Is there any advice that someone can give me about profiting from freerolls on ACR? Been playing there for a long time but I haven't been getting ITM lately (8 months) and I'm starting to get disappointed. I came from the old train o thought "tight is right" growing up but with everyone just throwing in their chips is it really worth playing tight. The top 10 normally pays and I've been getting spots either busting out way early and my highest being 47th place. Any suggestions that can help me start profiting from these again? Preferably someone who's been cashing lately?

I just recently took 6th in the $10 on demand on ACR. The keys is to pick your spots, especially early on. Avoid the multi-way all-ins unless you've got a premium hand. From there, once you've got a stack, it's like any other game. Open your range a bit more and more as you progress, but do NOT make donk calls.

It's easy to get bored because the game's gonna last a few hours to make it to the top 10. In fact, boredom is probably the number one enemy for these games, because the pay is so low... it's easy just to be like, "meh, doesn't matter."

Anyway, you still want to play your hands correctly and try to read your opponents as best you can.

Originally Posted by bellicoso

I just recently took 6th in the $10 on demand on ACR. The keys is to pick your spots, especially early on. Avoid the multi-way all-ins unless you've got a premium hand. From there, once you've got a stack, it's like any other game. Open your range a bit more and more as you progress, but do NOT make donk calls.

It's easy to get bored because the game's gonna last a few hours to make it to the top 10. In fact, boredom is probably the number one enemy for these games, because the pay is so low... it's easy just to be like, "meh, doesn't matter."

Anyway, you still want to play your hands correctly and try to read your opponents as best you can.

Thank you for the reply. I'm going to give it a shot. Hopefully keeping that in the back of my mind it'll help me progress through them on my journey to build a roll.

As someone before me said, be very careful early on. There are usually all in's non stop for awhile. Pockets are good but someone usually will hit straight, flush, or a lucky 2 pair. I like to let the play come to me. If I have a pair or something like Ak or 10 9 I will only call blinds early on. If someone after me goes all in I'm out. If it makes it to the flop I can play from there. maybe catch something good, but still play with caution until you know you hit it. Survive the early rounds and don't worry about the average chip stack. If you get lucky and get early leads or a big chip stack play a little tighter. When it starts getting closer to the bubble people tent to fold more quickly. This is your chance to take advantage of your good hands and steal a few blinds when the blinds are worth it. Also if you stay conservative, there will be people who try to bluff you off, so if you catch something good they will play right into your trap. Patience is the number 1 thing. Good luck to you.

Originally Posted by digdug0037

As someone before me said, be very careful early on. There are usually all in's non stop for awhile. Pockets are good but someone usually will hit straight, flush, or a lucky 2 pair. I like to let the play come to me. If I have a pair or something like Ak or 10 9 I will only call blinds early on. If someone after me goes all in I'm out. If it makes it to the flop I can play from there. maybe catch something good, but still play with caution until you know you hit it. Survive the early rounds and don't worry about the average chip stack. If you get lucky and get early leads or a big chip stack play a little tighter. When it starts getting closer to the bubble people tent to fold more quickly. This is your chance to take advantage of your good hands and steal a few blinds when the blinds are worth it. Also if you stay conservative, there will be people who try to bluff you off, so if you catch something good they will play right into your trap. Patience is the number 1 thing. Good luck to you.

Well put, digdug. The point about playing the blinds is key, too. I try not to commit to any more than 4 times the BB, and it all depends on my hand and position. Also, I'm less likely to defend my blinds against anything too big in the early stages. I'll let a lot of them go if I'm really trying to survive. When I'm really trying at these games, I actually enjoy the challenge in surviving, especially since we only get 1500 chips to start.

I freeroll quite a bit there and it seems that you have to look at a lot of flops as they never fold. Hope to hit something on the flop so you can shove back to them..Good Luck!

Beatlebug

I still think tight is right with some good aggression mixed in your best spots. Freerolling is really a grind now and has been for some time. If it wasn't for a few sites like Cards Chat that still put up some good private games... freerolls are pretty much a dead end for players from the United States. The prize pools are awful. The decent games are few and far between and the freerollers who are still at it (huge amounts of players have left the game since the law change and black friday) are playing for peanuts. In the old days freerolling was profitable even for an average player. Games were everywhere day and night and the prize pools were multiple times better. I remember having 47 sites on my computer during the boom times. lol $500 -$2000 freerolls were the norm along with $5000-$10000 games every weekend. Along with tons of private forums offering games that have all gone under.

Hang in there and hopefully, things change for you and you can build a roll with the good games this site and a few others offer when meeting the requirements. Good luck going forward.

My advice is play a lot. The more ACR freerolls I play, the more I make the top 10.

I am having the same on coral poker and I am convinced it is because I don't deposit. every time I get all in I lose to absolute garbage. I think its rigged

Look forward to playing the $100 daily CC freeroll, on ACR. That's the best advice you will hear. That $10 freeroll is tough.

I totally hear ya. You play tight and raise with pocket kings and slappy with 3A off suit goes all in, or the famous 83 offsuit magic full house. Thats my favorite. I'd say keep playin tight and flash a little looseness here and there. Wait out the donkey raisers and keep chat off, lol. Those are my tidbits of advice if you like. Also, f-it, it's mostly for fun. None of us are getting rich yet. Hang in there buddy.

Originally Posted by brandonkremb

Is there any advice that someone can give me about profiting from freerolls on ACR? Been playing there for a long time but I haven't been getting ITM lately (8 months) and I'm starting to get disappointed. I came from the old train o thought "tight is right" growing up but with everyone just throwing in their chips is it really worth playing tight. The top 10 normally pays and I've been getting spots either busting out way early and my highest being 47th place. Any suggestions that can help me start profiting from these again? Preferably someone who's been cashing lately?

Great encouraging advice on here.

I certainly agree that playing tight in Freerolls is optimal strategy. Once you get deep, the play transitions more akin to a real money MTT. This is your opportunity to develop your own personal style to your play. You can figure out ways to steal blinds/pick spots/take advantage of other players weaknesses. Find their weaknesses and exploit them.

Have fun!

Originally Posted by brandonkremb

Is there any advice that someone can give me about profiting from freerolls on ACR? Been playing there for a long time but I haven't been getting ITM lately (8 months) and I'm starting to get disappointed. I came from the old train o thought "tight is right" growing up but with everyone just throwing in their chips is it really worth playing tight. The top 10 normally pays and I've been getting spots either busting out way early and my highest being 47th place. Any suggestions that can help me start profiting from these again? Preferably someone who's been cashing lately?

Just my thoughts. Volume is the number one thing that will get you ahead in profiting in the freerolls. Reg for them the second they pop up, and gamble on marginal hands to build a stack. Hopefully you will have 3 or 4 tables with a nice size stack, then you start playing your normal game midway/deep in each of them.

Freerolls are not exactly free. They cost you your tIme. It's possible to make a small profit off freerolls if you play enough of them but with the amount of tIme you would have to put in you would be lucky to profit a few cents per hour. Instead of spending the next few days, weeks or months trying to scrap up pennies you would be much better off if you investees that time into studying and improving your poker skills. Imagine if you spent an hour or two each day working towards becoming a better player than you would eventually be able to take your new found skills to some of the cash tables and build up a nice little bankroll for yourself. The other problem with freerolls is that no matter how much you play you will have a lot of trouble developing your poker skills and you'll most likely start picking up some of the bad habits that are frequently on display at those tables.

Originally Posted by deeznutzz

Freerolls are not exactly free. They cost you your tIme. It's possible to make a small profit off freerolls if you play enough of them but with the amount of tIme you would have to put in you would be lucky to profit a few cents per hour. Instead of spending the next few days, weeks or months trying to scrap up pennies you would be much better off if you investees that time into studying and improving your poker skills. Imagine if you spent an hour or two each day working towards becoming a better player than you would eventually be able to take your new found skills to some of the cash tables and build up a nice little bankroll for yourself. The other problem with freerolls is that no matter how much you play you will have a lot of trouble developing your poker skills and you'll most likely start picking up some of the bad habits that are frequently on display at those tables.

A counter-argument to this is that freerolls may be saving players a lot of money they would otherwise lose on normal pay tournaments, if they don't know what they are doing or are incapable of being a winning player. So in this scenario, which is true for about 70 percent of people, freerolls will not only be profitable by a small amount some of the time but will also save the opportunity cost of buy-ins all of the time. Then, at some point, those freeroll earnings can be applied towards buying tickets or just cashed out.

Originally Posted by brandonkremb

Is there any advice that someone can give me about profiting from freerolls on ACR? Been playing there for a long time but I haven't been getting ITM lately (8 months) and I'm starting to get disappointed. I came from the old train o thought "tight is right" growing up but with everyone just throwing in their chips is it really worth playing tight. The top 10 normally pays and I've been getting spots either busting out way early and my highest being 47th place. Any suggestions that can help me start profiting from these again? Preferably someone who's been cashing lately?

Don't ask me I haven't cashed out in one for more than a buck or 2 in a while but cashed in the $3.3 $100 added there my first time playing in it this sunday. What's funny is i did way better there at the beginning of the yr when i didn't know anything and constantly shoved. I still do better (meaning cash out for a buck or 2) when i don't care and just push everyone off their 1 pr and somehow get lucky n hit when i do get called. But that only works for so long.

These tournaments are perfect to test a poker bot

Originally Posted by brandonkremb

Is there any advice that someone can give me about profiting from freerolls on ACR? Any suggestions that can help me start profiting from these again? Preferably someone who's been cashing lately?

Originally Posted by Fishmasterbaiter

Wait out the donkey raisers and keep chat off, lol.

Solid advice - but having chat off isn't an issue on ACR - the damn chat doesn't work! Unfortunately

Originally Posted by digdug0037

As someone before me said, be very careful early on. There are usually all in's non stop for awhile. I like to let the play come to me. If I have a pair or something like Ak or 10 9 I will only call blinds early on. If someone after me goes all in I'm out. If it makes it to the flop I can play from there. maybe catch something good, but still play with caution until you know you hit it. Survive the early rounds and don't worry about the average chip stack. If you get lucky and get early leads or a big chip stack play a little tighter. When it starts getting closer to the bubble people tent to fold more quickly. This is your chance to take advantage of your good hands and steal a few blinds when the blinds are worth it. Also if you stay conservative, there will be people who try to bluff you off, so if you catch something good they will play right into your trap. Patience is the number 1 thing. Good luck to you.

Originally Posted by bellicoso

I just recently took 6th in the $10 on demand on ACR. The keys is to pick your spots, especially early on. Avoid the multi-way all-ins unless you've got a premium hand. From there, once you've got a stack, it's like any other game. Open your range a bit more and more as you progress, but do NOT make donk calls.
It's easy to get bored because the game's gonna last a few hours to make it to the top 10. In fact, boredom is probably the number one enemy for these games, because the pay is so low... it's easy just to be like, "meh, doesn't matter."
Anyway, you still want to play your hands correctly and try to read your opponents as best you can.

Solid advice from all the above quoted posters.
Just to reiterate and add - early on (first 20-30 minutes) only call shoves with premium hands QQ+ Half the field is shoving any Ace, any pocket pair 22+, and any two broadway cards.
The only exception I will make to this rule is if I have a strong Ace in the blinds and have one LP shove.

TAKE COPIOUS NOTES. The reg freerollers have EXTREME tendencies and are easy to outplay once you have learned what they do every time they get an Ace.

Shoving all-in is a donk move without premium holdings - however it is also used strategically to intimidate. Although this tactic (imo) is totally reckless - it works. I don't employ it without having +EV vs the table/opponents, however after learning the player tendencies - making calls vs certain opponents is a lot easier.

I use min-raise and punish limpers with 3bets if I have the stack to do so.
Limpers are playing rag Ace, any two suited or any single broadway from any position.
Don't worry about trappers until the field falls below 70-80 players.

There will always be 1-2 luckboxes that have 6-8x average stack that you have witnessed shoving with 9/3 s and pocket 33s and decimating premium holdings. Take advantage of those players - they are great at giving away chips - after they have lucked into a large stack.

Don't get flustered if you loose early - A LOT OF PLAYERS rely exclusively on luck playing these events - they can be dominated by playing strong later - but busting early is just part of the game.

Strongly agree with bellicoso regarding tedius boredom. It's good to have 1-2 other events open at the same time, although I really don't experience this as I'm always looking for edges by watching how players play.

Originally Posted by Heresthecooler

Look forward to playing the $100 daily CC freeroll, on ACR. That's the best advice you will hear. That $10 freeroll is tough.

You should notice - certain players play the same in CC freerolls as they do in those OD freerolls. Take notes - those players can be a real good source of chips.

This is the way

I have been sending emails to ACR periodically to request they re-introduce the freeroll leader board - to make them more meaningful. There used to be a leader board - where the top 10 qualified for a buyin event each week, and the top finisher of the week qualified for a much more lucrative event (sit n crush?).
It is unfortunate they discontinued the freeroll leader board - because now there is barely any incentive to play them.
I think if I keep pestering them - they will relent and reinstate it.

Originally Posted by theANMATOR

Solid advice - but having chat off isn't an issue on ACR - the damn chat doesn't work! Unfortunately





Solid advice from all the above quoted posters.
Just to reiterate and add - early on (first 20-30 minutes) only call shoves with premium hands QQ+ Half the field is shoving any Ace, any pocket pair 22+, and any two broadway cards.
The only exception I will make to this rule is if I have a strong Ace in the blinds and have one LP shove.

TAKE COPIOUS NOTES. The reg freerollers have EXTREME tendencies and are easy to outplay once you have learned what they do every time they get an Ace.

Shoving all-in is a donk move without premium holdings - however it is also used strategically to intimidate. Although this tactic (imo) is totally reckless - it works. I don't employ it without having +EV vs the table/opponents, however after learning the player tendencies - making calls vs certain opponents is a lot easier.

I use min-raise and punish limpers with 3bets if I have the stack to do so.
Limpers are playing rag Ace, any two suited or any single broadway from any position.
Don't worry about trappers until the field falls below 70-80 players.

There will always be 1-2 luckboxes that have 6-8x average stack that you have witnessed shoving with 9/3 s and pocket 33s and decimating premium holdings. Take advantage of those players - they are great at giving away chips - after they have lucked into a large stack.

Don't get flustered if you loose early - A LOT OF PLAYERS rely exclusively on luck playing these events - they can be dominated by playing strong later - but busting early is just part of the game.

Strongly agree with bellicoso regarding tedius boredom. It's good to have 1-2 other events open at the same time, although I really don't experience this as I'm always looking for edges by watching how players play.


You should notice - certain players play the same in CC freerolls as they do in those OD freerolls. Take notes - those players can be a real good source of chips.

This is the way

I have been sending emails to ACR periodically to request they re-introduce the freeroll leader board - to make them more meaningful. There used to be a leader board - where the top 10 qualified for a buyin event each week, and the top finisher of the week qualified for a much more lucrative event (sit n crush?).
It is unfortunate they discontinued the freeroll leader board - because now there is barely any incentive to play them.
I think if I keep pestering them - they will relent and reinstate it.

Hi, thanks for the feedback, it has been sent it to our marketing manager, to take it into consideration. Thanks for choosing us

I feel your pain. People just call you down with anything now a days. Pretty hard to play any tight poker. Times are changeing i guess.

I think first let the game rest for a few weeks.You probably just need some rest, then try again if you still don't succeed, you need to change something. Some tutorial videos can help!

I agree that poker has changed. A lot more calling stations out there. I feel that when free rolling one should expect a larger amount of loose play, as that players have no skin in the game. If they win its great, if not. Costs them nothing. Patience is the only way and be prepared to take the bad beats with a smile. Good luck

About a month or 2 ago i was playing them. never finished in the money but once a day id finish 11 to 15th. Not bad for 600 player fields but still would have liked a cash or 2
I do think these freeroll are a luck fest and if you play your run at the right time. Some of us TAG players have a hard playing those runs when you dont play too many low hands altho if i get a large stack i will call with broader ranger especially on short stacks.
As said tho you have to get lucky early on and build on that

Been playing periodically with no cashes. I find myself just playing whatever two cards and became not interested. Today I am bored and going to try to grind these all day and see what kind of money we can make if any.. Building a early stack in theses seem to be very key.

I cant play on ACR I have dollars in there but they have locked my account. every time I try and log in it asks for my email for verification then says it has sent a mail. the mail takes at least 10 minutes to arrive and by the time it comes the link has expired. I had this out with support and they are useless. I think the site is a rip off they are holding my bucks and refusing me to access them

Originally Posted by mkdrummey

I cant play on ACR I have dollars in there but they have locked my account. every time I try and log in it asks for my email for verification then says it has sent a mail. the mail takes at least 10 minutes to arrive and by the time it comes the link has expired. I had this out with support and they are useless. I think the site is a rip off they are holding my bucks and refusing me to access them

I do apologize for the recent issues described, could you please send us a private message with your screen name and a detailed description, that way we can further assist you.

The thing I like about freerolling at ACR is that I can use my Holdem Manager 3 which can be helpful in those situations. You may try your luck using such a device to help you know your opponents.

Originally Posted by ekgbeat

Just my thoughts. Volume is the number one thing that will get you ahead in profiting in the freerolls. Reg for them the second they pop up, and gamble on marginal hands to build a stack. Hopefully you will have 3 or 4 tables with a nice size stack, then you start playing your normal game midway/deep in each of them.

ekgbeat-

the single best point here, volume! Wild play invariable dominates the early stages and to start building a stack you will need some run good. The more tourneys you enter the better chances you have to succeed.

I (as everyone has underlined) play only premium hands in the early stages but then keep a sharp eye on the closing stages- lets define them as when the players remaining drop under 80. At that point it's easy to make an honest assessment of where you stand and where you need to be to make top ten. Whether to broaden your range or not, and by how much.

One thing to gauge at this point is the how the top ten leaderboard looks. It could be one, two or three have massive stacks and have completely left the field behind. Those in 4th through 10th have way smaller stacks and therefore you might not need to push hard and broaden your range too significantly.

On the other hand the top ten (down to say 15th) might be tightly packed with no real breakouts and this is when you need to get pro-active and really broaden your range and go for it.

However, the most salient advice is ekgbeat's regarding volume as the method to beat variance. So take heart and play a few rolling back to back if you have time- I have cashed in these three days in a row once and believe me, even if the payouts were small, it was immensely satisfying.

My advice to you is to always remain patient. It does not matter how your opponents play, but it does matter how you play. Try to use the disadvantages of your opponents to your advantage.

Originally Posted by JRTHEKING

I still think tight is right with some good aggression mixed in your best spots. Freerolling is really a grind now and has been for some time. If it wasn't for a few sites like Cards Chat that still put up some good private games... freerolls are pretty much a dead end for players from the United States. The prize pools are awful. The decent games are few and far between and the freerollers who are still at it (huge amounts of players have left the game since the law change and black friday) are playing for peanuts. In the old days freerolling was profitable even for an average player. Games were everywhere day and night and the prize pools were multiple times better. I remember having 47 sites on my computer during the boom times. lol $500 -$2000 freerolls were the norm along with $5000-$10000 games every weekend. Along with tons of private forums offering games that have all gone under.

Originally Posted by deeznutzz

Freerolls are not exactly free. They cost you your tIme. It's possible to make a small profit off freerolls if you play enough of them but with the amount of tIme you would have to put in you would be lucky to profit a few cents per hour. Instead ...........you would be much better off if you investees that time into studying and improving your poker skills. Imagine if you spent an hour or two each day working towards becoming a better player than you would eventually be able to take your new found skills to some of the cash tables and build up a nice little bankroll for yourself.

True . I also want to start studying a lot more seriously , it's better than playing some low prizepool freerolls , especially with countless players lol . Ofcourse , the premium freerolls , like the ones CC has , you can play them , for practice and as you get better and better , some winnings as well (to use these for MTTs and more experience , or anywhere else )

BTW , I agree that freerolls nowadays are way fewer than the ones in the past , when so many freerolls you could play , some with thousands of $$$$ free Some used to be on Pokerstars platform , some of them at the weekend , I don't like that they stopped offering them . Granting some tickets in some freerolls with various poker formats , like badugi/stud etc , not only NLH , , and then use these tickets to play premium freerolls in the weekend , those were good days . Also some other freerolls , like the $1000 , 4 times everyday , for depositors or chromestar+ VIP level , or some other freerolls , not only on PokerStars , but also on other pokerrooms . Those were good days .....

Originally Posted by puzzlefish

A counter-argument to this is that freerolls may be saving players a lot of money they would otherwise lose on normal pay tournaments, if they don't know what they are doing or are incapable of being a winning player.

Actually I believe this is also true . You can practice at the same time by playing with the freeroll money some tourneys , especially some nice more expensive ones , which you couldn't plasy normally with your own bankroll , Practice , experience while studying at the same time .

Originally Posted by infonazar

My advice to you is to always remain patient. It does not matter how your opponents play, but it does matter how you play. Try to use the disadvantages of your opponents to your advantage.

Patience , yes , especially after bad beats due to opponents' crazy calls/shoves , maybe some mistakes of yours ?? patience when you have small stack . J ust because it's a freeroll doesn't mean you can shove ATC hoping for the easy double up , by doing this most of the times you bust out and lose all the time invested until then .

just say focused and dont play it like its free to play - play like your a winning player in every game and your poker kitty will grow!!

I have really enjoyed reading this thread. There have been lots of good points, some I agree with, some I don't, but I think that is more down to what your goal is for these tournaments, rather than any ideas being right or wrong.

I think the ACR freerolls are excellent for testing your poker skills. It gives you more time than any other I have played. I don't remember ever having to play shove just because my stack was less than 5BB. 10 minute levels means you can play as you want, so no excuses.

Personally, I think playing tight in these tournaments is a huge mistake, especially early on. What do these tournaments cost you? Time. Don't waste it playing tight early. Go all in, build a stack or go on to the next one. 5k chips is enough to cash, and I have done this playing only one hand. 5 minutes to make $.10 isn't bad. This is optimal strategy if you are only interested in $/min.

If I do decide I am going to play the middle part of the tournament, I use the sit out button almost 90% of the time. I turn it off when UTG so I don't loose the hand. I play tight, use position, and only play a hand if I would be happy going all-in on it. I decide which stage of the tournament I want to get to, earn enough chips to do that and walk away. Have lunch, walk the dog, sleep, whatever. I am already ITM and spending a lot of time to earn an extra cent or two is, IMO, a waste of time. I may come back once the next target is reached and do the same again.

Using this strategy, I am much more relaxed and able to play my game. I never go on tilt after bad beats in this tournament if I only invested 20-30 min to get deep ITM. I believe this gives me a huge advantage over tight players who have invested 2 or more hours in the tournament and now don't want to risk what they have worked so hard for.

The point you should take from this into other MTTs is that trying to play "good poker" is not always the optimal strategy. You don't get paid in tournament chips. Your time is valuable.

Hope this give some insight to people about why these games are often wild. Different people have different goals and play differently. Poker would be boring otherwise.

Good Luck out there


PS: Screen grab from my Sharkscope

Originally Posted by bigredwolf

I have really enjoyed reading this thread. There have been lots of good points, some I agree with, some I don't, but I think that is more down to what your goal is for these tournaments, rather than any ideas being right or wrong.

I think the ACR freerolls are excellent for testing your poker skills. It gives you more time than any other I have played. I don't remember ever having to play shove just because my stack was less than 5BB. 10 minute levels means you can play as you want, so no excuses.

Personally, I think playing tight in these tournaments is a huge mistake, especially early on. What do these tournaments cost you? Time. Don't waste it playing tight early. Go all in, build a stack or go on to the next one. 5k chips is enough to cash, and I have done this playing only one hand. 5 minutes to make $.10 isn't bad. This is optimal strategy if you are only interested in $/min.

If I do decide I am going to play the middle part of the tournament, I use the sit out button almost 90% of the time. I turn it off when UTG so I don't loose the hand. I play tight, use position, and only play a hand if I would be happy going all-in on it. I decide which stage of the tournament I want to get to, earn enough chips to do that and walk away. Have lunch, walk the dog, sleep, whatever. I am already ITM and spending a lot of time to earn an extra cent or two is, IMO, a waste of time. I may come back once the next target is reached and do the same again.

Using this strategy, I am much more relaxed and able to play my game. I never go on tilt after bad beats in this tournament if I only invested 20-30 min to get deep ITM. I believe this gives me a huge advantage over tight players who have invested 2 or more hours in the tournament and now don't want to risk what they have worked so hard for.

The point you should take from this into other MTTs is that trying to play "good poker" is not always the optimal strategy. You don't get paid in tournament chips. Your time is valuable.

Hope this give some insight to people about why these games are often wild. Different people have different goals and play differently. Poker would be boring otherwise.

Good Luck out there


PS: Screen grab from my Sharkscope

wow that is some advanced freeroll-sitout-strategy right there. would be fun if more players follow your advice and those tournaments would become a pure shove-fest. i hope soon they will add some pot limit omaha again. see you at the tables.

Originally Posted by nairolph87

wow that is some advanced freeroll-sitout-strategy right there. would be fun if more players follow your advice and those tournaments would become a pure shove-fest. i hope soon they will add some pot limit omaha again. see you at the tables.

I apologize if this came across as advice, this is not what I intended at all. I just wanted to be informative about what strategies are out there. Hopefully people can come to their own conclusions as to what they should do.

Originally Posted by bigredwolf

I have really enjoyed reading this thread. There have been lots of good points, some I agree with, some I don't, but I think that is more down to what your goal is for these tournaments, rather than any ideas being right or wrong.

I think the ACR freerolls are excellent for testing your poker skills. It gives you more time than any other I have played. I don't remember ever having to play shove just because my stack was less than 5BB. 10 minute levels means you can play as you want, so no excuses.

Personally, I think playing tight in these tournaments is a huge mistake, especially early on. What do these tournaments cost you? Time. Don't waste it playing tight early. Go all in, build a stack or go on to the next one. 5k chips is enough to cash, and I have done this playing only one hand. 5 minutes to make $.10 isn't bad. This is optimal strategy if you are only interested in $/min.

If I do decide I am going to play the middle part of the tournament, I use the sit out button almost 90% of the time. I turn it off when UTG so I don't loose the hand. I play tight, use position, and only play a hand if I would be happy going all-in on it. I decide which stage of the tournament I want to get to, earn enough chips to do that and walk away. Have lunch, walk the dog, sleep, whatever. I am already ITM and spending a lot of time to earn an extra cent or two is, IMO, a waste of time. I may come back once the next target is reached and do the same again.

Using this strategy, I am much more relaxed and able to play my game. I never go on tilt after bad beats in this tournament if I only invested 20-30 min to get deep ITM. I believe this gives me a huge advantage over tight players who have invested 2 or more hours in the tournament and now don't want to risk what they have worked so hard for.

The point you should take from this into other MTTs is that trying to play "good poker" is not always the optimal strategy. You don't get paid in tournament chips. Your time is valuable.

Hope this give some insight to people about why these games are often wild. Different people have different goals and play differently. Poker would be boring otherwise.

Good Luck out there


PS: Screen grab from my Sharkscope

What is the screenshot showing? That you cash 1/3 of the time? Is that only freerolls?

I think you'll find the CC games much more worth your time, once you are eligible for the freeroll club. The CC freeroll club is what got my BR off the ground! THANKS CC!!!

Originally Posted by jordanbillie

What is the screenshot showing? That you cash 1/3 of the time? Is that only freerolls?

I think you'll find the CC games much more worth your time, once you are eligible for the freeroll club. The CC freeroll club is what got my BR off the ground! THANKS CC!!!

Yes, yes and yes

I agree entirely, that is what got me started too !

Originally Posted by bigredwolf

Yes, yes and yes

I agree entirely, that is what got me started too !

I can see why you shared that statistic, that is an impressive cash rate in those ridiculous freeroll fields.

Good luck to you, hopefully I see you on the felt sometime on ACR.

Be patient, don't get into big pots early. Remember pocket Aces are not that good with 3, 4 or players in the hand. And in these freerolls it's not unusual to see that many players wanting to see the flop.

I believe that with all of the players going all in early in the freerolls, you just need to be patient and wait for good hands. The aggressive players will take themselves out. Good luck at the tables.