Best approach to a 9 people per table freeroll tournament

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G Minor27

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I'm starting to play poker online and I play mostly freeroll tournaments with 9 people per table on pokerstars.

EARLY GAME

I'm wondering if at the start of a tournament I should fold pre flop until I have a very good pocket hand (example : a pair or 2 high cards) and then go all in / bet a 10-20% of my current chips...

OR if I should call the big blind pre flop half of the time and then fold post flop if my odds are not very high with the cards I have.

WHEN AHEAD

How dangerous is it to bluff? I feel like most of the time I bluff, people can sense it or they just have better hands and I lose my advantage. Maybe in a big table like that (9 people), most people fold and only the people with the better hands follow and that makes bluffing risky?

That's it for now, throw in any other tips if you feel like it!

Thanks,
G Minor27
 
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berryryan2488

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I'm really hit and miss when it comes to online poker but lately I have started to place more and more. Turbos are tougher than a more reasonable blind limit. When I'm playing regular I stay tight, raising 5x and testing the bb sb's hand range. I stay that way and start raising 3x the blind with good starting hands once the blinds hit 50 to 100. I don't do anything crazy and I'm super particular about playing position and continuation betting post flop. When it's a turbo, I play a lot looser for the first few blind levels so that way I can start building my stack because of an increased blind out risk. Generally I'll limp in or play when affordable, still raising my primo hands 5x. Once I have a decent stack, then I tighten up and go back to the 3x raises with no limping and again playing strict on position and c-bets. Best way to make money is to wait for the short stacks to shove when you have a decent to primo hand. This is just me and I'm still tweaking it but it has worked well for me as of late
 
Psyanide14

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freerolls are a different beast then other tournaments. People tend to be much looser and will call pretty much anything early on. Should play tight early and can easily get a double up with a big starting hand. Once the blinds get big relative to your stack (say 10 bb or so), you’ll need to loosen up a bit and either go all in or fold. Best to go all in when no one else has entered the pot so often times you’ll scoop up the blinds and antes uncontested.

Best of luck.
 
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fundiver199

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There is no special strategy, just because its a freeroll. But for natural reasons the early and even mid stages of a freeroll tend to have a lot of loose action, since people did not pay anything to enter, and the top prices, that actually matter to the majority, is still very far away.

A mini-cash in a typical freerool might be something like 25c, and even for someone like me, who normally play 10-25NL cash games, that is like a blind or two in my normal game. So do I care, if I make a slightly long term losing play? Not really, because a "go strong or go home" approach makes sense, if I also value my time.

So fold equity is almost non existing, and a lot of hands tend to go multiway. The best strategy for this kind of game is tight and aggressive also known as TAG. You can sometimes limp behind with a baby pair or a suited ace, but other than that either come in strong and be prepared to play for all the chips, or dont come in at all.
 
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G Minor27

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Psyanide14 said:
Freerolls are a different beast then other tournaments. People tend to be much looser and will call pretty much anything early on. Should play tight early and can easily get a double up with a big starting hand. Once the blinds get big relative to your stack (say 10 bb or so), you’ll need to loosen up a bit and either go all in or fold. Best to go all in when no one else has entered the pot so often times you’ll scoop up the blinds and antes uncontested.

Best of luck.
Click to expand...

Right now I'm doing free rolls to practice since I'm not good enough to actually spend some of my money yet. It would be too risky.

What do you think is an easier way of making money on PokerStars, AKA less chaotic than a 9 table freeroll tournament? Cash games, Spin & Go, Sit & Go, anything else?

Thanks for all your answers guys, they all make sense!
 
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G Minor27

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berryryan2488 said:
I'm really hit and miss when it comes to online poker but lately I have started to place more and more. Turbos are tougher than a more reasonable blind limit. When I'm playing regular I stay tight, raising 5x and testing the bb sb's hand range. I stay that way and start raising 3x the blind with good starting hands once the blinds hit 50 to 100. I don't do anything crazy and I'm super particular about playing position and continuation betting post flop. When it's a turbo, I play a lot looser for the first few blind levels so that way I can start building my stack because of an increased blind out risk. Generally I'll limp in or play when affordable, still raising my primo hands 5x. Once I have a decent stack, then I tighten up and go back to the 3x raises with no limping and again playing strict on position and c-bets. Best way to make money is to wait for the short stacks to shove when you have a decent to primo hand. This is just me and I'm still tweaking it but it has worked well for me as of late
Click to expand...

Can you define the following terms :

hand range =
blind out risk =
primo hands =
decent to primo hand : not sure I understand that structure :p

Thanks a lot!
 
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jesterr44

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G Minor27 said:
I'm starting to play Poker online and I play mostly freeroll tournaments with 9 people per table on PokerStars.

EARLY GAME

I'm wondering if at the start of a tournament I should fold pre flop until I have a very good pocket hand (example : a pair or 2 high cards) and then go all in / bet a 10-20% of my current chips...

OR if I should call the big blind pre flop half of the time and then fold post flop if my odds are not very high with the cards I have.

WHEN AHEAD

How dangerous is it to bluff? I feel like most of the time I bluff, people can sense it or they just have better hands and I lose my advantage. Maybe in a big table like that (9 people), most people fold and only the people with the better hands follow and that makes bluffing risky?

That's it for now, throw in any other tips if you feel like it!

Thanks,
G Minor27
Click to expand...

Freeroll? Flip a coin & throw in yours chips
 
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G Minor27

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By the way, I placed top 160 in a 4000 people free roll tournament (casinoorg 50$) yesterday. I'm improving already with tips I hear everywhere.

I'll update my progress and improvements on this thread in order to find an optimal strategy for that kind of tournament. That way, people that want to play free rolls for fun or to improve will be able to improve faster.
 
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popstani

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Every thing what said before and don’t bluff , someone will call you with smallest pair and you will lose
 
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