MTT freerolls are not really a good way to learn poker. They can be a lot of fun if you understand how they're different from normal poker where you're risking your hard earned cash to win. That said, I play in those same Ultimatebet tourneys from time to time and I've even won a 5000 seater on multiple occaisions with both of my names.
You need to be careful with the all in donks in the first hour. If you get in a hand with 3-5 players all in even if you have the best hand preflop you have to accept you're likely going home. That said, it takes about 5 hours to win one of those tourneys and they run one every hour so there is an upside to taking a shot. I play while I'm working and sometimes play the first hand bingo so I'm instantly on a big stack or all done. That way I can build a huge stack early or not bother spending my time.
concentrate on extracting maximum value when you can. Watch how people play. There are super aggressive donks who will raise every hand, wait for a big pair and trap them or come over the top. There are tight aggressive players who don't like to bet preflop and you have to handle them differently. But if you see flops cheaply and only get seriously involved in hands where you have the nuts or at least a monster you can do ok consistently. Remember the number of players who saw the flop changes how good hand you have post flop. If 8 people see a flop 2 pair isn't nearly as good as if 2 people see a flop for instance. I built a
bankroll of over 2k on UB without making a deposit by scoring in freerolls.
You definitely want to see lots of flops. Any 1 or 2 gap cards are worth limping into the pot early just chuck them if someone makes a big raise preflop or only put them in when you're in a good position. With suited connectors hitting the straight is way better than the flush. If you hit the flush you might be up against a bigger flush because the donks love sooted cards and so there will be many K3 sooted, or Q6 sooteds being played. But if you hit the straight you can know whether you have the nuts or not. If you understand how the game is different from normal poker you can be successful but not everything written on a forum like this applies very well to freerolls. If you last until late normal play rules start to take over but you'll still run into people who will make 30 times the big blind bets with A4 or even with 97 late hoping to take down the blinds. There are lots of hands that are overplayed in freerolls, ace rags being one and AK being another. They're overplayed differently but both are get bet too much and played too hard.
