Learning From Freeroll Games

If you care to read my background information it will be after my question.

Is it wise to learn how to play poker playing on freerolls?

I use ACR and Breakout Poker most consistently because they offer freerolls at a pretty regular clip so I'm not just playing my wsop PS2 game to simulate competition. I do pretty well and usually get to about 1 or 2 final tables every other day after playing on a cumulative of 10 - 15 tables in that time frame. sometimes less depending on how well my attention is being applied.
A little background about me: Been playing poker leisurely for since my late teens to about 27 or 28. Made about 5 final tables in that time frame and won 2 tournaments but these were all low level low stakes. I think the biggest win was about $600 to my name. The last 2 years I've actually taken the time to learn the game and all its ins and outs thoroughly by watching live poker games, listening to strategy opinion from proven winners, with a grain of salt of course, and joining chatrooms about poker, finally.

Now that I'm actually trying make a run at playing this more seriously and wanting to play in the higher stakes tournaments I've been taking to websites like America's Cardroom and Breakout Poker for their freeroll tournaments. Reason being is just learning how to read plays when my opponent is faceless and all I have to go on is the amount put in. I FULLY UNDERSTAND that this is a very weak substitute for actual live play and I have made my mistakes going into casinos and playing in the same way I play online. It has been costly to say the least. But I have made good showings now that I've broken out of my ignorance and understand the importance of position, chip stack management, protecting my bets and just following through with a hand if I feel I have it.

Believe it or not, I had much more success when I had less of a clue on how to play. I knew starting out with AA was great and having anything like 28 was garbage. And all I would do is call whoever called and then shove All-In with that same 28 suited or whatever connected off-suited hand and be up against AA. Amazingly, I would catch the flush or pulling the straight or getting a full house and not understanding any of what just happened just seeing ships pushed my way and a severely pissed off person get up from the table and leave while all the others just laughed at the "Donk's luck". Just learned that term after all this time as well.

After I started learning the game I became infinitely worse because I didn't understand how all the parts came together. It went from just grabbing the keys and joy-riding to having to tune a Ford Fiesta to beat a Shelby Mustang. It can be done but are you really going to waste your time doing so especially when you play against those that tune NASCARs? I think you would rather go back and learn the basics and then move up to better performing cars, or in this case, hands that can go the distance when used correctly.

Yes and no.
Free rolls are very good to learn from, especially the ones offered in this forum, because you’re playing against people who take the game more seriously than Apps that are simply free play money. So seeing hands and feeling it out is going to be helpful.
With that being said: tournaments are not very much like cash games, and free rolls are played differently than real tourneys. People are naturally a lot looser on free rolls than real tourneys as well as less experienced. So even though you may gain some skills from playing freerolls, you aren’t playing against as many higher level players.
So while it is worth it to learn from them, it’ll be even more worth it to bundle up enough winnings to start buying into micro tourneys.
If you want to learn cash games:
Play micro stakes. Even at .02/.05 stakes online I’ve seen gameplay levels similar to $1/2$ live, so there’s a good bit of learning that can be done with a bankroll as small as $25.
Also watch YouTube videos. There’s plenty of good vloggers and other content makers that put a lot of good lessons and such out there. Let me know if you’d like examples of good content makers to watch.
Best of luck in your endeavors

Freeroll in the late stages is no different from the tournament for money. All the difference in the style of play you and your opponents and the ability to adapt to them.

No. There is just one exception and thats cardschat freeroll because theres only like 150-200 players and they play it seriously. Other freerolls are almost always played by begginers or players that are just fooling around, so there is not much serious play. On cardschat you could really learn but you need to invest and go play higher stakes.

AlexStar1981 said:

Freeroll in the late stages is no different from the tournament for money. All the difference in the style of play you and your opponents and the ability to adapt to them.

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I wouldn’t say they’re no different... a pay jump or bubble is way less of a factor in freerolls. People in general are going to care a lot more about a $30+ pay jump between places...

I believe that is id a great help to teach you how to take into account your stack size, hand strength from different positions, and just making decisions when you are put to the test. You are in a tough spot more in the freerolls because some people are not as serious, so you get bluffed at a lot. I just think any freeroll will help some. Playing 3-5 dollar mtt tourneys really helped me. Good Luck.

Freerolls are the school of poker for poor people.Unfortunatly I'm poor and cannot deposit.

Freerolls are a good way to practice and learn the game, but you will have to adjust your game when you move to real money buyins. People play differently in the freerolls, when they have nothing to lose. There are a lot more all shoves and calls in the freerolls..