Freerolling on ACR

[ACR Rep]

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.

 

[beatlebug]

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.

 

[DS3]

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.

 

[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.

 

[antonis32123]

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.

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 .....

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 .

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 .

 

[det0nate]

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!!

 

[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

 

[Suns of Beaches]

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.

 

[bigredwolf]

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.

 

[jordanbillie]

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!!!

 

[bigredwolf]

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 !

 

[jordanbillie]

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.

 

[wagon596]

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.

 

[siuranger]

ACR Freerolls

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.