Overcoming variance in freerolls at full tilt

[Trimming1]

Hi guys. As I am still building my bankroll to be able to play in some larger cash game events I would like to have any suggetions has the $150 freerolls are littered with donks and fools. How you can overcome the variance there . I know these are "marathons" as I play in these regularly. I try to remain tag through out these but When you take a beat you are usually cruippled.

 

[fletchdad]

You will never overcome variance in FR IMO. You need to play according to your table, ie. if your table is super loose in the low blinds (high probability) then tighten up, and wait for decent hands and push back hard. If you notice tight players to your left, exploit them relentlessly when it is folded to you. When the blinds reach around 50/100 start widening your opening range in late position. Notice when players are going all in with crap and push back with decent hands. FR are full of "I dont care its a FR" type of player, and you have no defense against this. Try to get to mid blind play and attack aggressively. you need more luck as many players will call or raise you with crap. Its a freeroll and you cant do anything but try to notice player type and adjust as well as you can.

Good Luck.

 

[Trimming1]

Thanks

You will never overcome variance in FR IMO. You need to play according to your table, ie. if your table is super loose in the low blinds (high probability) then tighten up, and wait for decent hands and push back hard. If you notice tight players to your left, exploit them relentlessly when it is folded to you. When the blinds reach around 50/100 start widening your opening range in late position. Notice when players are going all in with crap and push back with decent hands. FR are full of "I dont care its a FR" type of player, and you have no defense against this. Try to get to mid blind play and attack aggressively. you need more luck as many players will call or raise you with crap. Its a freeroll and you cant do anything but try to notice player type and adjust as well as you can.

Good Luck.

I am doing most of that but it is frustrating after three hrs of play and your down to the final 199 ppl to get donkeyed by a guy who thinks its cute to shove with bottom pr and you have top top to have them Laugh at y6u in the chat box when they hit the second pr. I wanted to somehow reach thru this computer and strangle thef%$^&er somehow!

 

[absoluthamm]

If that exact scenario is happening to you and there are no flush/straight draws on board then you are getting it in good and there is nothing different that you can do about it. You want that to happen. But like fletch said, you can't do anything to expect much better results. In freerolls, your Aces are going to be cracked by 64o, your straights are going to lose to runner runner flushes, your *insert hand beat hand situation* is going to happen, because no one gives a crap because they didn't invest a penny into it.

 

[matt0216]

I am doing most of that but it is frustrating after three hrs of play and your down to the final 199 ppl to get donkeyed by a guy who thinks its cute to shove with bottom pr and you have top top to have them Laugh at y6u in the chat box when they hit the second pr. I wanted to somehow reach thru this computer and strangle thef%$^&er somehow!

Theres nothing you can do about that. It will always happen in freerolls because people don't really care. I don't really know why because if your going to play that long and make it that far you might as well just play to win.

I really do like playing freerolls, but with all the bad players who don't care they can be really annoying.

 

[Daniel72]

The variance in freerolls (also known as "suckoutathons" ) isn´t that much higher than in normal micro mtt´s (with buy-in) . At the end the players are better than in the beginning. Just play straightforward abc poker, no fancy play and you´ll succceed...

 

[kybcat]

freerolls

The variance in freerolls (also known as "suckoutathons" ) isn´t that much higher than in normal micro mtt´s (with buy-in) . At the end the players are better than in the beginning. Just play straightforward abc poker, no fancy play and you´ll succceed...

I agree with this comment 100%. You just have to try and play though the donks and suckouts and wish for the best

 

[BelgoSuisse]

Deposit ?

Although...

variance in typically inversely proportional to the edge you have over the competition. If you can't handle the variance of freerolls - where competition is obviously the softest - you can't handle the variance of regular MTTs. So the above advice is only valid if your goal is to play cash games or STTs.

 

[okeedokalee]

The big HE freerolls are waste of time.The razz and horse are a bit easier I've won three and paced in quite a few but you need 6 hours plus and a heap of patience.
The Cardschat freerolls are classy, many skilled players.

 

[LizzyJ]

Sit out the first 10-15 hands. That's usually when all the all-in'ers bust out.

 

[bigbigbucs]

Keep on trucking Trim

get your self out of dem big fr's and concintrate on the smaller forum freerolls. You will do much better. stick with cardchsts and the fb games from tilt much better players and more rewarding for placing. I very seldom even play the weekly qualifier at tilt with ten thousand ppl in it. you are a good player invest your time wisely. Bigbigbucs

 

[Debi]

Sit out the first 10-15 hands. That's usually when all the all-in'ers bust out.

Why would you want to miss an opportunity to double up against the worst players?

 

[manofthehour]

When I started out playing on full tilt, I usually played in these big freerolls with 7,500 people. They dont really show much skill because most of the people just get lucky and thats how they make the money. They are very difficult to cash in if you don't get lucky a bunch of times. There is so much variance that they are a total waste of time in my opinion because getting the minimum sometimes like 90 cents is not worth it. Some of the private freerolls are much easier to cash in than these.

 

[Daniel72]

The first levels are very profitable - no fear ! The donks want to give their chips away, and you should take them, before another player gets those "free" chips. The variance (of tournaments in general) is unavoidable. Just play tons of tourneys, always your A game and be self confident - an you will succeed in the long run.

 

[salim271]

Honestly? Dont bother. I tried to build a bankroll through normal freerolls for months. Once FT started the 7500s I just quit trying, its just too tiring and unprofitable to sit for 4 or even 5 hours then bust out with nothing. Either deposit or sign up for the freeroll club here, you have enough posts.

Freeroll club is awesome imo, the play is much better and its difficult to cash the first few times you play, but after a few games you start to learn how to play them and you do better. 2 hours and you're in the money, 3 hours and you're on the final table, around 4 hours and you're done, 1st is 46+, which is about enough for a tentative BR at 2nl... although you should probably be starting with 100 dollars or even 200 if you want to be nitty about it.

I dont bother with cash either, its too hard for my stupid brain and lack of patience/hud. I stick with tournament (idiot's) poker, simpler, better imo.

 

[OzExorcist]

Play in thousands of them and the variance should even out.

Unless what you actually want is to win a bunch of them rather than just have the variance even out... in which case just run good.

 

[LizzyJ]

Why would you want to miss an opportunity to double up against the worst players?

Because those are typically multiple players going all in so even if you have AA, your chances of winning drop like a rock. It's a long tournament plenty of opportunities to double and triple up. Can't win the tournament on the first hand.

 

[kmixer]

Sit out the first 10-15 hands. That's usually when all the all-in'ers bust out.

Why would you want to miss an opportunity to double up against the worst players?

While I would certainly not sitout and miss a good opportunity I certainly can see the point of avoiding a multi way all in where your AA and KKs are most vulnerable.

In a FR I don't think it matters much. No way I am folding these premium hands when there is a chance to take away 2 or 3 stacks.

 

[OzExorcist]

FWIW the thing about your winning percentage going down with big pairs and multiple players preflop is MASSIVELY OVERRATED.

Yes, it's true, but there's still no reason to ever fold AA preflop. Especially in a freeroll where you haven't put any money on the line anyway.

 

[SavagePenguin]

Variance cannot be beat. It can only be outlasted with a proper bankroll.
Fortunately your bankroll for freerolls is unlimited.

Look... if you can get all-in with Ac\Ks vs 7h\2h pre-flop you're 63% to win, which is great. But lets say a freeroll has 500 players and 50 get paid. To make the money you need about 15k chips.
7h\2h shoves, you call, you win and double to 3k.
7h\2h shoves, you call, you win to double to 6k.
7h\2h shoves, you call... well if you win here you're winning 3/3 when you should only win 2/3. But you win.
7h\2h shoves, you call. Winning 4/4. How greedy are you to expect that? But you win and now have enough to cash.

The odds of you winning 4 times in a row with those hands? 16% That's worse than one out of 6 games.

And getting it in with A/K vs 7/2 is a dream scenario. If you expect to get it in good that many times in a row, you have issues.

 

[PlayerPlayerAA]

I am still building my bankroll to be able to play in some larger cash game events.

Sounds like your saying you have won a few bucks but you wanna get to a comfort level by cashing in more freerolls. Stop wasting time with the $150 freerolls, put what you have won, to work, if you bust, go back to the freerolls. For every dollar made in one of those freerolls, you probably have to put in on average 20 hours.
I would suggest you probably have the skills to be making more than 5 cents an hour.

 

[absoluthamm]

Sounds like your saying you have won a few bucks but you wanna get to a comfort level by cashing in more freerolls. Stop wasting time with the $150 freerolls, put what you have won, to work, if you bust, go back to the freerolls. For every dollar made in one of those freerolls, you probably have to put in on average 20 hours.
I would suggest you probably have the skills to be making more than 5 cents an hour.

If his bankroll is really small, even at 2NL it will likely not last very long with only a couple buy-ins, especially if he doesn't have much experience with micro cash games(which I am just assuming since you're not depositing)

 

[galt]

I wanted to somehow reach thru this computer and strangle thef%$^&er somehow!

That would seem to be the real issue. If you get your money in good, you can't be attached to the outcome. After that, your challenge is to not let a bad result put you on tilt. That's Poker.

 

[sheesho]

quit playing those freerolls. Ive only cashed twice out of at least 100 times. play the daily dollar, ferguson, and private freerolls

 

[MartyMcFly1000]

I agree.. The daily double or the BLT are alot better....Freerolls just make me wanna hurt people around me since I cant hurt the people who donk on me...