How you get through early stages in freerolls?

[thehangdude]

If I get AA in the first round, I will shove it, in the expectation somebody will call thinking me a fish. I don't shove anything less normally. I might call with KK or QQ if one or more shove.

Early freerolls are a good time to play a wider range tightly. Suited connectors and baby pairs are great when they hit. I sometimes limp early, knowing somebody might raise and sometimes I'll get 6 callers.

Early in freerolls you are looking for straights and flushes, flopping sets and full houses. It is rare that a single pair wins when multiple players are in each pot.

Because stacks are so high, you might pay to a bit to hit an inside straight, but only if you know you can make a huge stack when it does hit (and fold all the times it doesn't). Chasing flushes usually doesn't pay as well, especially if it is King high or less. Everybody in freerolls get scared when that third suited card hits the board.

Overall, my advice is to open your range and lower your opening bets. When you hit your hand, bet aggressively (with only the occasional slow play and check raise). And don't be afraid to call a continuation bet with second or third pair. When the hands improve, they usually win, and often a continuation bet is just a bluff.

 

[swerdnase]

There's really three approaches to playing the early stages of a freeroll:

1) Play super tight and wait until all the open-shoving madness subsides
2) Play loose and call with a wider range knowing that opponents are shoving light
3) Play super loose and look for a big multiway pot to jam with any two cards, hoping to win a monster pot that will set you up nicely for the rest of the tournament

So really, it depends on you and each approach has merit.

 

[Dresft]

I think you should wait until the right combination of hole cards and position AND previous action.

e.g - if you’re in the CO and everyone before you folds and you have a decent hand you would happily 3bet with, then shove.

I’d also shove with a decent hand pre-flop if there was maybe one or two limpers before me.

I’d fold if there was a shove before me unless that shover is on tilt (such as after the villain had been sucked out previous hand).

I’ve found with this strategy I can mostly get past the early level madness and set myself up for a hopefully much deeper run.

 

[hbmaenchen1]

Hi,

Do you sit tight and wait for strong hands like JJ+ or try to win pot with hands like KJ, Axs, and 22+?

I personally like to shove with AJ+ and TT+ specially if I spot a player who goes all in loosly. In early stages position does not mean so much. If you survive to the mid game you can play more ABC poker and stop going all in.

What is your favorite way to approach freerolls? Assuming that tournament speed is hyper/turbo and stack sizes are small at the beginning.

Sorry about typos.. I know that there must be some.

Often just waiting fpr good hands but sometimes try to play low hands and wait for the flop and then depends on bet from enemies

 

[LFC_yllnwa]

early stage of the tournament is small blinds, if the table is good , I think to expand the range of hands, being aggressive is a good strategy to start, to increase the pot for the late stage of the tournament. When the table is bad, and there are a lot of thieves and super aggressive players, play a lot of hands, often raise, it's a failure.. Making a raise and getting all in every time (when 70-80% of the players play Freeroll like this) is a very bad strategy. But going all in preflop is a lottery every time...