Folding your way through a Full Tilt freeroll

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LizzyJ

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I have been trying a rather bizarre technique in the .COM, .NET and freerolls over at Full Tilt. Basically playing so tight that I've limited myself to some really strict rules:
1) No coin flips
2) No calling any all-ins
3) Limited hand selection to: AA, KK, QQ, AK, AQs, JJ, 10-10, 9-9.
4) Stiff raise or fold.
5) Any doubt I'm beat....do not hesitate to throw it away. No second thinking.

In order to supress the absolute bordem of so few starting hands, I usually play 6 tables at a time. Over the past week, I've made to about 1/2 of the final tables and qualified three times. Whereas as before I never got anywhere. This might be a heater, but I also know that if you do nothing but fold you can make it to around the 6th-ish table (out of 180 people/20 tables).

Thought I'd pass it along. I was quite surprised how effective this is.
 
Arjonius

Arjonius

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It's no great surprise that playing a super-nit style isn't much fun, but can be effective in freerolls (or any other situations) where people will stick large amounts of chips in light.
 
ericgarner118

ericgarner118

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At the lowest levels and freerolls, a strategy like this will almost always work. However, I don't think you will come in first place very often at all. When you get to the final tables, I think you will be to low staked to make it to far at all. Just out of curiosity, why have you been playing so many free rolls lately?
 
Sean Pilgrim

Sean Pilgrim

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After the first 30 hands... a majority of the fish should be out, others will still remain with borderline bust stacks and some will have huge chip stacks and they will simply dwindle down to nothing. I just tend to avoid playing the first 30 hands unless I have AA KK QQ AKs ... and if im in the BB without a raise I'll see if I can get lucky with JJ ... otherwise I throw that crap away

Play really tight in the beginning wait for that double up hand and for the field to narrow.

Start playing TAG
Start playing Tight Passive
Start playing LAG
go back to TAG
 
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Daleyboy1234

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i really dont mind playing tight poker, especially in what i suppose is the wsop free rolls on Full Tilt, i hate the beggining period of low limit tournaments, so many bad beats, im generally a kind of player who is rather tight i suppose it has its benefits. i managed to qualify twice for the second round but only managed about 35th in them. does anyone know how much longer they are running for? i may have one last crack at the whip

Daleyboy
 
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rugby0

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I would limit this even more, playing jj, 10-10, and 9-9 from late position only. This style is very successful in the early stages of most events and does set/up an image that is very useful later.
 
XxJackAcexX

XxJackAcexX

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I try playing the tightest game i can, but i always manage to get myself into trouble playing someone else's game, I should try your tactics and see how far i can go. Thanks alot for the great info and i will let you know how it goes for me on the felt.
 
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futureminime

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First break and play for the flop

Hey

Although I try to play with a strick guideline of rules, I find it benificial to play for the flop

I usually wait around 50 hands/ the first break before I play anything that isn't premium, but often position will give the chance to see a cheap flop with lower pockets, or mid range suited connectors.

My theory - wait for the donks to donk out and then play anything which is worth seeing your flop for, I mean, hitting a set of 7's is going to put you ahead 99% of the time, and folding when the board comes 7TA rainbow really annoys me

If you have any disagreeance, please enlighten me :)
 
MrFold

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Yeah, that style will certainly see you make some headway in tournaments - but you could also be missing out on lots of opportunities to pick up chips and build your stack early on. You won't get taken out by a donk, but you also won't get that donk's chips either.
 
jazzaxe

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I think you should try to steal the blinds after the first hour in position. But for the first hour this can be a really good strategy. Also need aggression on final table to win.
 
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bthiel45

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I love this idea, I've tried variations of it myself with some success. Thanks for posting!
 
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MichiganKuz

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What sort of raise sizes do you use with your raise/fold strategy?

If you are raising pre-flop with your premium pair, will you still lay them down against opponent coming all-in over the top of you?
 
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LizzyJ

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Well yesterday I finished ITM at the CC freeroll and WAS in the top 100 in the US Freeroll until I had to be a mom (priorities, priorities, priorities). This technique is really effective in the 180 person .COM freeroll. As many of you have said, don't play the first 20 hands or so and about half the field will be gone. Don't worry about missed opportunity, when you have the nuts there will still be plenty of 'aggressive' players willing to hand over their chips. Be really, REALLY careful of multiple players going all-in. Mostly likely I will throw it away. Pocket pairs do great in heads up, but in a multi-way pot your odds drop like a lead ballon. If you have a PP and someone goes over the top, they most likely have AK, AQ, KK. I usually have the mindset that I am going to have to dodge an Ace. The deciding factor is stack size: if you call and lose if you are taking a major hit, pass. If its only a minor flesh wound, call.

When you get to the second table, it's time to change gears. You have preserved your stack, been selectively aggressive and hopefully have been adding to your stack. Nice-nice time is over, time to go for the throat. Time to start using all the tricks you know. Start stealing from the button and CO position. Outplay your opponent post-flop, take away pots on bluffs. Play the suited connectors. The whole 9 yards. In an unopened pot if you have any PP put in a stiff raise. If you hit your set them up for a check raise on the turn. They will call. Everyone at this point is going to be playing really tight and trying to hang on.

Like I mentioned, this is really effective in the 180-225 .COM and .NET freerolls. I like the 180's better since 1st and 2nd will get a pass to round 2. In the .NET only top finisher gets a pass to round 2.

I also like using the .COM and .NET as a way to add more tables. At first I had trouble with two tables, now I am quite comfortable playing on 6. I think that's enough. But to me, this is a cheap way of getting used to multi-tasking. I guess you can learn to multi-task in a money game, but I think that might be an expensive way to learn.
 
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LizzyJ

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What sort of raise sizes do you use with your raise/fold strategy?

If you are raising pre-flop with your premium pair, will you still lay them down against opponent coming all-in over the top of you?

In an unopened pot, I usually raise 3-5x BB. When you have limpers add 1 bb per limper. Also, if people limp in, I would recommend you have a hand you can go all-in with, if not, fold. Reason being, in my experience at this level, when people put chips in the pot many, many of them cannot fold. If they hit any part of the flop there is a good chance they are going to the river with it.

As far as bluffing goes. Don't. As least not yet. At the 2nd and final tables. Bluffing, continuation bets, re-raises, check raises, stealing, re-stealing, all-in bluffs, etc. becomes fair game. But pick your spots really carefully while working your way through the field. Also, try not to over value top pair or over pairs. That's a great way to go broke. If someone puts you all in and you have top pair/crappy kicker or an over pair, don't be afraid to throw it away.

Lots of us complain about being sucked out on (me included) well, part of your poker skill is being able to lay down top pair/overpair hands. Yeah it's tough, but at least your still in the game and can have another opportunity.
 
ntimidatr

ntimidatr

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freeroll play

ok, this is something that i've never shared w/ anyone, but i'm going to now....play loose at the start, but only if its cheap...you must be prepared to give up a few chips, just not your whole stack. a big key to cashing is knowing when you get a monster flop, and realizing that you are going to win the hand, and getting the max chips for that win....then tighten up, and no all-ins AFTER you've made a good chip stack, unless of course you can see off the flop, or later in the hand, whether its your hand for sure....no maybes!
 
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Lostlegacy910

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I play a lot of free rolls and I find it best to just avoid almost everything at the start, people on Full Tilt, tend to just go all in on the first few hands, although if you've got a premium hand it could be a good chance to double up quickly and sit back for a while, but tends to not happen so often.

Once you've got into it a bit, mhen you've got high cards, start raising 3xBB and people just tend to fold, if they call they usually have something in which case you can access the situation when the you see the flop, but I found its easy to rake in blinds and the limpers calls all the time in the middle stages freerolls doing that.

The best I've finished is 31st out of 1350 people, not in the money, its once I get to the later stages I stuggle, need more experience :p.
 
lektrikguy

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I usually sit back for the first 20 hands or so and let the all inners knock each other out,unless I hit AA,KK,or QQ. Considering you lose about 100 people in the first 5 mins of a 225 man freeroll, you narrow the field quite a bit.
 
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