Playing Without Deposit

Hi,

I've decided that the best way to learn is to play without ever depositing. There are many sites that offer no deposit bankrolls, and freerolls. I've been doing this for a year now, and basically the most I ever won was 140.00 in a freeroll. My game has improved, and I'm playing on about 14 sites. I have extra fast connection with 3 monitors. It is very exciting and fun, and costs nothing but my time. I'm reading books and looking for advice.

Let me know on what you think

So you been playing for a year, never made a deposit, play on 14 sites and ur highest cash was $140 in a freeroll (would like to know what site this was on), you have 3 monitors (assuming you multi-table freerolls), what is your plan and motive here?

What's your win rate per hour? That's a lot more important than your biggest cash.

I trust you've considered that if you have enough game to have a decent win rate, you can probably win more by removing the self-imposed restriction of not depositing. Since you listed Titan, I assume you're not subject to the US restrictions on depositing and withdrawing.

I am not subject to US restriction. Why deposit. I get free bankrolls from different sites. I enter freerolls, earned enough to have a bankroll. I found that eventually the bankroll disappears. I have played in tournaments with thousands and won. There are some freerolls were there are as little as 30 starting players due to some restriction of entry. Make some money play for a while. I think it is good practice, and eventually will start making real money. I also play live at casinos, and made real money.

maybe your doing it right not depositing, if your losing all your money from your freeroll wins anyway, carry on going, best of luck building a bankroll

I would like to know what freerolls you were playing. And what freeroll it was that you won $140 on.

yea obviously the only constant in this thread is what site did you win the 140 in a freeroll haha and also good luck with building a bankroll

from my experience, the highest payout I've seen on a free roll was $50. Maybe its only because I'm in the us tho

Whether or not you should deposit depends on your goals.
If you want to play for fun, by all means don't deposit.

If you want to play for profit, you can make more money, and make it faster, by playing the money games. You also learn to against money players, who play a better game than freerollers.

It was party poker they had freeroll specifically for Canadians. It requires 20 party points. I also came in second in the Titan Facebook $1000 freeroll which was $90.00. I placed 1rst in other freerolls. This gave me bankroll to continue playing in real money games against real money players without depositing. I also used Party Poker $25.00 no deposit bonus.

Must be nice to not be American and be able to play wherever you want. I started playing freerolls on Merge and have $4.

Using the $90 from the facebook freeroll at Titan I was able to get VIP status so now I'm able to play in their weekly $500 and $1000 freeroll plus they have a 1250 dollar freeoll just for Canadians twice a month collecting 50 points.

There's a number of freerolls where it's possible to win more than $140 (it's not like it's unheard of). I'm sure I've won $100 or more (in a freeroll) at least 10x (more than a few times on CC alone.. ie. Titan & 888Poker)

Exactly, I get to play and learn by experience. It costs nothing, and I have fun. Eventually I hope to build a substantial bankroll. If I can't do it this way, why would I be able to do it by depositing.

NEWTDOG101 said:

So you been playing for a year, never made a deposit, play on 14 sites and ur highest cash was $140 in a freeroll (would like to know what site this was on), you have 3 monitors (assuming you multi-table freerolls), what is your plan and motive here?

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My plan is to build a bankroll without any risk to my funds. To learn by doing. When I get a win, I use the funds, to play, and try to build it up, just like depositing. So far I have not been to successful building the bankroll. I think I make the same mistakes over and over again. It's usually coin flip situation. I go in with a a q, against 8 2 and loose. Just happened as I type this reply.

At risk of being repetitive, my thoughts here: https://www.cardschat.com/forum/learning-poker-57/building-a-baby-bankroll-181238/

If you've won amounts up to $140 (and over $1000 in total) though, then you're not just getting unlucky. You almost certainly have some huge leaks in your game, either with bankroll management, game selection, your actual play or all of the above.

If avoiding the possibility of losing $25 out of your pocket is so important to you that you've decided not to deposit, that's your business.

But if you're just going to be defensive about it and not even consider the possibility that you may be holding yourself back from doing better than you have done so far, then what was the point of asking for people's opinions?

I'm not saying you have to change your mind. What I'm suggesting is that it might just be possible to make a better informed decision, whether it's the same or not.

I got started using no-deposit bankrolls.
If I'd have ever put money into poker I'd have likely felt nervous playing with it. I wouldn't recommend free rolls if your looking to build a roll. A freerolls value is far less than a free bankrolls and hence will take you far longer to build a roll from unless your lucky.

Freeroll value = Prize Pool / Number of players


I absolutely shit myself when playing with £200 live as it's just come out my bank account.
I can lose $1K in a day online and not bat an eyelid.

OzExorcist said:

At risk of being repetitive, my thoughts here: https://www.cardschat.com/forum/learning-poker-57/building-a-baby-bankroll-181238/

If you've won amounts up to $140 (and over $1000 in total) though, then you're not just getting unlucky. You almost certainly have some huge leaks in your game, either with bankroll management, game selection, your actual play or all of the above.

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I think you are probably right. I'm currently trying to improve all these areas. Reading books and reading on-line.

Arjonius said:

If avoiding the possibility of losing $25 out of your pocket is so important to you that you've decided not to deposit, that's your business.

But if you're just going to be defensive about it and not even consider the possibility that you may be holding yourself back from doing better than you have done so far, then what was the point of asking for people's opinions?

I'm not saying you have to change your mind. What I'm suggesting is that it might just be possible to make a better informed decision, whether it's the same or not.

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You are probably right, but it's a challenge I set myself. I do play at live casinos using my money. The on-line forum is different and allows for free play. I decided to take advantage of that fact.

Deco said:

I got started using no-deposit bankrolls.
If I'd have ever put money into poker I'd have likely felt nervous playing with it. I wouldn't recommend free rolls if your looking to build a roll. A freerolls value is far less than a free bankrolls and hence will take you far longer to build a roll from unless your lucky.

Freeroll value = Prize Pool / Number of players


I absolutely shit myself when playing with £200 live as it's just come out my bank account.
I can lose $1K in a day online and not bat an eyelid.

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That is excellent, I hope to do the same some day...

Deco said:

I absolutely shit myself when playing with £200 live as it's just come out my bank account.
I can lose $1K in a day online and not bat an eyelid.

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Really... I'm actually just the complete opposite. Probably because online I've started off on all sites with a micro roll or from zero (biggest initial deposit was for ~$200 when I first started out playing online on FTP). I think nothing of losing 5buyins at local underground 1/2 game or dropping $300 in the afternoon on a tourney.. but online it's rare that I'll play a tournament for over $50

Interesting thread. I have built decent bankrolls on a few sites from freerolls but one of the problems is that it is difficult to get anything out after doing that. On most sites you need to turn over a lot of points to get your freeroll winnings out. Biggest freeroll win I had was 400 Euros on Victor Chandler last year and that was for finishing 3rd. They ran a few 5000 Euro freerolls albeit there were 5000 players in each. I had deposited before on VC so I could get it out no problem. Point is it is possible to do this and if someone wants to grind for hours to build a bankroll surely there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone is different and has different criteria for why they play.

Hughra said:

from my experience, the highest payout I've seen on a free roll was $50. Maybe its only because I'm in the us tho

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I've played in a FR with $250,000 prizepool on pokerstars [had to ply 1 very easy qualifier with top 300 going thru] so a $140 1st prize sounds reasonable .

Not like it used to be nowadays but there are still some good ones about and that sounds like a $1500 or $2k and seen a few of those ,tho usually for depositors .

Poker Orifice said:

Really... I'm actually just the complete opposite. Probably because online I've started off on all sites with a micro roll or from zero (biggest initial deposit was for ~$200 when I first started out playing online on FTP). I think nothing of losing 5buyins at local underground 1/2 game or dropping $300 in the afternoon on a tourney.. but online it's rare that I'll play a tournament for over $50

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Another factor might be that I'm a really tight bastard with money irl. I'd never gamble anymore than £10 on blackjack and feel degen if I lose it so tend to get it up to £14 drop to £10 panic and leave the table .

So immediately buying £200 of chips afterwards feels really alien to me. Hopefully the nerves will go away as I get more live experience and more real life moneys. I'm rich online, I'm povo irl