Are Freerolls tougher than Real Money Tourneys?

RiverLord90

RiverLord90

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I play a lot of freerolls on Black Chip, occasionally on intertops and Sports Betting when they have them. It seems like the variance in these freerolls are waaay high than real money tourneys since there's a lot more players (many who are bad and/or straight up have no idea how to even play) and no real money on the line making people act crazy in them.

I feel like these variables make it tougher for an above average player who knows what they're doing to come out on top. Maybe not high stakes but micro and mid stakes tourneys are easier for above average players imo.
 
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aj88xa869

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I play a good amount of freerolls and agree the variance is wicked with so many players going all in every chance they get. I guess for an above average player you could say it would be more difficult through much of the early stages, but the final tables will surely be easier than low-mid stakes.

But I don't mind playing them because if I do manage to get some solid situations and survive/thrive past the late registration, then I am most likely up against only a few inexperienced players in the final pool, which gives potential opportunity to take advantage of their weaknesses and get a massive stack.
 
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Jacob 7

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I think that freerolls are tougher than real money tourneys the higher stakes buy in you play the more cautious most people will play
 
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ozrock

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I've played in a ton of free rolls. In the early stages, it is a crap shoot. As someone mentioned above, a lot of bad players, novices, hyper-maniacs, etc. In the later stages of a free roll just as in a real money tournament, the players left play as if they are in a regular tournament.
 
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bellicoso

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Logic goes out the window in the early stages of the freerolls, and there are so many people involved you have no choice but join in the madness and hope for the best. Don't count on your aces or kings surviving anything pre-flop. But, in the end you can still gain some good experience if you make it past late registration, and it's a way to put a little free cash in your account if you win. :)
 
Tony Vayer

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Freerolls are more dumb than real money games. In freerolls mass of participants believe only in luck and not afraid to lose anything. In real money games (cash) you won't go all-in with 83.
 
NHequalsFU

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Freerolls are definitely not tougher than real money tournaments.

They are higher variance probably due to the size of fields and having to get all-in in many more situations in the early stages.

You can easily build a huge stack in a freeroll with a few nice hands where as in a real money tournament you may not get to quadruple up when you hold AA and win the all-in.

You will have more all-in early stage situations that will raise your variance but they are definitely not tougher.

Hard to win for sure, but it's simply due to variance.
 
liuouhgkres

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Freerolls are much easier than real money tournaments, and I would argue that even variance is lower than in real tournaments, simply because you should be able to get in much more profitably. People who complain about freerolls are simply weak players, that can't adjust to loose passive field.
 
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freestocks

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Freerolls take longer with so many players. A chip and a chair means you are still in any tourny with a chip. In any tourny, at any moment, a risk it all coin flip could end it.
 
ROman77

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Such players are not only in freerolls, they are very often found at low limits MTT, even at high limits can be found such players are extremely rare . Usually those players that have a good balance of playing freerolls purely on luck ,but there are people without balance ,multiacc and so on .
 
pirateglenn

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Freerolls are real money tourneys except you dont buy in to play so if you have the same attitude to freerolls as you would have to playing a real money buy in, thats a great start..in terms of difficulty, you get the obvious variance questions, their is a wide mix of ability and also field numbers..are they are more difficult? I would say it depends on the player themselves and how they view and play a Freeroll, for me - the main differentiation is field numbers - convention goes out of the way with regards to hand ranges too as players in Freerolls are generally looser and more aggressive as they have nothing to lose - especially early into a tourney.
Its worth noting, a lot of very good players including pros - still play freerolls.
 
ACESOVEREZZZ

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Freeroll Players

Freeroll tournaments as much harder to play in as Key word here is "FREE" which in itself means nothing to lose. I refer to these tournaments sometimes as "Bingorama" games as players have nothing to lose and go all in with rags.Seen it time & time again where a bingo player goes all in hand after hand I amazingly wins with rags like 4/6 off etc.

When playing freerolls I try to stay out of the bingo game which seems to prevail more at the beginning of these games.
 
mariale_1990

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yes the fact that some tournaments are free makes some players commit crazy, but that does not mean they are bad, at least not all are bad players, and maybe that's why you see it difficult or complicated, and you must also have in account that in the paid tournaments there is also what you would call bad players or crazy players, I have run into a lot of them, and I do not deny it I also commit certain madness in paid tournaments
 
RiverLord90

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I play a good amount of freerolls and agree the variance is wicked with so many players going all in every chance they get. I guess for an above average player you could say it would be more difficult through much of the early stages, but the final tables will surely be easier than low-mid stakes.

But I don't mind playing them because if I do manage to get some solid situations and survive/thrive past the late registration, then I am most likely up against only a few inexperienced players in the final pool, which gives potential opportunity to take advantage of their weaknesses and get a massive stack.

Yeah it's that insane variance that makes me think they're tougher than real money freerolls. I can regular make it to the final table or top 15 on some but others I get donked out on some bs 1 or 2 hands in. It's so crazy. But that's a good point though.Even when I make my first deposits, I will probably continue playing freerolls just because.
 
RiverLord90

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I think that freerolls are tougher than real money tourneys the higher stakes buy in you play the more cautious most people will play

Exactly. I guess the only time it would be similar is a bunch of crazy rich dudes playing real money tourneys just for fun.
 
RiverLord90

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I've played in a ton of free rolls. In the early stages, it is a crap shoot. As someone mentioned above, a lot of bad players, novices, hyper-maniacs, etc. In the later stages of a free roll just as in a real money tournament, the players left play as if they are in a regular tournament.

Yeah I noticed that. I regular make it pretty deep, usually ITM or to the FT (or next step) but sometimes I get knocked out a few hands in against some unconnected low card off suit BS. It sucks when you're trying to legitimately build a BR from scratch but I guess you can't complain too much since it's completely free.
 
RiverLord90

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Logic goes out the window in the early stages of the freerolls, and there are so many people involved you have no choice but join in the madness and hope for the best. Don't count on your aces or kings surviving anything pre-flop. But, in the end you can still gain some good experience if you make it past late registration, and it's a way to put a little free cash in your account if you win. :)

Awh I know all too well. It's almost good strat to fold your aces/kings/queens in the early stages just to make it out lol
 
RiverLord90

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Freerolls are more dumb than real money games. In freerolls mass of participants believe only in luck and not afraid to lose anything. In real money games (cash) you won't go all-in with 83.

Yeah it feels like a straight up crap shoot in the very beginning. Sucks when you get knocked out with a premium hand against some off suit unconnected low cards smh
 
RiverLord90

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Freerolls are definitely not tougher than real money tournaments.

They are higher variance probably due to the size of fields and having to get all-in in many more situations in the early stages.

You can easily build a huge stack in a freeroll with a few nice hands where as in a real money tournament you may not get to quadruple up when you hold AA and win the all-in.

You will have more all-in early stage situations that will raise your variance but they are definitely not tougher.

Hard to win for sure, but it's simply due to variance.

Wouldn't that higher variance make it tougher though? I based the level of toughness off of variance for everybody involved, and since the variance is much higher for everyone, it is also tougher imo. Like the same reason I've heard mtts are tougher than stt and cash games only because of variance.
 
RiverLord90

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Freerolls are much easier than real money tournaments, and I would argue that even variance is lower than in real tournaments, simply because you should be able to get in much more profitably. People who complain about freerolls are simply weak players, that can't adjust to loose passive field.

I mean there's loose passive and then there's batsh*t insane aggressive field which freerolls basically are.

I wasn't complaining at all, I'm glad to be able to play free for real money, I was just saying they are tougher because of higher variance. But I agree, sometimes you can exploit people blatantly donk shoving every hand and double or triple up off of them, or they can suck out and take you out with a bad beat.
 
RiverLord90

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J'ai 24 tournois gratuits de remportés. J'apprécie beaucoup les beaux efforts des organisateurs de tournois et de leurs qualifications.

Yeah I appreciate freerolls for sure. I was just opening a discussion about whether they are tougher than real money tourneys or not. Congrats on your success!
 
RiverLord90

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Freerolls take longer with so many players. A chip and a chair means you are still in any tourny with a chip. In any tourny, at any moment, a risk it all coin flip could end it.

Awh, yeah they do. That's why it sucks so much making it deep after a few hours just to get taken out from a bad beat. That's been happening to me the last few days unfortunately.
 
RiverLord90

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Such players are not only in freerolls, they are very often found at low limits MTT, even at high limits can be found such players are extremely rare . Usually those players that have a good balance of playing freerolls purely on luck ,but there are people without balance ,multiacc and so on .

I can see that being the case. I suppose 50 cents to a few dollars isn't that much to a lot of people so they probably play just as crazy at these stakes as freerolls.
 
RiverLord90

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Freerolls are real money tourneys except you dont buy in to play so if you have the same attitude to freerolls as you would have to playing a real money buy in, thats a great start..in terms of difficulty, you get the obvious variance questions, their is a wide mix of ability and also field numbers..are they are more difficult? I would say it depends on the player themselves and how they view and play a Freeroll, for me - the main differentiation is field numbers - convention goes out of the way with regards to hand ranges too as players in Freerolls are generally looser and more aggressive as they have nothing to lose - especially early into a tourney.
Its worth noting, a lot of very good players including pros - still play freerolls.

That's awesome knowing pros still play freerolls. I can tell there are good players in the freerolls because I have been knocked out by a few making great plays on me assuming all freeroll players were fish.

I usually do play with the same attitude, but it's hard when your premiums get taken out a few hands in against some of the worst starting hands. And the player field being much larger like you said making it even tougher.
 
RiverLord90

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Freeroll tournaments as much harder to play in as Key word here is "FREE" which in itself means nothing to lose. I refer to these tournaments sometimes as "Bingorama" games as players have nothing to lose and go all in with rags.Seen it time & time again where a bingo player goes all in hand after hand I amazingly wins with rags like 4/6 off etc.

When playing freerolls I try to stay out of the bingo game which seems to prevail more at the beginning of these games.


Yeah it's exactly like bingo. It's insane. But sometimes you can identify the ones donk shoving all in every hand and double or triple up off of them so sometimes it's good.
 
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