Are freerolls damaging your poker game

deeznutzz

deeznutzz

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I know freerolls are incredibly popular among recreational and beginning level players. They're commonly viewed as a risk free way of building up a bankroll. A chance to develop your poker skills without worrying about losing the shirt off your back. Most of us got our introduction to online poker by playing exclusively in these type of games. After playing dozens if not hundreds of them the majority of players have yet to build even a modest bankroll. I don't view that as a issue but what I believe is happening is that these freerolls are hindering most people from becoming good poker players and preventing them from ever being able to build a bankroll in the future. We call it real poker but the truth is that freerolls are played much the same as play money poker is and they bare little to no resemblance to the tournaments that require buyins. I large number of the people playing the freerolls have little interest in actually playing or even learning how to play poker. Because of that the games are overwhelmed by bad poker play. So much so that many of the things considered poker no-no's are done so regularly that you begin to think they're how your supposed to play. In freerolls almost every hand starts with a open limp followed by five or six more players limping behind. No one seems to know how to size a bet they limp unless they got ace-anything then they panic shove all in. The flop comes and followed by the inevitable donk bets. If a player makes top pair you can almost count on them snap shoving all in and then hoping someone with a middle pair is dumb enough to call which they often are. When a player looses a decent size pot it's a safe bet that the next 3 or 4 hands they'll be shoving all in preflop as they try and shake the tilt off. If you don't know any better you would just assume that this is how poker is played but against a table full of average or better players you'll be laughed roff the table right after they've taken all your chips. I honestly think freerolls teach people how to be bad poker players. If a person's ambition is becoming a good player then it would be wise of them to stay away from freerolls altogether
 
Nikolay Nakhaev

Nikolay Nakhaev

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Of course, freerolls help to understand the essence of the game, but they are not suitable for development in general.
you should be ready to invest in yourself later to play adequate poker
adequacy in my opinion begins in games from $ 10 where players already value their money time and chip
 
makisaa

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Freerolls are poker games like all the other poker games. I play them and face them like every other poker game, I am the same serious and carefull. You can make a bankroll from zero, or you can help your bankroll, or you can help your bankroll recover.
Cardschat games are in an other much higher level. The players are in a higher level, both in terms of skills and behavior.
You can really build a starting bankroll and continue to the buy-in mtts of any site!
 
Chief talking bull

Chief talking bull

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It's not Rome. Just because they all play like donkeys doesn't mean that you have to. I've been playing poker longer than there has been internet so I'm pretty stuck in my ways. Lately I've been strapped for cash so freerolls are my only option. I've been up and down but haven't lost a dime. I love that about it. Been on a good roll this week. Went from 0 to $120. I wonder how far I can take it.
 
lcid86

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There is value in playing freerolls, but I make sure to mix in some cash games. Definitely different styles of play.
 
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Pablo22

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I think some players could form poor playing habits from playing freerolls.
 
Nikolay Nakhaev

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CC club freerolls the most adequate
in them the game goes reasonably and opponents try to gain experience, although there are sometimes moments that go beyond the scope of an adequate game, but such situations are very rare
other freerolls are just the frenzy of many players who do not play poker but roulette and lottery
 
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You have asserted a number of points as though they are a given-they aren't.

It's safe to say numerous members on CardsChat have made bankrolls via playing freerolls (see Chief talking bull post). I am in the process of doing so right now and have CC 'friends' who have embarked (successfully) on doing likewise.

Free rolls are not invariably played like play money tourneys (which by the by are also taken seriously by many). Even the wilder freerolls (open to all and sundry) once nearing the money/completion are played extremely competitively.

As makissa , I take playing poker on any level seriously- I did so when I learned to play starting with play chips when I was determined to build a bankroll by playing MTTs. I did so to the tune of millions of chips and that in turn has stood me in good stead when I started to play freeroll tourneys.

Contrary to your (and others, frequently) contention playing FRs sets up bad habits I rather think that is little more than presumption/speculation. Yes, there are wild, lets face it silly players playing in a reckless manner in most FRs. There are also plenty of considered, measured players who weave through the field and regularly cash. And regarding those players my impression is they all know precisely what they are playing and can differentiate between FRs and other games (it hardly a giant mental leap).

I have used freerolls as a proving ground- if you can regularly cash regardless of the mayhem, then fundamentally you are playing sound poker under testing circumstances.

The other point which those disproving of freerolls fail to grasp is some of us really enjoy them. I like the chaotic early stages of a tourney, I enjoy navigating the nonsense. Further to that, I enjoy the fact that I am not risking anything but just building bank on a daily basis (which I have done since joining CC). So much so that the goals I set when I joined have long been passed (in terms of cashes) and I am more than content to keep playing freerolls for the foreseeable future and to see where that takes me.
 
Shrops

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No

I play them all the time and I don't think they hurt the way I play poker at all.
 
SPANKYSN

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I do sometimes go into a freeroll tournament 20 minutes before dinner, knowing that I cannot stay even if I am in first place, which has happened. But when I play, I play to win. I don't just fool around because I did not invest any money into it.
 
deeznutzz

deeznutzz

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DS3 said:
You have asserted a number of points as though they are a given-they aren't.

It's safe to say numerous members on CardsChat have made bankrolls via playing freerolls (see Chief talking bull post). I am in the process of doing so right now and have CC 'friends' who have embarked (successfully) on doing likewise.

Free rolls are not invariably played like play money tourneys (which by the by are also taken seriously by many). Even the wilder freerolls (open to all and sundry) once nearing the money/completion are played extremely competitively.

As makissa , I take playing poker on any level seriously- I did so when I learned to play starting with play chips when I was determined to build a bankroll by playing MTTs. I did so to the tune of millions of chips and that in turn has stood me in good stead when I started to play freeroll tourneys.

Contrary to your (and others, frequently) contention playing FRs sets up bad habits I rather think that is little more than presumption/speculation. Yes, there are wild, lets face it silly players playing in a reckless manner in most FRs. There are also plenty of considered, measured players who weave through the field and regularly cash. And regarding those players my impression is they all know precisely what they are playing and can differentiate between FRs and other games (it hardly a giant mental leap).

I have used freerolls as a proving ground- if you can regularly cash regardless of the mayhem, then fundamentally you are playing sound poker under testing circumstances.

The other point which those disproving of freerolls fail to grasp is some of us really enjoy them. I like the chaotic early stages of a tourney, I enjoy navigating the nonsense. Further to that, I enjoy the fact that I am not risking anything but just building bank on a daily basis (which I have done since joining CC). So much so that the goals I set when I joined have long been passed (in terms of cashes) and I am more than content to keep playing freerolls for the foreseeable future and to see where that takes me.
Click to expand...
Most of the points you contest I never actually made. I personally started my bankroll with by playing freerolls but to say that numerous members have built their bankroll up through FR is a little misleading because those numerous players that your talking about actually only represent a tiny fraction of all the players. Most people make little to nothing from FR's and even the ones that do average hourly rates that's measured in pennies. If your a decent player as you claim to be your leaving money on the table Everytime you're sitting in a FR instead of buying in to a real tournament. If you think most players play the same game when there's nothing on the line as they do when they have skin in the game you either haven't played enough real tournaments or your just obviously to the style of play going on around you. All that said none of that is what I was talking about. I even said bankroll isn't the issue the real problem is that most people who are new to the game are learning how to play exclusively in these FR's and regardless whether or not youre a sound player fundamental you can't deny that the majority of poker played in FR's is not actually poker. They're just roulette games. The amount of poorly played poker dwarfs any good poker that may be played on the occasional hand here and there. People are turning to fr's largely to learn how to play the game but what they're learning instead is here w to play the game incorrectly. They try and emulate the way they play on some real tables they'll never be successful. Like it or not part of poker is the risk factor when you take that out you change the game. If you like wasting your time freerolling that's great but to pretend that they do no harm to the poker community as a whole is pretty ignorant of you
 
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I agree in theory but not in practice. I think it really depends on the player.
I started with a bankroll of $10 and grew it to $60 mostly from freerolls before moving on to 2NLHE cash games. Typically the absolute donks will weed themselves out very quickly in these MTT's, leaving you with plenty of weak players to exploit who play in at least a semi-logical way.
 
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Like it or not part of poker is the risk factor when you take that out you change the game. If you like wasting your time freerolling that's great but to pretend that they do no harm to the poker community as a whole is pretty ignorant of you

Oh good grief. Seriously?
 
Alex Sentsov

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When you get acquainted with the poker play in Freeroll tournaments. Then-play for money and develop further. Freerolls-play to your mood.
 
rj_montana

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This post is a familiar storyline ... the reason why you can't beat 2nl is because everyone else is so terrible right ... if you just moved up limits then your true "skills" could shine ...
 
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Shiva333

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rj_montana said:
This post is a familiar storyline ... the reason why you can't beat 2nl is because everyone else is so terrible right ... if you just moved up limits then your true "skills" could shine ...
Click to expand...
Sigh... typical delusions of poor poker players.
 
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Sometimes it does affect me, like I believe I am playing a freeroll in a cash game just by always playing that type of game. So I just take a break and realize I'm actually playing with money.
 
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successlaw

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In general there are a lot of new comers and somehow when you play you have to adjust your game that you normally play. People act crazy in those freerolls
 
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neptun1914

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Freerolls are played by different type of players. Most are people playing just for fun who do not want to invest their own money but want to play at least semi serious game (play money are simply not serious at all). There are people though who use the freerolls to build their own bankroll with less risk and try to play just like in normal games. I try to be one of these players and i now include more and more normal micro MTTs in addition to the freerolls. I also managed to build small bankroll (around 40$) mostly from freerolls which i now use to play micro MTTs. My goal is at some stage when i have sustainable positive results at micro to eliminate freerolls entirely from my schedule. I think that this should be the purpose of every player - to improve their game and move up giving the new players chance to also use freerolls for their own initial bankroll buildup.
 
nghoffman

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If you play too many freerolls, it can definitely be detrimental to your game because you can easily get used to those kinds of players and become too comfortable in the way that you play because of them. Better to play them only if you have zero cash or wanna experiment with your playing style.
 
migesan

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Free tournaments can only improve your game, teach you to read the other players, when and in what position it is best to attack or quit, so these tournaments come as a training ground.
and in these CC tournaments you can take some money to start.;)
 
akmost

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Whoever can't adjust he shouldn't play , but the thing is that if you want to adjust in every level you should have studied.Personally I caught my self very often to get bored in some freerolls , and I am a player who tries to approach every single game super seriously but yes I have to admit that it happens to me.

In my opinion freerolls it's something different, never fold to a 3bet or if you 3bet only your value hands doesn't make you a strong opponent.Poker is all about EV.If you constantly make poor plays then in the long term you will never win (this is what they say).If you don't have a buy in to risk then you really don't care about losing.

As for the CC games yeah OK my opinion is that there are some good players but the vast majority doesn't understand basic strategy. For example open limp nay two cards 150bbs deep or open jam with 150bbs is not a sign of a strong player, right?

ps.Please use some paragraphs because I really struggle to read your posts.Thanks!
 
A

Angel051047

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The chat is very helpful for me because I rarely get paid places for the freerolls. I can hardly play sensibly, because mostly someone is lucky to go Allin. I already had doubts about hearing well that it is apparently normal.
 
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AKbadboyAK

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deeznutzz said:
I know freerolls are incredibly popular among recreational and beginning level players. They're commonly viewed as a risk free way of building up a bankroll. A chance to develop your poker skills without worrying about losing the shirt off your back. Most of us got our introduction to online poker by playing exclusively in these type of games. After playing dozens if not hundreds of them the majority of players have yet to build even a modest bankroll. I don't view that as a issue but what I believe is happening is that these freerolls are hindering most people from becoming good poker players and preventing them from ever being able to build a bankroll in the future. We call it real poker but the truth is that freerolls are played much the same as play money poker is and they bare little to no resemblance to the tournaments that require buyins. I large number of the people playing the freerolls have little interest in actually playing or even learning how to play poker. Because of that the games are overwhelmed by bad poker play. So much so that many of the things considered poker no-no's are done so regularly that you begin to think they're how your supposed to play. In freerolls almost every hand starts with a open limp followed by five or six more players limping behind. No one seems to know how to size a bet they limp unless they got ace-anything then they panic shove all in. The flop comes and followed by the inevitable donk bets. If a player makes top pair you can almost count on them snap shoving all in and then hoping someone with a middle pair is dumb enough to call which they often are. When a player looses a decent size pot it's a safe bet that the next 3 or 4 hands they'll be shoving all in preflop as they try and shake the tilt off. If you don't know any better you would just assume that this is how poker is played but against a table full of average or better players you'll be laughed roff the table right after they've taken all your chips. I honestly think freerolls teach people how to be bad poker players. If a person's ambition is becoming a good player then it would be wise of them to stay away from freerolls altogether
Click to expand...

So entering the studies about poker, freeroll actually they even harm the game who really studies the game but freeroll for those who do not have financial conditions to make single deposits way to get a decent bankroll is complicated talks about it just like that the deck was fair to the players who have at least notion of the little game it seems to me that nowadays the software only helps those who are playing clueless.
 
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