Why are freeroll donkeys the way they are?

[Styrofoam]

You answered you own question. Because it's a freeroll, and there is no financial punishment, just a waste of time. You cannot bluff anyone in chess, so not the best analogy.



To many, IMHO, winning is all about earning money, and the ends justify the means. Although bluffing and aggression depending on position, reading opponents, etc is a respected skill, freerolls are different animal, and no one is willing to invest the time to play the 'right way', or play as though is was real money. I don't know about NLHE, but of the freerools I've played at Poker Stars, where the top 88 might qualify for same round 2 ticket, many past the bubble have pride in their play of the game, and play very well to the bitter end.

true that you can't bluff anyone in chess... but you can make a move contrary to what would seem like logic. IE: Sacrificing your queen for a long term positional advantage. While its not exactly a true BLUFF, it could be equated to such in chess.

 

[Gribbley]

I donk a lot early in freerolls because I don't want to invest the time without a headstart. The only way I can justify 3 hours of poker against 2700 people for a $2 payout is if I donk in the beginning and start with a headstart or quit instantly.

 

[cuffslurp]

step 1 - deposit
step 2 - stop complaining

I think I got it out of my system, thank you.

Because that's the way I made them. You have a problem with that? Meet me in heaven after school to fight.

Might I ask you what mold you used for your precious donks, O Evil One?

 

[micalupagoo]

well i think theres always donks- even at BIG cash tables/buyins.
some people dont care if they lose a thousand$ in a day while others think a 1$ win is the best thing in the world
and in a 12000 person freeroll you just cant care as much, or it will frustrate the hell out of you.
i sometimes donk too, i get 4-6 games going, some go well and some i just dont care about as much so donk plays are ok- theres many sites with many freerolls every hour-so
I also like to think Im ok after all these years, i have made a balance on over 10 sites, some just dollars, some have hit 100$ and i broke a thousand on two. I have cashed a fair chunk- all from no deposit, and made final table on AP, UB, FTP, and many others-
and yes I will still make some donk calls occassionally
(i think its nice payback for a million river/ runner runner bad beats also funny pissin off people sometimes lol
i have even tilted so bad (after much frustration after countless bad beats by ppl who should have folded their hand) that i tell my cards before my play and always all in every hand- sounds bad and I know some of you will think that makes me an @ss- but thats poker- not everyone has to play like you, or by any set rules...especially on a 10k person freeroll!!!!!

 

[empirejeff]

Wow,their are alot of good posts in this thread. THats poker for ya.

 

[Bren]

Well, it depends on how you look at it.
In a poker game, you have to take certain risks.
It's usually better to take the risks in the later stages of the tourney. In a freeroll however, you don't have anything to lose and little to win. So why not take a big risk to begin with on one of the first hands, maybe double up or more and begin the game with an advantage?
Worst case, you get busted, lose nothing and try another game.
Obviously, if you keep taking crazy risks through the game you'll get busted by a better player. That's the way it is. BUT a gamble or two at the beginning of a freeroll might be useful.

 

[angryorgans]

It Bugs Me Too But That Is Poker For You. You Will Always Have Those Kinds Of Players.

 

[tennisnick12]

I was playing a fixed limit high low omaha freeroll on pokerstars, and every single hand was re-raised to the limit every round. It was only annoying, because of how long it took.

 

[Igrac]

Its a FREEROLL. You cant expect ppl to take it seriously whens its free. Have ont you ever play poker with your friends just for kicks? They go all in every hand because its pointless. To a lot of these ppl it is pointless and they just shove with anytihing.

 

[glemly]

they play like that because they can. its because it's free and they don't care if they lose. over 3/4 the ppl in free rolls don't care at all.

 

[DarkAceMafia]

I totally agree here with you. As we all strive to play well in poker, these freerolls are going to present itself a lot of donkeys, or in military talk mine fields. Must tread litely to not be blown up by these donkeys !!! Donkeys have the mindset of " I have nothing invested in this anyway " Therefore the game of Poker becomes B-I-N-G-O. As you scale up on buy-in tournaments, these mine fields become smaller, but they do exist in all levels.

 

[cuffslurp]

I totally agree here with you. As we all strive to play well in poker, these freerolls are going to present itself a lot of donkeys, or in military talk mine fields. Must tread litely to not be blown up by these donkeys !!!

I like the metaphor of a mine field - it expresses very well why donks are a problem. If there's a single mine in a field you can probably safely locate it and disarm it, but if the whole field is rigged, you're doomed.

Maybe we should rename "Hold'Em" to "Hold'Em OR Fold'em", so donks will know folding is an option.

Oh, and another idea: integrate an A.I. advisor into the poker room software, and pop up a message every time you make a stupid move.

 

[kevkojak]

Simple. Low stake (zero) equals less respect. Low reward for time invested (what, like $10 for 6 hours?) means players either want to get seriously deep or massively stacked (hence the wild all in's) before they take it seriously. I play decent poker, yet in a Full Tilt freeroll a while ago I was all in on the first hand with 9 10 to find a full house, all in next hand with K J and all in the hand after with Q J. I won every hand, was up to about 18k in chips in the first minute then didn't play 5 hands the rest of the first hour! I only started taking it seriously when I saw I had a real edge over the rest of the competition. And that was blind luck! lol

 

[stellerteller]

If you are patient and can pass up some great hands in these tournaments to get yourself further, then the donkies become your best friend (9 times out of 10, that is). The perfect source of your double, triple, whatever up, late in the game. So I would like to thank you donkies for being so impatient and letting me get in late in the game. You give me much needed chips with very little effort and for that I would like to thank you.

 

[brianvoytek]

People just don't care. They want to chip up. It's FREE and they have no risk at all. There's people out there who enter just to go all in every hand till they go bust. The one thing you have to hope for is the luck is on your side and not the goofballs.

I like freerolls, they're fun...but those guys do spoil it. Just avoid them unless you have A/A or something big. They go broke eventually and then you can play your normal game.

 

[uncleterry]

Iplay freerolls and have won $65 in the last 5 weeks most of the time by playing good poker but now and again make a few donk calls as it has worked for me. i dont think anyone should moan as it is a freeroll. last week i lost 5 freerolls on the trot with AA hit trips kk hit trips QQ AA ATs and lost 4 of them on the river thats freerolls and thats poker

 

[hayes5150]

With every freeroll you get alot of people just trying to quickly double up and up and up so of course they are going to play like a donkey they have nothing to lose. Its not there money they just keep taking the chance an of course it sucks for people like you and me who would like to just play a good game of poker.

 

[Jodieblonde]

It depends on how you look at it. In a poker game, you have to take certain risks. I think there's always donks, even at the larger cash games. However, it is a freeroll were you'll find more of them. Aside from that your going to find them at all levels of play.

 

[zwijg]

hey it's a freeroll. If you take a freeroll seriously, you will always get frustrared, no matter what there will always be donkeys there trying to play as bad as they can.

Sometimes i go to a freeroll just to get some steam off me, after a bad session or something like that

 

[alphascotty]

Donks will soon come to realize and some are right now that their not winning on a consistand basis and will eventually realize that they need to up their game alitle in order to make more cashes : it will happen eventually just wait and see , but there will always be atleast one donk at your table lol

 

[sexytamuman]

they would rather lose early and not waste time or get lucky a bunch of times and build up a huge stack to ensure they make money. sometiems i dont blame them who wants to sit around for 3 hrs to barely miss the cut

 

[goborage]

Everyone thinks they're Hansen during freerolls. When they catch their cards they think some sort of skill was involved.

 

[Squidman2005]

I have to agree with many of the people on here. If you don't like the donks, don't play the freeroll. I know I play them just to play. I am not a high roller and don't put money on these sites to play. Any money I have on any of these sites is from freerolls. I have won $25 all total on freerolls. Sometimes I feel like playing well, sometimes I get lazy and play stuff I shouldn't. Sometimes I suck out on people, sometimes, I get sucked out on.....but what I don't do is take it too seriously. For me, freerolls are for fun.