1st hand pocket pairs

I play a lot of freeroll tourneys among other things, and nothing frustrates me more than being dealt pocket pairs and then having to chose between calling one or multiple all in bids or folding. Generally, I fold (unless its aa or kk) thinking it's too early to go out like this, too many people around the table, anyone of whom could get the lucky flop. Often, to my despair, i find I could have called and stumbled upon trips, netting me a big pot and a crucial jumbo stack early in the tourney. Today I had 9's with 5 other people going all in (go figure). I folded only to cringe as my 3rd 9 came on the flop. Noone else even had a pair and only mediocre hands. I would have won 7,500 chips, a great start to my tourney. My question is, was my choice a good one. what do some of you do in these situations?

Calling all-in with 99 early in a tourny is foolish--you made the right play.

The only possible 'right move' for calling that would be because you did not want to waste 4 hours of time for $0.74 and getting out this early would have saved you that time--exactly what the other 5 players who did go all-in were doing.

Cheers

HomerQ said:

I usally fold any pair in the freerolls unless its AA. Gotten beat 2 many times w/ pairs lower than that

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it was a good fold-more times than none when that many people enter the pot u lose alot of +ev. i might even go as far as folding AA or KK as those hands lose alot of value with that many people in the pot-so all in all it was a good fold-you wait for a better spot and hope to get deep....gl

I think it depends on your particular circumstance. For instance on ultimatebet, they have a free roll tournament every hour and there are usually 3000+ players. So if you have all day to play then why not try to win big and then play smart. But if you have time to play only one tournament because you will invest 4+ hours to win, then play smart and wait the all-iners out. Usually, after you get under 1000 players the tournament get serious and remember that 1/3 of those left, aren't even there...

paulwall01 said:

I think it depends on your particular circumstance. For instance on ultimatebet, they have a free roll tournament every hour and there are usually 3000+ players. So if you have all day to play then why not try to win big and then play smart. But if you have time to play only one tournament because you will invest 4+ hours to win, then play smart and wait the all-iners out. Usually, after you get under 1000 players the tournament get serious and remember that 1/3 of those left, aren't even there...

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Yeah I had all day. And at the Ultimatebet freerolls they are so frequent that If I make a wrong decision, oh well, costs me nothing.I find that building my chip stack early gets me a LOT farther in these crap shoot tourneys, gives me some serious ammo to make potentially costly (or profitable) calls and plays later on once the desperate and careless have run out of luck. I know calling with 99 at that point is the wrong move and I would never do it with my own money. Statisticly sound? Hell No. Fun and exciting? I think so. and thats all im looking for outta a free roll. Oddly though, I frequently make money on those things...

Contrary to popular belief, I think any decision that doesn't result in your tourney death, is a good one.

Doing some right moves

Pair of 9s with 5 allins is simply the right move if you are playing poker.

But remember, even though freerolls are a kind of poker, it is also a big element of bingo, when 2000-12000 people are competing each other.

Getting into the money on freerolls is often a 2-4 hour business, and when no more than top 5-10 is offered any decent money I always use the first hour to get a good start, I dont think it is worth to wait, wait, wait in one hour to get that "killer hand", play like a donk the first hour, not with 87suited of course, but with hands like AJ, AT, low and middle pair I dont hesitate pushing the whole stack, but the point is for you to do it first.''

If you raise 3-4XBB in the first 20-30 minutes you will most likely get 2-5 callers anyway and then even AA isnt that good of a hand, because that one idiot hits his two pairs with his 52 on the hand. My strategy is to isolate the players, get the number of callers down to an absolute minimum. Sure you will lose, but instead of doing that bad move in two hours being short, I think its better to to it early instead of spending to useless hours.

And when you get that good start it is so much easier to finish high into the money, instead of that lousy 6 cents that you are given

Statistically it is better to have 1 top 3 in one year than 100 places just in the money:icon_sant

IMO, in most freerolls, you should gamble on early rounds if you have somewhat breakeven odds or better. The only relevant payouts are if you go really deep and that's much more likely if you can build a significant stack early on. Playing tight and barely making it into the money after hours of play is just a waste of time.

DocMccoy said:

I play a lot of freeroll tourneys among other things, and nothing frustrates me more than being dealt pocket pairs and then having to chose between calling one or multiple all in bids or folding. Generally, I fold (unless its aa or kk) thinking it's too early to go out like this, too many people around the table, anyone of whom could get the lucky flop. Often, to my despair, i find I could have called and stumbled upon trips, netting me a big pot and a crucial jumbo stack early in the tourney. Today I had 9's with 5 other people going all in (go figure). I folded only to cringe as my 3rd 9 came on the flop. Noone else even had a pair and only mediocre hands. I would have won 7,500 chips, a great start to my tourney. My question is, was my choice a good one. what do some of you do in these situations?

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Couldnt tell you how mant times ive been here....these frs will kill you....too many idiots are incredibly lucky.....i.... like you.... will fold ....but usuall with 99 or less....

when i just started playing freerolls i picked my cards carefully now? If there are more then 2-3 all-ins in the first few hands i`m glad to see hands like JTs , T9s. I`ll def go all in with them.. but when it comes to pocket pairs? i only call with the BULLETS..

well, in freeroll, i would call if i had pockets 9 or better. reason for this is you know all the donks are gonna go all in first hand anyways, they always do and not all five of them can have outstanding cards, maybe one with pockets one with two overcards and the rest garbage, thats just statistics. in order to be a great tournament player you have to make some risks early on to gain a chip lead and avoid pressure from the blinds, thats just the ugly truth

depending on how important the freeroll is, i.e. if its private or public, i will go in with any pp in public fr first hand no doubt. no great loss there. private frs, i wouldnt do it at all. i prefer to fold first hand in any tourney usually. its just a quirk.

If it's a low freeroll as in 1-8 dollar first place prize i'll go all in the first few hands having any pocket pair. Other than that your foolish to go all in with a big tournament ahead of you.

i cant stand freerolling. seems like a poor excuse for a lot of players to make bad decisions. i say if your willing to sit down and play why not take it seriously. if it really is bingo your after there are places to play that as well.

I have to agree frerolling is abit like bingo... but you can sift out the good hands and make them work to your advantage. some people like the freerolls its just a choice you want to take. i dont mind playing the odd one or two but after a while its not poker as poker should be its exactly like BINGO lol

Folding the nines was the right move. The first time you call pp's and hit the flop someone will draw a flush or straight and goodbye.

freerolls are a war of attrition, gathering chips slowly but surely. all in on the first hand without AA or KK against 1 or 2 callers is the only time i would do it...you made the right play

cheers and gl

As has been pointed out---'How important is the FR?' I mean, it's a FREEROLL! And 1st hand of MOST FRs yuo'll find SOMEBODY shoving all-in with NOTHING! ANY 2 cards can win! So imo, calling allin with ANY pair at the 1st level is a possable winner. Plus your pot odds are really pretty high if 3-4-5 ALL call the all in! I'd give it a shot!

I'm actually getting better at placing in the money in these freerolls. My rule of thumb is if it is a regular freeroll where you can have up to 12000 people in it, I will play do the "stupid play" and call an all in bet with a marginal hand. If it's a freeroll that can take me to another level and where there is a limit on how many times you can enter, I play a little more conservatively and probably would have folded the pocket 9's.

It's definitely the right play. That is only one instance that you laid down the winning hand, but I am sure there are many many more that you would have lost, maybe even folding a hand better than 99. Don't fall to the level that the all-inners preflop do and keep your game on top!

its just a pocket pair, you cant fall in love with a mid pair like 9's that early in a tourny, unless your are one of the many people who loves to race with any decent two

I think its important to play your position well in early tourney situations depends on where your at and how many can call etc to what you do

Goodwooter said:

freerolls are a war of attrition, gathering chips slowly but surely. all in on the first hand without AA or KK against 1 or 2 callers is the only time i would do it...you made the right play

cheers and gl

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You do know what a war of attrition is right?