Hours wasted in freerolls?

[nghoffman]

freerolls are only a waste of time if you "waste" the winnings from them, in my opinion. Poker time experienced, good or bad, is never wasteful. It's all part of the learning process.

 

[Matt_Burns88]

I think there is a misconception among many players when it comes to freerolls. A lot of them believe that because they didn't wager any money that means they didn't invest into it. That's simply not true. They invested both their time and their energy into playing them. I think most of these players if they were being honest will tell you that they've spent dozens or even hundreds of hours freerolling. I played one myself a few weeks back and I made it to the final table. Just that one freeroll took nearly 5 1/2 hours to complete. I ended up finishing first and walked away with $7.65. The minuscule hourly rate isn't the real issue with freerolls. Its that the time spent could be much more profitable elsewhere. Freerolls for the most part play exactly like play money games. For those players who think their learning the game by playing them the truth is that real poker isn't played like that. Quick example: that freeroll I told you I played within the first 20 minutes of the tournament more than 50 of the 500 plus players had already busted out. Compare that to a $500 buy in tournament that I played last week where 2 hours in and not a single player had busted out. After 3 hours a total of 214 out of the 217 players were still in the tournament. I'm not saying players should stop freerolling and start buy in to $500 tournaments. What I am saying is that if someone wants to progress up to low, mid and possibly high stake games the way to do it is not by freerolling. If they were to use that time instead to study the game I think many players would be shocked by how much better they would get in just a few weeks and months

There is a big difference between a freeroll and a $500 buy in though!
The most obvious is of course, the money you're risking, but also the structure of the tournament. Freerolls tend to be large fields with small starting starting stacks (100BB's), with 5 minute blind levels so after 5 minutes most of the field are already down to 50BB's. Compare that to 200BB starting stack with 12 minute blinds, where the blinds do not increase in value nearly so quickly, you would expect lots of early bust outs and players try to build a larger stack because of the lack of risk.

3 hours to eliminate 3 players does seem absurdly slow though!

 

[CornY7Y]

I don't think freerolls are a waste of time, yet you learn something when you play them.

 

[bapfel]

I also play a lot of freerolls, to get better in playing, learn from my faults and raise my bankroll step by step.

 

[Djon25]

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Freerolls are good when there is no money.

 

[betang]

I prefer play some freerolls, get some money and them enjoy other tournaments

 

[EvaQueen777]

So....

It seems silly to me to count the hours that have been spent in freerolls. Let me explain why. These games are free, and how can you have the audacity to say that you are wasting your time? You should be glad that you are given such an opportunity - to play, to win without risking, without spending your money! Who said it would be easy? Will not be. What you drown is a Russian proverb. When an athlete is training for a cold, he does not say, hmm, how much time I SPEND just like that.
He understands that every hour of his TRAINING goes to his piggy bank. And you need to play freerolls as if the last game is yours, then there is a great chance to win:icon_joke

 

[marvinsytan]

the best thing in life are cardschat platinum freerolls

i turned $0 bankroll into $400 and hopefully more to come in betonline

 

[DJIGIT666]

Freeroll is a great opportunity for a beginner to train discipline, patience, and generally gain experience. If it wasn't for the freerolls, I don't think I would have continued playing poker and fallen in love with the game.

 

[94EXPOS]

Freerolls can be quick when they are Hyper Turbo. If they are regular like the Cards Chat freerolls, you really need to have a lot of time to spend for very little reward. I play on my laptop while watching sports on TV but if I have my kids with me, chances are Im not playing the lengthy tourneys. I remember when poker stars used to have freerolls that were available every half hour and every different type of poker under the sun was offered. You could win tickets for $2K weekend freerolls. Those were the good old days. Now it's almost impossible to find decent freerolls.

 

[Germanets]

For me freerolls is not waste of time, it's chance to get something valuable(money\tournament money\ticket) without any risk. It's helpss me to increase my skill and understand - is my current strategy ready for tournaments with buy-in, or not(and it's proofs me now, that I'm not ready)))
Now I already spent ~20 hours in freerolls and ~60 hours for playing free chips.

 

[Comarata3456]

The truth is not wasted time in freeroll I think, rather a pass time since many times I complement it with my work and the hours go by quickly I think we should take it from that side at least in my case, and I think many would feel represented

 

[Claudiunm]

I never see freerolls as a waste of time.
If I do not earn money, I gain volume of play and learning.
What's more, I play Poker primarily for pleasure. Making money at it is just a icing on the cake.

 

[felipem29]

learning....

I don't think they are wasted hours playing Freerolls tournaments, since I think they are hours of training and knowledge, since many different situations can be presented to us that we could rescue them for when we participate in real money tournaments.
I once played a freeroll tournament that lasted about 7 hours, but the reward was getting first place

 

[SopianaeExtra]

I would make the bet that freerolls are the reason why half of this site's user base created an account in the first place.

One freeroll is a waste of time, but participating in ten is a sign of dedication and sincerity in one's abilities.

 

[Datdude1]

Freerolls are very time consuming if you play deep in them. Freerolls can be a good way for you to sharpen your skills and build your bankroll without the risk of losing your bankroll but yes, it can be very time consuming.

 

[LOOPY]

I'm still learning, so I appreciate the Freerolls, so I can sharpen my skills in a real money enviroment.

 

[BexiLittle21]

I a novice too and I’ve been playing mainly with Play money to learn the game. I think freerolls are great because there is now money to be won and it makes me change my mindset when I play.

 

[veltins]

Freerolls are great learning experience from if you have time for it, definitely not bad for your account balance as you basically will never go bankrupt

 

[Tomek416]

Yes, I waste a lot of time playing freerolls and I rarely win something in them.

 

[garpsc]

just sit and relax, freerolls are harder sometimes cause people just goes crazy betting.

 

[zoy4749]

a good way to practice and improve your game. I play everything possible.

 

[bnasp2]

Honestly, playing freerolls or even micro-stakes will never give proper profit. There is almost no county in the world where you couldn't make more money by simply getting a job.
Only reason to play those is fun, and of course its more fun when you get few extra cents, sometimes even bucks.

 

[afecho]

I appreciate the freerolls to keep learning from, but also find them frustrating at times with how different people play. My hubby and I joke some times that we spend 2+ hours to make $0.02 on a freeroll so it is for sure just for fun. I wouldn't waste that much time for that kind of money at a real job.

 

[Plut41]

That's why I often just goo all in every hand until I double up or go out. It is really time consuming.