A basic poker freeroll strategy

[dougiefresh1234]

good advice

i think these are good tips, when it comes to playing freerolls and not money tourneys, becuase you have more to lose and gain, but in general i think all of the tips are useful to anyone. you now have a new poker bible for the newbies.

 

[PoSInC]

If its long freerolls like on ps going all-in everytime you got a high pair is setting you up to get a bad beat before the end. my strategy in big freerolls is never going all-in if you don't need to youll last longer and finish deeper in money without a doubt

 

[SAH89]

I was late for a freeroll tournament today and I came in when about 430 out of 980 players left and I had actually gained some chips without playing, no one just stole my blinds when they could. I made it to about 80 players and someone called on an inside straight draw like a fool and got lucky. But I've gone all in on the first hand with AA and lost.

 

[dj_syphon_p]

Yeah i agree with the basis of your strategy,youve got to play agressively in a freeroll because the overall winner is the person with ALL the chips so youve got to get ahead quickly and keep doubling up
If you try and play too tight youll get so far and just get your stack eaten away by the ever increasing blinds

Freerolls are fun because your not actually risking any of your bankroll and you get to play like a maniac lol it makes me laugh when you see players taking it far too seriously and abusing people for making donkey calls and winning

 

[NoWuckingFurries]

If its long freerolls like on ps going all-in everytime you got a high pair is setting you up to get a bad beat before the end. my strategy in big freerolls is never going all-in if you don't need to youll last longer and finish deeper in money without a doubt

So you spend hours playing and still end up with nothing?

 

[squarer]

I like the strategy with smaller freerolls, but with anything over 200 players you need to get in cheap and hope you hit on the flop then all in. Most are just luck fests, until down to the last several players.

 

[Shallmora]

I've used a similar strategy and it seems to do well, you will get bad beats often however, just due to the sheer amount of idiots in free rolls. However I've adopted this strategy and it does seem to work well. I missed registration for my last free roll however I've been putting it to use in play money tournaments. Which to be honest have about the same caliber of skill and it seems to do well.

I was down to 22 people left in a 90 man SnG, received pocket kings. Went all in, had two callers. Flop came up A-A-Q and I knew I was pretty much screwed. Man to my right raises 3,600 and the other one folds. The rest of the cards are crap, cards show, he has Ace rag. odds were in my favor to win and in all likelihood I would have placed in the money, simply got unlucky.

I'll let you know how my 928 man tournament goes, it's down to just 365 people and pays out to 90 places. Hopefully I can earn enough to play in the play money freeroll.

*update*

Checked an A-8 in big blind, flopped trip 8's, went all in. Had three callers, hit full house on the turn, river was a deuce. Went from around 1,350 to about 5,500. So far I'd say the strategy is pretty sound.

 

[Shallmora]

After hitting that full house, I hit a straight with a flush draw on the board. I pushed all in and no one called. After that I went completely card dead for about an hour. I only got maybe three pocket pairs. Just... The worst luck I've ever had. I ended up placing 46th after I got below 6x the BB and pushed all in with A2s. I got several callers and the only one that beat me had AK, so I can't complain about a bad beat at least.

As I suspected, this is all in all a very good strategy. However a good deal of luck is still needed and probably always will be in public freerolls.

 

[ross1shark]

Your assumption of folding virtually every hand and still cashing is "absolutely" correct (pun intended). I clicked the "sit out" button in an AP freeroll some time ago, and totally forgot all about it. For sitting out unintentionally for about what had to have been hundreds of hands, I earned a whopping $.40. (But that's higher than a lot of the abysmal players who actually stuck around!)

 

[big d1808]

Thank you I hope this information will help me a lot with my next freerolls.
But I will only use it with freerolls where over 2000 players play.

 

[NoWuckingFurries]

Try it where there are less than 2,000 players for best effect.

 

[TheseNutsWin]

it does always work, i tried to your method and right away i was in big trouble..lol

pokerstars Game #16322383961: Tournament #81835324, Freeroll Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2008/03/28 - 20:36:30 (ET)
Table '81835324 954' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: rookie2beat (1500 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 2: TheseNutsWin(1320 in chips)
Seat 3: johnnysboiz (1470 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 4: 12ROCCO (1480 in chips)
Seat 5: wander363 (2360 in chips)
Seat 6: kkapone (1470 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 7: hunny OH (1480 in chips)
Seat 8: pobrecita (1140 in chips)
Seat 9: OhioGasHog (1280 in chips)
hunny OH: posts small blind 10
pobrecita: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to TheseNutsWin[Kd Ks]
OhioGasHog: folds
rookie2beat: folds
TheseNutsWin: raises 1300 to 1320 and is all-in
johnnysboiz: folds
12ROCCO: folds
wander363: folds
kkapone: folds
hunny OH: folds
pobrecita: calls 1120 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [As 9c 9h]
*** TURN *** [As 9c 9h] [Jd]
TheseNutsWinsaid, "BA"
*** RIVER *** [As 9c 9h Jd] [Qh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pobrecita: shows [9d 7c] (three of a kind, Nines)
TheseNutsWin: shows [Kd Ks] (two pair, Kings and Nines)
TheseNutsWinsaid, "BS!"
pobrecita collected 2290 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2290 | Rake 0
Board [As 9c 9h Jd Qh]
Seat 1: rookie2beat folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: TheseNutsWin showed [Kd Ks] and lost with two pair, Kings and Nines
Seat 3: johnnysboiz folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: 12ROCCO folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: wander363 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: kkapone (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: hunny OH (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: pobrecita (big blind) showed [9d 7c] and won (2290) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 9: OhioGasHog folded before Flop (didn't bet)

There are such idiots playin in at the start of tourney that they will call your ALL in with 97o and beat you ! lol

 

[scotth1234]

There are such idiots playin in at the start of tourney that they will call your ALL in with 97o and beat you ! lol

Amen to that!

 

[umofo]

Interesting strategy... I will give it a go!

 

[NoWuckingFurries]

it does always work, i tried to your method and right away i was in big trouble..lol

Does always work, or doesn't?

There are such idiots playin in at the start of tourney that they will call your ALL in with 97o and beat you ! lol

The main point for me is that I would prefer to invest five minutes in a freeroll than five hours....

 

[Pierrepoint]

Freeroll Strategy...dead money?

I like to play the occasional freeroll to try different ideas out and 1 thing I havent figured out yet. What do you do when u sit down at a table where there is 5-6 players sitting out...i.e they registered and aren't playing. Someone on your table is raising every hand to take down the dead blinds. I play mostly on ipoker tables so the sitouts are all easily identifiable. What do I do? Reraise? Call with any decent hand? If I wait for a good hand they either fold or go Allin because they have u covered with their earlier gains. Any ideas?

 

[Kenzie 96]

Does always work, or doesn't?The main point for me is that I would prefer to invest five minutes in a freeroll than five hours....

I agree with this & in fact have come up with an advanced strategy that cuts another 5 minutes off.
Nice post by the way, having any strategy in a freeroll puts one ahead of the majority of the competition.

 

[OziFigJam]

Mr WF It is time to be a winner FigJams strategy has proven the test of time by every mate of mine who is capable of not breaking a single rule. Give it a try if you have enough DISIPLINE. I play 12hrs per day online and average $100 per day. Not big money but handy.From an OZI friend.

 

[jasonmast]

when playing a freeroll i start of out tight and become more agressive as it goes on but normally lose concentration after an hour and a half

 

[NoWuckingFurries]

Mr WF It is time to be a winner FigJams strategy has proven the test of time by every mate of mine who is capable of not breaking a single rule. Give it a try if you have enough DISIPLINE. I play 12hrs per day online and average $100 per day. Not big money but handy.From an OZI friend.

I would try it if I could understand what the pluck you were going on about, always keen to try out new strategies.
Incidentally, there is a C in discipline.

 

[katymaty]

Really good advice

I used to play similar way in freerolls and its amazing especially at the start of tournaments how many people call with junk, as long as you dont get a bad beat or run into AA KK with your AKs AQs or top pairs etc its a good way to get a good start and play properly once majority of the donkeys have gone

 

[Twanee]

pretty good, except all in right away with the big pairs, i like a half stack raise, then all in on the flop, you can get caught more often. but the pot will be bigger and you win most of the time.

 

[PowerPlay777]

This strategy has already helped my game!!
Thanks for taking the time to help us Donkeys,lol
Now I guess Practice,Practice and Practice some more.
online is different, Hard to read a computer monitor!

 

[Baab]

Add patience

I started with free rolls, and if I made any money, I played the $1 SIT & GO'S, where patience is truly a virtue, as long as you catch some hands. It seems you can get to the final 4-5 by letting others knock each other out, and if you only played good hands and did not get unlucky, you can then play poker instead of All In Circus.

Good Cards + Patience = $maker.

 

[Zhol]

Wow.
I THOUGHT I was a pretty good freeroll player - apparently I was way, wayyy too loose.
Thanks for the strat - I'll test it out this week on UltimateBet (home of the Freeroll Donkeys) and let you know how I come out.