Beating Free-Buys
Originally Posted by BullXT
MTT have stages, even in a freeroll, each stage have a different approach, I balance my play style during the tournament, the stack size if a big factor, this will decide my bet size and other things
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THIS!
I hear many people complain about the play in freerolls. I agree, it is not the same as a $1.10 45 player SNG, or a $55 High Roller game...or a 3-up Spin...
But...Every game is different. Some differences are subtle, some are in your face. But every game has its stages. And if you play the same way throughout, you are destined for failure.
Freerolls also have a particular way to attack them.
Early stages, its a shit show. Every ace, PP, suited connector is shoved by the masses.
So its a free-for-all. (And now you know why the phrase "free-for-all" implies chaos.)
So...about those stages...what are they, and how do you prepare to beat them?
I just ID them as Early, Middle and Late. (Though some may separate into more or fewer stages)
Early game:
First of all...fold the first hand (or indeed the first few hands). It will a multiway pot with 5 people in it. Your AXo is weak. And you need to get an idea of what your opponents are like.
Next, rebuy. If you can only rebuy once. Do it. If you can rebuy up to 5 times. Do it. This is the most important step in surviving a freeroll to late stages. This typically gives you an extra 5K chips for one rebuy on a Stars freebuy, or up to almost 26K chips (5K * 5 + 1K minus antes starting stack).
Now, with a full stack, you are prepared to wait for a hand and an opportunity.
Whilst waiting for your opportunity take, take note of the hands each player is playing. It is important that you understand if players (who remain) are playing made hands, marginal made hands, etc. This intel will be useful in helping determine which hands you will get involved in.
Early stages, tight s right. It will be hard enough to win a hand with AA, let alone crap hands. Strong hands only. QQ or better.
Early position, you might as well fold unless you have serious strength...otherwise it is just gambling.
By mid-game, your stack has grown and you are sitting pretty, in the top 10%-20% of the field. You are still playing tight, but now you are looking for opportunities to steal, force folds, etc. You will have to rely on game play to ID which opponents are ripe for pushing around. There will often be a person who folds to any aggression. Target them. This will also be a player or two who is hyper aggressive. Avoid them until you can stack them. Use check raise/check-shove against these types.
ID players who can be pushed off a pot vs those who will shove to aggression.
Tip: Having a HUD makes reviewing mucked cards super easy. Always review mucked hands, immediately after every hand to help id the positional range of the table villains.
By the end of mid-stage, this is starting to look like poker again instead of a lottery.
As we approach the end game, moving towards the bubble, people will be looking for their "big hand". Now is the time to loosen up and start stealing blinds. This will only be effective if you were actually playing TAG. If you were loose in the beginning, being loose now will not help that much. But if your rep is solid / VPIP is low, open up a bit, especially from late position and start pushing a lot of pressure on the blinds.
The tendency to defend blinds will reduce as the percentage of total stack size for BB increases. Find the weakness and exploit.
Some players in the blinds despise limpers trying to get into their pot and will bet big when you try. For them, limp strong hands, check raising or check shoving periodically. Others don't mind limpers and avoid raised pots in late game. Target them and act accordingly.
In the dying moments of these games, you will need to force a couple bluffs through to maintain your edge over the others. With everyone being tight, you'll be seeing more folds around to you. Getting a shove through without opposing action is quite common in late game freebuys. But look out for stacks with lots of chips. The big stacks have the responsibility to take out some of the smaller ones and keep the mid stacks honest.
You are going to need to win a lot of pots over the course of such a tourney, and ideally, each pot you win should be oversized, compared to average games.
At the end, you need to decide whether you are going to try and fold your way to glory, or fight. You must take advantage of having the dealer button late game. By this point, just stealing the blinds can significantly increase your stack and ensure you are in for the top prize.
Keep in minds that, for say, the average poker stars turbo freebuy, you start with 1K chips and will finish with, several million. At first glance, this seems like an impossible feat. But realistically, it means that across the entire tournament, you will need to double up about 10 times. The good news is that in a freebuy, it is easy to get an opponent in a hand to commit all their chips. The bad news, is that you are not going to win this tourney by bluffing. So every hand you play, must have strength and not rely on fold equity.
Luck is still going to be a fctor when you are competing with 4000 others for a handful of tickets to the next round. But make sure you reduce that element by playing tight and trying to get into pots with only one other player in early game. Loosening up as the game progresses, so that when everyone is super tight you are now wider, you can hoover up blinds and put yourself in a good spot.
Cheers,
ObbleeXY
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