Best way to avoid donkies during the beginning stages of freerolls?

I have found it hard to make it past the first god starting hand I pick up, in a freeroll NLH tournament. There is always a donkey that goes all in with A RAG, or worse, and beats my premium starting hand. I have tried holding off, even to the point of waiting for a high pocket pair. Then, without fail, I lose... Any advice or tips would be appreciated

Do not let this donkey fill your stack. As soon as you receive a truly premium hand, play immediately. Kick him out of the game. Yes, a certain number of hands will be lost, and you will leave the game. But this is a freeroll and you essentially lose nothing. Moreover, it is better to leave the game at the beginning and not spend an hour and a half to fly closer to the bubble, simply because you will still have to play, but this donk will have an x10 stack. This is not a bad tactic.

Just keep doing what your doing if your getting it in ahead.You cant avoid losing hands in poker you can only make the best decisions you can.

All ins are the largest mistakes made in MTTs. Every all in is a gamble except literally aces and even those literally lose 20% of time. Avoid all ins unless you got someone 4 to 1 realistically. Get your gambles/ chips post flop.

bradeberry said:

I have found it hard to make it past the first god starting hand I pick up, in a freeroll NLH tournament. There is always a donkey that goes all in with A RAG, or worse, and beats my premium starting hand. I have tried holding off, even to the point of waiting for a high pocket pair. Then, without fail, I lose... Any advice or tips would be appreciated

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You will always run into these types of players in freerolls and cash games.
The types of players you mention are the players you want sitting at the table with you.
It is frustrating when they seem to have the most absurd luck at the most inopportune time, but we have to let those losses roll off our back and push on.
The donk factor will always be present in poker, learn to live with it or move on to a different game.

Merry Christmas.

dunkyhory said:

Just keep doing what your doing if your getting it in ahead.You cant avoid losing hands in poker you can only make the best decisions you can.

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Well if he is in early stage of MTT with KK and opponents range gets narrowed to at least one ace he will lose still 30% of time. So if he all in insanity twice with KK vs A2o he will bust the tournament 60% of time and when he wins he wins rushed chips that eventually even out as blind increase. Meaning trying to win chips early is stupid as can be in an MTT hence advice be nut "tight" early in MTT. Sometimes allin cannot be avoided 10BB or less but to say it will even out is comedic since no one is going to play enough MTTs to even out variance. In cash your advice is correct i'd even run a 1% edge 120,000 hands for a great profit.

TL;DR
Avoid all ins as they are insane. Get gambles post flop where 4 to 1 or better. Often all ins cant be avoided especially late stage hence why MTT are skilled gambling and cash is skill game.

playinggameswithu said:

Well if he is in early stage of MTT with KK and opponents range gets narrowed to at least one ace he will lose still 30% of time. So if he all in insanity twice with KK vs A2o he will bust the tournament 60% of time and when he wins he wins rushed chips that eventually even out as blind increase. Meaning trying to win chips early is stupid as can be in an MTT hence advice be nut "tight" early in MTT. Sometimes allin cannot be avoided 10BB or less but to say it will even out is comedic since no one is going to play enough MTTs to even out variance. In cash your advice is correct i'd even run a 1% edge 120,000 hands for a great profit.

TL;DR
Avoid all ins as they are insane. Get gambles post flop where 4 to 1 or better. Often all ins cant be avoided especially late stage hence why MTT are skilled gambling and cash is skill game.

Click to expand...

You cant start folding hands because of varience and winning a 70/30 doesn't increase your chances of losing the next one the next one is still 70/30.The first hand is no longer a factor in the odds.

Hello.
I play poker for 8 months and usually play only in freerolls.
I am convinced that it is always better to wait for strong cards. Regardless of how my opponents play, I always try to play when confident in my strength.

I am waiting for good hands / and when he goes to the camp I call

Avoid early all-ins, play decent hands, don't try to make big bluffs and I think that's how you can outplay and avoid those kind of players

dunkyhory said:

You cant start folding hands because of varience and winning a 70/30 doesn't increase your chances of losing the next one the next one is still 70/30.The first hand is no longer a factor in the odds.

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Bro if you run your tournament life against A2o and you hold KK you will die 60% of the time.....run it 3 times and you are dead. What is the reward? Volitile chips that become irrelevant next 2 to 3 hours. You see what I am saying? How many 2 to 1 can you do for no realistic reward before you lose your tournament life. MTT are a gamble but 2 to 1 is not worth it. If this was cash game your point stands. Though your stack is connected to the hands in MTTs.

You're not the only one ..freerolls are very difficult to get through the initial stage of the so-called donkeys))and if in the initial stage it does not raise the average stack then your stack will not be dangerous for opponents and will support you with the garbage...freerolls are most often roulette..

playinggameswithu said:

Well if he is in early stage of MTT with KK and opponents range gets narrowed to at least one ace he will lose still 30% of time. So if he all in insanity twice with KK vs A2o he will bust the tournament 60% of time and when he wins he wins rushed chips that eventually even out as blind increase. Meaning trying to win chips early is stupid as can be in an MTT hence advice be nut "tight" early in MTT. Sometimes allin cannot be avoided 10BB or less but to say it will even out is comedic since no one is going to play enough MTTs to even out variance. In cash your advice is correct i'd even run a 1% edge 120,000 hands for a great profit.

TL;DR
Avoid all ins as they are insane. Get gambles post flop where 4 to 1 or better. Often all ins cant be avoided especially late stage hence why MTT are skilled gambling and cash is skill game.

Click to expand...

Good word. I need to stop playing stupid in freerolls as it translates into my actual game.

There are no secrets. Be tight and agressive.

bradeberry said:

I have found it hard to make it past the first god starting hand I pick up, in a freeroll NLH tournament. There is always a donkey that goes all in with A RAG, or worse, and beats my premium starting hand. I have tried holding off, even to the point of waiting for a high pocket pair. Then, without fail, I lose... Any advice or tips would be appreciated

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Register as late as possible, otherwise just accept the varience and come up with a strategy for dealing with them.

When you are deciding to call the all-in, make sure there is no more donkeys left to act, you want to be the only one calling the all-in, you want to keep the possibilty of a multiway all-in to a minimum.

Come up with a calling range, I suggest something like JJ+ \ AQ,AK , or whatever you feel comfortable playing. If thats only AA & KK then choose that, if you are comfortable calling with a wider range thats okay too.

You can just wait for the guy to go busto, but sometimes that doesnt always happen, sometimes the donkeys double/triple up and there is no avoiding them. You must get the courage to make the call, math will be on your side and you should have great equity if you only call with the top 1-5% of hands. You will lose sometimes (about 30% of the time if all-in Heads-Up against a weak range) but you will win the majority of the time.

Just keep being patient and get the chips in with a quality hand. It seems rough at times when you lose to donks while you have quality hands, but in the long run you will pull ahead.

For me its a little bit of a blessing. It allows me to play a little more cautious towards the beginning and not play sub par hands myself.

no one can rule out domination, I spent years losing the same condoms (if you're gentle). Even aces lose 7/10 times, so learn the math part.

playinggameswithu said:

All ins are the largest mistakes made in MTTs. Every all in is a gamble except literally aces and even those literally lose 20% of time. Avoid all ins unless you got someone 4 to 1 realistically. Get your gambles/ chips post flop.

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This is so far the best answer I can come into. Yes all-in pre-flop is equal to quite gambling, you may get better results to spend your money on other casino games.

Don't put in the money unless you're comfortable with the edges. If you don't feel comfortable losing with aces in the beginning stages of the tournament, you might have to fold aces.

playinggameswithu said:

All ins are the largest mistakes made in MTTs. Every all in is a gamble except literally aces and even those literally lose 20% of time. Avoid all ins unless you got someone 4 to 1 realistically. Get your gambles/ chips post flop.

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There are spots where you need to get it in to get max value. Playing post flop and allowing opponents to fold when they miss will cost you value in spots they would have called an all-in.

Example: 3bet jamming 25 BBs effective with AK against an opponent that will call off much worse is +EV. However, if you just call or 3bet small and let them check/fold a missed flop, you miss you on that extra value. If villain has AQ when you have AK, for example, you want them stacking off preflop. You also risk getting bluffed off of a better hand when you both miss the flop, which is something you don't want to happen when you're 3betting with effective stacks you should be getting pre with. Getting it avoids this.

There are situations where getting it in isn't the best option. Everything in poker is situational, but saying all-ins are the largest mistake in MTTs is completely incorrect. Yes, they are a gamble, but sometimes it's a necessary one.

playinggameswithu said:

Bro if you run your tournament life against A2o and you hold KK you will die 60% of the time.....run it 3 times and you are dead. What is the reward? Volitile chips that become irrelevant next 2 to 3 hours. You see what I am saying? How many 2 to 1 can you do for no realistic reward before you lose your tournament life. MTT are a gamble but 2 to 1 is not worth it. If this was cash game your point stands. Though your stack is connected to the hands in MTTs.

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If you win two 50/50 flips in a row it doesn't mean your 100% guarenteed to lose the third one.You can win 10 flips in a row and your chances of winning the 11th are still 50/50.

If I have any two broadway cards or any pair and they gone all in preflop in a freeroll I'm in. No exceptions. There will always be another freeroll. I just play my preflop cards in the early stages in these like I'd bet to play in 3 card poker most of the time. If I have Q8off or better, I'm raising if not allin.

always look for win win situations, don't get suckered into big bets pre flop, watch those that bet that way and wait until you have nuts to play that game

You can never avoid them, So the only thing is to beat them
Stick to premium hands and try to get them out of the game, Or ofcourse play CC and special freerolls only where there are good players and not people who playe every single hand like a lotterly..

Dont hate....appreciate, dont run from the donkeys seek them out. The best way to play them is in position and with a good hand. Just bet your hand for value, and you can even try increasing your bet size against them because they dont care and they are not paying attention.