How to Survive Early in Freerolls

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RobertCar

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If you are like me, you have been beaten by terrible hands or have not been able to push people off of pots while playing early in Free Rolls. This is caused by numerous reasons. The most volatile of which is the all-in bet and call. Going all-in is probably the most fun part of no-limit poker but it ruins Free Rolls early on. The next problem associated with early play are the true Donkeys. These are the players that cannot let go of a hand at any time. Lastly, nothing truly great is free. While a free tool is useful, it has a lot of users.

In Free Rolls, there are over a thousand to thousands of players all playing at the same time. Unlike cash games where you can go all-in, triple up, and leave the table; tournaments require you to place in the money to win anything. With that said, use all-in when the time is right. Going all-in doesn't always steal the blinds and there will be callers. Going all-in with a drawing hand is a loser from the start and will lose to any pair about 50% of the time. When there are four people all-in, there are a lot of cards in play that contain over pairs, flush draws, and that will catch board pairs to make a set. Going all-in is meant to be head-to-head or to be played with a side pot early on.

Donkeys are the people that make poker possible. If you have played in a tight game, you know what I mean. 9/10, someone will buy the blinds or the small blind will fold to the big. Donkeys are the ones that allow people to win money, to slow call hands, and all the other things that makes poker great. Unfortunately, poker is a lot like golf. It can be a blast while you are losing. People keep playing because they hit a terrific drive or because they won a few pots one night. Eventually, they will hit and it is something that needs to be accepted.

Free means a lot of users. A lot of users means that there will be beginners, donkeys, sharks, and people with rabbit's feet placed in their anatomy to enhance their luck. To survive this, know the players around you and calculate your pot odds, equity and outs. Over time, good math beats out any type play and poker is played over time. It is not played in one hand at the beginning of a tournament. Raising will steal some blinds and make your good hands more profitable without putting your tourney life on the line.
 
deform fedot

deform fedot

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Thank you for your philosophy. You have an interesting look and I will not discuss your writing. I just can not understand where the question is, if it is not here, then what do I have to agree with you))
 
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r21sp

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in fact, it's quite easy to survive in the early stage of a freeroll, you only have to play strictly against the strength of your hand. a couple of hands you look at the opponents, choose a few weak opponents and double about them when you enter a good hand, after 50-70% of the participants will fly off a less normal game
 
zwbb

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In regular tournaments, you need to play fairly conservatively in the early stages, without raising your stakes quickly and without risk. freerolls also require the implementation of such actions, but there are some features that should be remembered. So, with a standard raise, you will not be able to get the most out of the bank out of the bank. They will most likely want to see the flop, and your raise will not be an obstacle for this. Therefore, if you become a really strong hand (a pair of aces, kings or ladies), then after the raise you definitely need to go all in. Otherwise, all other players will call, and against more than 4 opponents, even with a pair of aces, you will rarely win.
 
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freestocks

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Play like ya just don't care...
 
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cam13cam

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Have to agree with freestocks. Free rolls are filled with some insanely bad players who will shove the flop with top pair weak kicker. It's impossible to play reasonable poker early in freerolls. Best thing is to be aggressive with drawing hands and you can catch some huge pots. If you connect then you have a healthy stack to play with if you don't then oh well, it's free. Be aggressive when it comes bubble time a lot of players shut down and play ridiculously tight and those extra chips in you stack can be the difference in cashing the min. amount or winning the freeroll.
 
MattRyder

MattRyder

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Only one way that I know of to survive in a freeroll - get and stay lucky.
 
chicopaw

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basically freerolls are a Shove match, playing properly will not get you to a final table .you need to open a wider range of hands and bet larger and able to shove . gaining a big stack allows you to get others folding even when there hold a decent hand, there are so many that will shove with any 2 cards, play them and ctoss ur fingers
 
Dmitriy_rus7

Dmitriy_rus7

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Patience

Patience is the key to survival in the early stages
 
wrabinho

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yea how to survive.. last tournament i had AK diamonds at the start of the tour and some of fish goes all in from the UTG with Q 10, i was at the BB , and all of them folds , i call , and then he pair his 10 on the flop, then a third 10 on the river.... what i supposted to do ??? how to deffend ??? to fold AK in this case ???
 
AMTF1988

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I just played the Level 5+ freeroll on 888, I was doing really well, top 400 when the bubble broke. First hand after that I got kings and shoved them, called by the only stack bigger than myself. Lost to ATo. My issue is not the start of freerolls, it's the later stages, I get too complacent
 
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fgpontes

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Filosofia complicada!!

Existem estrategias para tudo!! inclusive erradas.. só pq deu certo uma vez não quer dizer que é a certa a longo prazo.. shovar com over pair por exemplo!!! no inicio de um FH com mais de 100 bb´s vale a pena?? Veja bem.. eu não disse que par seria e nem de que posição!!! é muito complicado saber como agir numa mesa hiper agitada.. onde tem muita gente querendo crescer a qualquer custo.. uma coisa eu aprendi!! PUSH sempre é bom....!!! se vai grindar em 40-60.. otimo GL e vamos para a proxima..
 
vov4ik

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You need patience in the tournament especially at the beginning, wait for a good card and you will get to survive at the beginning of the freeroll, but I sometimes even a very good card loses and I fly out of the tournament, you expect your victory and the main patience and win in the freeroll!
 
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Declan Quinn

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I find them so stressful... but still play but these crazy all ins are killing my love for the game especially pokerstars...
well online not live poker... but to have so many bad beats per example pockets 4's I hit my four hence trips and the bully guy who goes all in each time has 3-7 diamonds and gets rewarded with runner runner flush like how can anyone call the all in no matter how you play it seems to quickly such you in to make the bet and then gives the sink the reward soul destroying especially when you have waited 3 hours for the game
 
keokeokk

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good I play only with strong hands and I wait for more possibility observing the villains and analyzing their gameplay maybe you find a weakness ... then just abuse it ... otherwise, wait for a good hand and try your luck !! :)
 
Dailon Arroyo Blandon

Dailon Arroyo Blandon

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To survive these types of tournaments in its early stages ... you must have a lot of patience and wait for strong hands and then play them with a lot of aggressiveness ... as you have a bigger stack of chips you can play a range of hands more large...!
 
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Declan Quinn

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But all in after all in then when hitting the card etc they still go all in lol and still win... it's just soul destroying I've had success but usually waiting for 15 before I even log in
I respect what your saying but also it's good to get the early double up
 
cranberry

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Freerolls, where more than a thousand people play, is a closed poker world that is completely different from cash games or ordinary tournaments. From the different positions of the table constantly fly all-in, and few people can explain why he moves his chips in the middle of the table. So that there is one correct solution - is to wait for good pocket cards!
 
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TinskiM

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In early stages just wait for a good hand a push all in. Do not try to raise, reraise, etc.. it does not work in early stages. Half of the table will call. Basically you have 2 options, push or fold.
 
IWinUlose

IWinUlose

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freerolls

The only way I know how to play freerolls is playing with Patience and spot the fish.
 
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chronical

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cann agree with the most part. nitting up is good thoug. you AA will be constantly crusshed by 67o/Qxo/35s/ you want to avoid this sittuations as much as possible.BUT! after the inittial part of the MTT you will see that even the most "recriational" players starts to "feel" the money and starts to play good, I think this is the best time to start actual play.
One 1 hand s it's bit hard to be constalty folding decent hands but how much equity does you QJs actualy has it 5-way pot with 2 stations and 2 nits =)
 
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elton015

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Pay attention! Play tight at the begining.And you´ll survive until the first brake time.
 
Anatoliy Tolik

Anatoliy Tolik

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You have all correctly described, I agree with you completely. I am struggling with this only a game of the game, but there are a lot of free, sharp boys.
 
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dpoole71

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People don't care in freerolls at all unless you get lucky I feel they have trap hands to help people's bigger stacks get bigger
 
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microse

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The thing is, playing conservatively early on is pointless. You will get way below the average stack very quickly and then blinds move too quickly for you to be competitive with out luck Kate stage. Better off playing marginal made hands and draws for all your chips and get a couple double ups early on, then survive the donk fest with a decent stack to the point where normal (ish) play takes over. You need luck at some point in freerolls. I prefer to test my luck at the start so I don’t end up wasting time later with a short stack.
 
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