

^^yeah, exactly, most of them are gone pretty quick. you'll see their stack chipped away at. just watch the hands they play when they showdown and you'll definitely see their idea of a good hand usually isn't such a good idea

I like playing the large freerolls because of the "fisherman". They limp or call preflop then fold if they don't hit the flop. When I do enter a hand
the pots are bigger (with more limpers) and I feel I'm starting with better hands than most of the table.

My main overall stragety is conserve. You have to stay out of hands with stakes that are larger than yours. I swear everyone has noticed the same thing the big stack sucking out constantly, so you might aswell save yourself that anguish and just get out. I think if you do that alone your game will improve dramatically. The same goes for big pots stay away if you can.

A rag is a rag. The only time I play A rag is when it's sooted in late position and there isn't a raise, A raise will mean that you are getting isolated by a stronger hand, if you hit your A what do you do? now you are most likely dominated by a larger A, 2 pair or set. Folding is the best option for A rag in most situations.