Are the EPT qualifier freerolls on Pokerstars worth playing?

L

LoD

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At the moment, there are two EPT qualifier freerolls on pokerstars. The first one is the Monte Carlo Luxus freeroll running twice a day at 17:00 and 20:00 CET and the second one is the EPT Hyper-Turbo freeroll running at 15:15, 18:15, 21:15, 23:15 and 2:15 CET every day. But are these tournaments really worth playing? I have played and qualified in both of them and here is my assessment:

1. The Monte Carlo Luxus freeroll is not really worth the time, because there are only 15 tickets and no extra money to be won with 3 - 4.000 players. The earlier one has less participants, so you better play this one. It took me about 2,5 hours to make it.

2. The EPT Hyper-Turbo freeroll are definitely worth playing, because you there are 250 tickets at stake plus 1.000 dollars. The minimum cash is 1 dollar at place 234. Although there are about 10 - 20.000 participants depending on the starting time (the earliest and the latest one have the lowest number of players) it goes ahead very quickly as it is a hyper-turbo tournament. That is the best thing about it and pretty unusual for Pokerstars freerolls from my experience. I finished in 194 th place in 1 hour and 25 minutes, which brought me the ticket to the final an 1,10 dollars.

I hope, that helps you deciding for yourself, if these freerolls are worth YOUR time.
 
westside1950

westside1950

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I played one of those... ended up in 350th place out of 20k players... after losing preflop allin with about 75% to win (AQ - A7), after 2 hours. :(

I recommend you, if you want to play these freerolls - to play the late one (starts at 1AM CET I think)... less then 10k players play that, almost as half as others during the day.
 
Pococurante

Pococurante

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You have to define "worth it". If you like a challenge, any freeroll on Pokerstars is worth it. The EPT freerolls even more so, because the field is better than usual.

If however you have limited time and/or a more productive approach to what you spend your poker time on, these big tournaments have very little value. Variance is huge and the odds that you will get something worth your time are slim, even for a seasoned player.

Also add in the factor that these tournaments last long and put a heavy toll on your stamina.
 
S

spartacus

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So far I've cashed twice in those EPT hyper qualifiers for ~$1.25 each haha. You need a ridiculous amount of luck because you have to win like 7+ all-ins.

It's a hyper freeroll with 10k+ runners, so don't feel bad if you win or lose. My strategy is to play the whole tournament like a short stack, and just shove Ax and pocket pairs. I also shove hands containing 2 broadways if I'm opening in late position.

It only takes ~1 hour to cash, so these tournaments are not very time consuming.

If you win a few all-ins at the start, you can bully the rest of the table with your big stack.
 
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iflylight

iflylight

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finished 8th in one of these and now have a chance at going to monaco so i think they are well worth it
 
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