Can freerolls damage your game?

time to time i like to play freerolls like ept live or open league from pokerstars, and i`ve noticed a lot of people doing nothing with poker,

this happens in freerolls with big fields

no raise with AA or KK in first levels where everybody is limpin, so most time they finishing losing

others go allin with Ax, being x from to 2 to k, so they think an ace is so powerful to go allin,

other people limp 30 chips and then when a big raise occurr they pay, which whatever hand

other people against 3 or 4 players push if the flop gives them a draw straight or a pair (no matter if is the second or third pair of flop)

other people just see the flop and inmediately shove no matter if they hit the flop or no, they think the are ahead against the table and if not the turn and river will lift them

so sometimes i lose patience watching this kind of game the first hands but worse than that i lose the essence to become a zombie too

but what i`m afraid is if this kind of game could hurt the basics of poker we try to establish in our minds, or not?

in essence if you don't take it as serious poker yourself then sure it can effect your game.

I agree Don't I repeat don't join the donks just play the game you know no matter how many bad beats you get.

I dont think they will if you play your game and not like everyone else

I was briefly thinking about this the other day. There was a freeroll this weekend where I saw a guy play 82o from the SB and then get his last blind and a half in on a KJ7 twotone board in a multiway pot. Needless to say that was his last hand of the tournament. I don't think players are bad because they play freerolls I think they play freerolls because they're bad. It's pretty similar to the occasionally discussed topic about whether play chip poker hurts your game in the same manner. The answer is no not really, but it doesn't usually help much either. You're generally just wasting your time.

DunningKruger said:

The answer is no not really, but it doesn't usually help much either. You're generally just wasting your time.

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I generally agree with this. I feel like a lot of the regulars forget though...there is a lot of learning that can be done in freeroll tournaments (i'm not sure about play money...). For beginning players that aren't looking to deposit, freerolls are a great way to learn the game, get used to 9 handed poker, figure out that AK isn't as good as you think it is, etc etc.

However, after getting all the basics down, there is more learning to be had in cash games / buy in tournaments that you will not be able to learn in freerolls, just because of the marginal skill level of the players in these massive freerolls.

As for OP, if you are gonna play in these games against these "learning" players, don't get too tricky in early levels. Just play ABC poker and wait for the first double up.

sam1chips said:

I generally agree with this. I feel like a lot of the regulars forget though...there is a lot of learning that can be done in freeroll tournaments (i'm not sure about play money...). For beginning players that aren't looking to deposit, freerolls are a great way to learn the game, get used to 9 handed poker, figure out that AK isn't as good as you think it is, etc etc.

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This is definitely true. A beginner player can gain valuable experience from playing among other beginners (or people who play like them). I was speaking in terms of someone whose level of play is a fair bit beyond your typical freeroll and might still play them sometimes anyway despite concerns about harming their poker game. There are reasons players might sometimes play below or even well below their ability suggests (if I get into that more Blobweird will probably call me out and tell me I'm full of it again.. heh) but that's much more the exception than the norm.

I don't think Freerolls will damage your game bc most of the time you're in a freeroll you know you have nothing to lose, so you play a wider range of hands as opposed to knowing your in a real money game and playing only premium hands.

Play freerolls harmful and then have to spend money to get rid of all the bad habits that can be picked up there .
Freerolls only on two occasions - first , just to see the game rules , buttons, etc. And the second time when you just really have no money and there is simply no other choice . Although it is better to go and work a week for an initial bankroll , you spend 10 hours a day on the freerolls with zero impact . $ 100 - more than enough for the game to start , given that in many poker rooms have 100 % bonus on your first deposit, it will be $ 200 and up for the game at the micros is much more than you need.

I want to add a although now the 0.10-2$ MTT , early and middle stage is no different from freerolls.If you want to make money playing poker, a lot of time to devote to a freeroll is not necessary (although I personally know two people who rose from freerolls to decent amounts, but before they could play poker)

So that if more than two months you play freerolls and the satellites, and nothing does not win, it is worth considering whether it is necessary to continue to play poker if you do not beat freerolls and micro limit is also not take ..( advice during the game must constantly read articles, watch videos and write on forums ..)


Do not think bad , I mean in terms of earnings poker, but play like fun game, you can always..
This is my personal opinion, I could be wrong of course. Though now I also play current freerolls., so good luck at the table in these field players need it..

Freerolls are great because they are risk free. I dont think they will damage your game.

if you see yourself creating different patterns than what you are normally used to like in real money games then yes. easy way to tell is by comparing how many times you place or simply your ranks. your play shouldnt have to do with how much money is in the pot.

dealio96 said:

I don't think Freerolls will damage your game bc most of the time you're in a freeroll you know you have nothing to lose, so you play a wider range of hands as opposed to knowing your in a real money game and playing only premium hands.

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I wouldn't open up the range too much. I play the same hands, I'm just prepared to go all-in more in the early stages then zip it up and wait for the initial shootout to end.

Usually in freerolls I consider there are two bubbles :

1. The idlers bubble. The players that have registered but have been sitting out for the entire event. They have roughly the same amount of chips and after some time they are easy to spot. Depending on the site you play and the tourney you're in, the idlers bubble might matter or not but be on the lookout.

2. The actual bubble.

If you have some at your table, you can exploit the idlers and auto-fold them to steal their blinds a lot when you have the opportunity. And when the idlers start blinding out of the tables, keep an eye on the remaining players, it'll start dropping real fast and the "real game" begins.

horizon12 said:

Play freerolls harmful and then have to spend money to get rid of all the bad habits that can be picked up there .

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If you play a freeroll like a freeroll there's no reason for it to damage your chops.

If you don't try to outdonk players in a freeroll, I don't see how you would do it later on a "real" game.

For me, they are actually a really good way to take part in a "real" event and practice counting your outs and minding up your odds in a situation that isn't play money. In this sense, I sometimes register to purposely limp in with speculative hands that I wouldn't normally play just to get an opportunity to be "stuck" with a drawing hand and call a bet or not strictly based on odds.

I save that hand history and review my play afterwards to see if I made the right calls. When the gamblers are out of the picture after the initial shootout, the remaining people play their "regular" game. Whatever that means.

If your game has advanced from the basic beginner stage to even halfway decent, you're probably doing yourself a disservice by continuing to play open freerolls. How much this will hurt you isn't the same from one person to another. You might reinforce some bad habits, or you might not. It depends on whether you've learned yet that they are bad habits, and on your self-discipline to play the best you can even when you're tempted not to.

The main thing though, is that if you feel you have enough game to be competitive against such weak fields, you have little if anything left to learn from continuing to play against them.

Freerolls can damage your game, but they don't have to. Some people can play both for 'fun' and for 'real'. Others think they have different styles under different situations, some do, some rarely realize that there is leakage from one style to the other.

This is where the damage can occur, you can pick up bad habits. Being aware of this should be part of your focus.

As a Tournament Player I think FreeRolls are excellent for my game.
Tournaments are constantly evolving and you need to learn to adjust.
FreeRolls seem to evolve more than any other Tournament.
I think if you are a cash game player it is a harder adjustment.

When playing freerolls u have to remember the caliber of players and adjust accordingly with hands that u are dealt.

If you believe you can accurately categorize freeroll players then you should know how to best exploit them. The strategy you use for one player should not necessarily dictate the strategy for all poker players. I play different strategies with different players based on their play.

YES! i do believe whole heartly that playing freeroll damages my game. there's not risk to it and the jackpot is too low for me to even think that it's something to really play hard to win. it sucks because when i get in a real mtt then my game just goes down hill.

Yes I think freerolls damage my game. I get in a routine and play without thinking much about hands or opponents especially when I play more than one freeroll at the same time.

For me play freerols is the best way to learn the basics of how to play at a poker tournament. If a person can´t win at freerolls will never win anything else. But to learn something you have to play them seriously or it will be a waste of time.

kmichaels said:

For me play freerols is the best way to learn the basics of how to play at a poker tournament. If a person can´t win at freerolls will never win anything else.

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I'm gonna have to go ahead, and disagree on that one.




With that said they are a great way to practice calculating outs and odds without paying a buy-in, but still applying it to a game that might end up giving you something.

Kinda of tough to play a freeroll like a real game when people are calling 80% of their stack with 5 3 off suit. I tried to play only good hands but that didn't work, then I tried to play like they do, and that didn't work. When it comes to freerolls it's just like playing bingo. Hope you make it through the freeroll stage with something to show for it and get into the real money tournaments where people play a little bit more conservative. Good Luck.

Part of learning a better game is learning what NOT to do. While freerolls won't teach you how to win the wsop ME, it will teach you how useless it is to shove 72o from EP. Extremes yeah, but you should get the picture.

Freerolls can't damage your play, but it can damage your nerves In freerolls you can't expect to win something because there are a lot of chasing, bad beat, calling with worse hands, can't bluff your foe because they call with everything that's why it is hard to make some profit from freerolls. But if your bankroll is close to zero you can try to win something

I like to look at free rolls as a way to "warm up" my game. If I can get one or two free roll tourneys in before my main tournament of the day, I think that helps me out. Gives me a chance to get my poker fix, settle down, and play smart+solid poker throughout the day -- rather than just hopping into my main tourney, and hoping my discipline is 100% on.