In this thread I'm gonna show you 2 of my loosing hands from ACR freeroll 50$gtd. 6Max, and try to bring you freerolls closer a little, and maybe from your perspective see, what else should we do in situations like these.

part1

blinds 20/40

UTG (hero) 3560 : AQo raises to 100
MP 3100: fold
CO 2130: raises to 295
BTN 344: all-in
SB 2650: fold
BB: 806: fold


First hand:Ah Qs


So we are first to act, limits are 20/40 and there are two low stacks. Almost every time they will go all-in, so
to make them go for it, i decided to bet 100, and give them space to do it. CO reraised to 295, which is really interesting,
looks like he want to make the pot bigger. This raise is not so scary, but he won't fold if we go here all-in or 3-4bet, so
I'm just call, and see what flop brings.

Flop: 9c 7c 8s

Now this is horrible, but we are in a great position to check and see what he is gonna do. We checked and he checked back.
He definitely didn't want to raise the bar, so we both not connected to this dangerous flop, cause I really expected him
to raise here.

Turn: Qd

What a turn! So I hit a raise to 300, I just sitted here a minute ago, and don't have any information about that person.
You can raise here even up to around 850, but freerolls the fold equity is very low, I didn't risk that this time.
He made a call, so we are leading now.

River: 5c

Very bad river card, but a safe raise from my side to 450. As he was so passive, it will work if he didn't hit here.
He 2bet to 900. People here in freerolls will not bluff at this point that big, he went with 2/3 his stack, so AQ is a really nice-looking
hand, but I made a fold here.
He had Kc10c so the whole time have every nuts to beat me. Even if I was very passive, so usefull notes from him, and
very big mistakes on his side giving me space to get strength, and not rating his hand as a powerful one.

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part2


blinds 50/100

UTG 1320: fold
MP 2150: bet 200
CO 2230: fold
BTN 3015: call 200
SB 4146 (hero): raises to 700
BB 3965: fold

After that, MP reraised me to 1200, BTN called, and I went for all-in and both of them called me (not suprised)
MP: Ah 5h
BTN: As 9h

FTR:6s Jh 10d 7s Js
BTN won with A9o.

So what was this?

To be honest I rate my combination as a strong one, and didn't want to involve 3+ players in it. However I raised not enough
to make even one of them fold, and MP even reraised me to 1200 which show from both of our sides power, but A9o still
manage to call us.
Theres a question here that should I open more or 3.5BB re-raise were enough or better to just call here?

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Anyway, you can see that there's not so much value in freerolls, so try to make notes fast, and assimilate what you have
at your tables, cause as its opened for everyone, and free - so many actions and weaker combinations can showned up.
Its definitely bring the fun side of poker, great experience but in real money these kind of actions won't happen. And I wanted to share these freeroll experiences to see, what people are doing here, and ask, what else should I do in these fields? Make bigger bets, get myself into flips more often/ more rare?

Thanks if you read it, and your answers too.

I had KQs in the part2 just forget to mention it.

hand 1, I think if you go all in preflop, he would fold

hand 2, I think you overplayed, KQs looks good but is early to push 40 blinds preflop

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

Hand 1 AQo
Preflop
The standard play is definitely to just call his 3-bet, but if he was a bit on the maniac side, you could also 4-bet jam for value.

Flop
Pretty bad flop, I am in check-fold mode. He check back.

Turn
TPTK and since he checked back turn I think, you are likely to have the best hand. Definitely betting for value, but you go very small with just 300 into a pot of more than 1.000. I prefer to put some more chips in now and then maybe check on a bad river card.

River
One of the worst cards in the deck bringing out a 1-liner to a straight and a potential flush as well. Maybe its not to likely, he has a 6 after 3-betting pre, but if nothing else this card is an action killer. You went for a small block bet of 450 into around 1.700, and I am not a huge fan of that play. Maybe there is some merit in trying to get him to call with a hand like KQ, that you coolered, but I prefer to check and mostly look to check-fold, if he puts in a substantial bet. As played I like folding to his raise. He still need to beat the all-in player at showdown to win the main pot, so he has less incentive to bluff you. Also you get to see his cards, so if nothing else you can take a note, if he did in fact bluff you.

Hand 2 KQs
I prefer to just call and take a flop out of position. I think, stack sizes are rather awkward for 3-betting, since you need to risk a substantial amount of your stack to get fold equity, and you will commit yourself against the original raiser, who only started with a little over 20BB. Its also bad to have a big stack in the big blind behind you, because once in a while he will wake up with a big hand like AA or AK, and that puts you in a really bad situation.

I also dont think, a freeroll is the place for light 3-bets, because typically people wont fold as much, as they are supposed to. So I would probably only 3-bet here with very strong hands like a big pair or AQ-AK, and then I would simply move all in for around 40BB. I would not attempt to have a 3-bet then fold range in this situation.

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

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