How do I play freerolls if my opponents are always all in?

[Borataylor]

Some Freeroll players always put all their chips in the pot.The most interesting thing is that they win, no matter which side, as if by magic.This is very annoying, how can I play against such magicians? Put your Bank against it with QQ-AA?Or is it better not to play with it at all, to calm down and wait until someone else removes it?

 

[Tracid]

Some Freeroll players always put all their chips in the pot.The most interesting thing is that they win, no matter which side, as if by magic.This is very annoying, how can I play against such magicians? Put your Bank against it with QQ-AA?Or is it better not to play with it at all, to calm down and wait until someone else removes it?

Good question!

I have trapped myself in the freeroll domain multiple times and played enough of them to feel qualified to respond.

If you are talking about the very beginning of an open freeroll (first fifteen to thirty minutes), yes avoid the maniacs. It might be astute to fold everything OOP besides hands like 99 - AA and AQ - AK. Any chips you put in the pot at this stage, if there is anyone behind you left to act, are liable to being lost if you're not calling an over-shove. It's worth bearing that in mind, and preserving your stack for the hands you're willing to call it off with.

A while ago Stars ran a $250k freeroll, it had over 240,000 runners, I ran deep in it and made it ITM. Don't remember the exact placing but it wasn't a min cash if memory serves.

You can be assured that the first quarter to half hour of that, I had the mindset of playing AA, KK and AK only OOP. Of course that doesn't mean we're open-folding QQ, but we're on high alert.. :captain: :call2::call: :icon_stud

Generally speaking, in the first half hour of wild freerolls, however many entrants there were (even 240,000+), the field drops by 50% as the shovemonkeys, sharks and fish all devour each other with all-in preflop feeding frenzies. If we fold every hand or are sitting out even (unless it's a hyper turbo) our stack usually won't be all that far off starting, especially if we've been walked or managed to pick up chips somehow.

The key thing to do is to try and observe all the flips and players involved to use this time to your advantage by accumulating information while you're not gaining chips. Chances are you will move tables frequently, but as we don't know when moves will happen, we make notes regardless (mental or otherwise).

After the feed frenzy is over, you need to know who is a fat blubbery whale calling it off all-in pre with 86o inexplicably and who is a giant carcharodon carcharias, sneakily trapping five fish with a monster.

Whilst it is time to open up your range and start making up for lost time with powerful poker- avoid getting in the water with the latter!

Hopefully the way I think about the subject has given you an 'example marker' which you can 'reference factor'.

Regards. (<insert fish shark whale shovemonkey smiley here>)

~EDIT:- Forgot one thing..

"The most interesting thing is that they win, no matter which side, as if by magic."

This is just an optical illusion, fundamentally confirmation bias. It's just random probability. Bear in mind the mathematical concept that if there is a percentage chance of something happening, however small, run infinite times- it will occur eventually. :icon_puke

 

[TeUnit]

Just wait until you get a good hand. The other thing to consider is the table will change very quickly if a player is really shoving every hand.

 

[tihomir_kula]

If I play carefully,I consider that all in players are great advantage for me.

 

[619Leafs]

The only way to combat this is you just have to be lucky and wait for good hand. Hopefully it will go right.

 

[rj_montana]

Wait for a superior hand, not a premium hand. When someone has ridiculous stats A7s becomes a monster. Just consider how many players are to act behind you before you try to get in a confrontation with the fish

 

[Newzooozooo]

Hi.
Try to use your opponents game to your advantage. I make notes about such bingo players and just try to wait patiently for a good opportunity to double up.
Good luck.

 

[MattRyder]

Some Freeroll players always put all their chips in the pot.The most interesting thing is that they win, no matter which side, as if by magic.This is very annoying, how can I play against such magicians? Put your Bank against it with QQ-AA?Or is it better not to play with it at all, to calm down and wait until someone else removes it?

If you have QQ - AA I say go for it. 1) it's free, so you're not actually risking anything, which of course is why everybody plays that way in the first place; and 2) QQ - AA is a really good hand and still has good odds even if there are 3 or 4 people in the hand.

 

[wizcup]

Some Freeroll players always put all their chips in the pot.The most interesting thing is that they win, no matter which side, as if by magic.This is very annoying, how can I play against such magicians? Put your Bank against it with QQ-AA?Or is it better not to play with it at all, to calm down and wait until someone else removes it?

Observe first. What card they use to all-in. If it's some non-sensical hands, you just need to wait to have a strong hand. The same goes if a certain player all-in more than 5 times in 10 hands. Chances are they're trying to steal the blind.

 

[Madragalahad]

Depends on tourney value and size of field. A free-to-enter tourney costs time. If the game goes on for 6-7 hours and nets me $50 if I come first and 25c if I make it just past the bubble, then I want to either make a good start or go out early and do something else. Which is the mindset of a lot of those "maniacs". Don't mistake their strategy for stupidity - especially when you're meeting some of them much later on and that strategy has changed.
If you're playing primarily for practice, then stick to a range of hands that you feel have enough ev for you to risk being all in pre-flop, because that's likely the only way you get to play them. Or if the tourney allows late entry, just don't enter until it's 30 minutes old, when it's usually easy to steal from or eliminate a few short-stacked fish.
One more thing about playing freeroll maniacs early on. If you've just folded 10-15 hands pre-flop, and you make a 5bb+ raise from early position, they'll likely fold unless they have a reasonably strong hand. While you play tight, you build your table image, giving you more opportunities to bluff successfully. Their all-in raising range will be much larger than their calling range, because you're taking their fold equity away.

 

[Gelidmind]

You've got to be very patient and play your position well. Wait for big hands, but also don't overplay those hands. I find if you are in early position and go all in with a mediocre pair or even a big pair you can bring along at least two other players which totally decreases the odds of you winning with your pair. If you play a lot of hands on your button or in your blinds (lightly) I've found that you can run pretty deep and make it through to the break where things get to normal. With all that being said sometimes you just have to dodge and hope when you get it in good it holds up.

 

[Psyanide14]

I agree that this a big issue in freerolls as well as micro stakes. It’s even more annoying when they win with 84o and someone else has AA. The way I play is to just wait it out or even join a little late if there is late registration. I find most of these players either bust right away or after they’ve doubled up they slow down. Since it’s a freeroll I think they either want a big stack early or bust out and play a different tournament. Makes a bit of sense. Hope that helps.

 

[Only_player]

Only play with strong hands for the first 30 minutes until they lose or settle after several winning ALLNS. I only play with them with AK, AQ and the strongest pocket pairs

 

[zokiusa]

Some people go all in even with 3 and 9 so all what u need to do is to wait good cards.But once i remember i had K K player go all in with 8 and 5 and on the flop 8 and 5. Nonsense

 

[tripps777]

As others have said, only call with premium hands.
The all-in moments usually only last around half an hour from people who want to get a big chip advantage early or lose and be done with it.


After some rounds it'll cool down enough that proper poker can be played.

 

[Eric Salvador]

You need to play position and probably the top 9% of hands. You then need to conserve until you get deeper into the tournament. Once time is invested some players will tighten up

 

[mar_dragan]

Just wait cards wit good odds and catch him in a trap.
I don;t understand why people do that,if you don't want to play,don't register.

 

[Evan Jarvis]

Some Freeroll players always put all their chips in the pot.The most interesting thing is that they win, no matter which side, as if by magic.This is very annoying, how can I play against such magicians? Put your Bank against it with QQ-AA?Or is it better not to play with it at all, to calm down and wait until someone else removes it?

Nothing wrong with waiting for big cards and going all in with them when your opponents are going wild like this.

AA-QQ is a bit too tight though.

Try playing 77+ AJo+ ATs+ and KQs vs these players and if you do just that you'll come out ahead.

Once you get deeper into the tournament and ppl stop going all in with weak hands than you can start playing real poker and at that point you'll have a good stack of chips!

 

[Therminator]

Well it's a freeroll so not much too lose except time. Id say go all in with top tier hands and hope for the best.

 

[Snake2007]

If I play carefully I think I can win in front of any player.

 

[yezzrr]

If the table is loose, play tight

 

[yezzrr]

.. and obviously if the table is tight, play loose

 

[CallmeFloppy]

I look at the first hour of a freeroll as basically three stages.
Use the opening of a freeroll to understand who your opponents are. Who is there to play for real, and who is looking to fill 15 minutes worth of time. Sit back, watch the players and take advantage of your strong hands.

Once the riffraff is cleared, you should be able to use what you learned about who is left to know who you need to respect, and who you can take advantage of. Focus your attention on how the real players play as you attack those guys that just happened to get lucky and won a big stack. They are prolly busy at that point calling up the basement stairs to have mom come down and look at it.

Once that phase is over, you can play what should be a more normal poker game.

 

[niphon56]

Freerolls have 2 features : low cost and long time to play.

How to play efficiency is main reason to all-in preflop.

Select a good hand then face your opponents.

 

[florestaftw]

Some Freeroll players always put all their chips in the pot.The most interesting thing is that they win, no matter which side, as if by magic.This is very annoying, how can I play against such magicians? Put your Bank against it with QQ-AA?Or is it better not to play with it at all, to calm down and wait until someone else removes it?

I think that out of 10 hands, with premium cards, most of it is going to be won.