Freeroll Strategy

finaltable1

finaltable1

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As there are a lot of both new and old members asking about freeroll tournaments I thought it would be great if people shared what they thought was the best strategy for doing well in freerolls...so what is your go to strategy for freeroll tournaments?

Personally I like to play strong hands and bet safe early in freerolls. Come mid tournament I like to try and play more hands and bet a little more aggressive but never playing hands that shouldn’t be played. Finally, towards the end of the tournament I like to play a mixed strategy between playing high cards and low cards with some bluffs in between. I use a mix strategy to prevent from becoming predictable when there are only a select number of people especially at a final table. This is a pretty straightforward approach I know but curious how other people go about their freeroll tournaments.

I guess u're not winning often.
Start the freeroll by playing 100% of hands in late positions if it's cheap... if ur stack is 50-100bb, then limp or 2bb raise should not scare you if your hand is something like J5s on the button.
Early stage of the freeroll is the stage of stack building. If you're going to sit tight and wait for premium hands then in 90% of cases you won't build a good stack. You must be very loose pre-flop, but never bluff or tilt, so at the showdown your hand must be nuts or 70% close to the nuts. Str8 or flush draws = don't bet them without a pair. Gutshot? Never heard of it, never played it, I don't even consider gutshot as a draw.

The deeper it goes the tighter you must play pre-flop.
Folding AK during bubble time is a very good decision if your stack is above 10bb
Pushing all-in with JTo being in the money in late positions with no limps or bets infront of you is also a good decision if your stack is under 15bb.
At the final table 4max-9max you must play really tight with stack above 20bb, and push any J+ connector hand with stack under 10bb.
3max and HU is something special.
Well everything depends on the table.
I've freerolled $800 so far since start of 2019 at all sites i'm playing by doing this.

P.S. Exclude any bluffs from your strategy. It's a freeroll, players will call!
 
eniseysmail

eniseysmail

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In my opinion, if the game in the freeroll initially failed, then this game will no longer make sense. But I do not mean that from the very beginning you have to go all in.
 
Dmitriy_rus7

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Play very passively and wait for a good card.:):)
 
alfiyka

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I play by intuition.It all depends on the players at the table,on what card is on the stack...She used to go to poker school.But I never play by the rules.
 
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donker1

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I like to try to stack up early. You haven't invested much time so take some shots. As you have spent more time building up you can get more conservative.
 
sedlacekj

sedlacekj

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I guess u're not winning often.
Start the freeroll by playing 100% of hands in late positions if it's cheap... if ur stack is 50-100bb, then limp or 2bb raise should not scare you if your hand is something like J5s on the button.
Early stage of the freeroll is the stage of stack building. If you're going to sit tight and wait for premium hands then in 90% of cases you won't build a good stack. You must be very loose pre-flop, but never bluff or tilt, so at the showdown your hand must be nuts or 70% close to the nuts. Str8 or flush draws = don't bet them without a pair. Gutshot? Never heard of it, never played it, I don't even consider gutshot as a draw.

The deeper it goes the tighter you must play pre-flop.
Folding AK during bubble time is a very good decision if your stack is above 10bb
Pushing all-in with JTo being in the money in late positions with no limps or bets infront of you is also a good decision if your stack is under 15bb.
At the final table 4max-9max you must play really tight with stack above 20bb, and push any J+ connector hand with stack under 10bb.
3max and HU is something special.
Well everything depends on the table.
I've freerolled $800 so far since start of 2019 at all sites i'm playing by doing this.

P.S. Exclude any bluffs from your strategy. It's a freeroll, players will call!

Thanks for your contribution. I really like this strategy and have done this frequently. I'd rather stack up fast, and if that fails, go bust and do something else. By stacking early, I am in better position to dominate the mid-tourney. Typical for me, I bust out of 3 out of 4 tourneys early, then the one that hits, go long to the moeney.
 
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kbolding7

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If you can double or triple up early and have a good stack going into the later portion of the tournament, you will have a much better chance to make the final table. The main goal is to be able to put as much pressure on everyone else with a big stack.
 
Datdude1

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Playing in freerolls I believe that the key is patients. By it being a lot of people playing these tournaments a lot will be trying to push frequently in the beginning, just wait for the right hand then take the chips.
 
CTAPYXA

CTAPYXA

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I played a few freerolls and noticed that no strategy works. I have a AA pocket pair and I make a 4-bet, my opponent goes all in.. He has Q3 and wins. Many of these cases. And where is the strategy?
 
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