Reasons why you should not play freerolls for learning poker

[rj_montana]

I disagree fundamentally because the #1 motivation to keep playing and learning poker is having the bankroll grow over time. Adding freerolls to my lineup of micro SNGs/MTTs has transformed me from infrequently depositing to steadily withdrawing $50-100/month. I've been at the game for nearly a decade and I wish I could go back to my previous self, where you are now, and give my head a shake.

However, I must admit it was my years of experience at the micro SNGs/MTTs that enabled me to get results in freerolls, and not the other way around. There is some merit in what you are saying OP. I don't want to discourage anybody from freerolls though, they are totally +ev and could make all the difference for you. Obviously the games with thousands of players for $25 or $50 prizepool are a waste of time. I always ensure the prize pool/player ratio is at least $0.25 and preferably closer to $0.50.

 

[Halilbear1]

I agree with everything u wrote

 

[thehangdude]

Freerolls teach patience in the early rounds. Once a new player learns what cards to play and in what position, freerolls are a perfect tool. Add patience, and any new player can find themselves ITM quite often.

Of course freerolls are crazy at times, but they are quality when getting close to payoff. The quality improves as play gets towards the final table.

I would suggest any new player use freerolls to learn, Only advance to money tourneys when you can get ITM in freerolls about 20% of the time. At that point, use the freeroll winnings to play some low states MTT and add SnG games. You may find you need to make your first small deposit as an investment to your poker learning. Just assure yourself you can master each step of money before you move up.

Freerolls won't get you ready for the wsop, but they will get you ready for micro MTT. Spend AT LEAST a month on freerolls, then $1 tourneys, then $5, then $10, then... During this time you must also use every other available resource to improve your game, including this forum.

 

[YessineMR]

Freeroll beginners

Many of the reasons you mentioned are correct , but it does not apply everytime.

Actually freerolls are sometimes the best way to practice without spending a penny,

if a beginner starts and lose money there is A HIGH RISK that he will spend a lot of money "taken by a certain hype "

Even with some luck at the beginning of tournaments,

freerolls give the beginner the field of MTT to practice strategies he had learned on articles.

i think that the first important thing for a beginner is to NOT LOOSE a lot of money

 

[Polytarp]

Everyone has valid points (and a few invalid ones). To learn poker you need to play poker.. be it for play money or the up-coming 888 $100,000 free roll.
If you have learned that free rolls are a waste of time then you have learned something.
If you have learned that free rolls are (almost) free money then you have learned something.

 

[1988810]

Great experience of hands and vast players

 

[marvinsytan]

First of all, I must mention that this tips are just for someone started playing poker recently and wants to improve his game experience and learn much more about games
Many people told me if you want gain some game experience play freerolls, Then I took this advice and played so much freerolls in many different poker rooms and considered those tournaments as a learning session, but after one or two month I've noticed that I didn't catch any improvement so I analyzed more about freerolls and this is why I don't recommend freerolls for learning poker:

1-All in or fold mechanism:

Most of freeroll players take this tournaments as a fun things, their strategy is so simple: If you have a good starting hand make all in, if you don't just fold, this kind of playing style is most thing you see in early stages of freerolls and make the game so lucky, In my opinion first thing any beginner player should learn is how to make luck's effect less,
making an All-in pre-flop is the most luck based thing that you can do in poker:hmmmm2::hmmmm2:

2- Bad Players, Bad Beats:

If you are a freeroller I'm sorry but most of freeroll players are not good enough and making bad decisions sometimes this bad decisions comes with very very good luck, for a example in many freeroll tables you see a person that make all in with 96o after the flop (imagine he has a pair of 6 )you call his bet with AA and he make a set on river just by luck, In this kind of situations must beginner players will get angry and maybe stop playing poker for ever

3-Waste of time:

Most of freeroll take so long because there are too many players involved. If you take a look at ratio of prize pool and entrants, you'll be noticed the prize pool and places paid are so low and It is not wise to spend time, You can watch twitch streams or play on micro buy-in tournaments for beginning of your poker career.


At last I must apologize for my bad English but at least i tried my best :icon_rabb:icon_rabb
Freerolls are a great place for having fun as a poker player and don't bother yourself to win such tables
There maybe more reasons but i can't remmeber right know:hmmmm2::hmmmm2:
I'll be glad to know your opinions on this topic
and you can point out my English grammar problems.

Reasons you should play freeroll in Cardschat

very competent players

chance to win $23 or more without risking your money

 

[abgvedr]

...
1-All in or fold mechanism:

2- Bad Players, Bad Beats:
3-Waste of time:
...

1. This is very Room-specific, on ACR on freerolls there are very few al ins, people tend to play poker not bingo. On PS its much more al ins. But anyway, you can just fold to any al in, and in late stage of tourney you would see more decent gameplay. I don't see much of a problem here.
2. Well bad beats are part of a game, and also its not like there are too many of them, i go AK vs 27 any day of the week. Bad beats teach us a lot too.
3. Come on, first of all you are learning poker. As for me when i was starting playing f-rolls, it was awesome just to win a tournament. And those 4 bucks i got for 1st place, thats awesome to not bother with depositing money, and also feels good - i did not put any money in poker, but i won these fifty or a hundred bucks. So not a waste of time. And also cause of a lot of al ins players go out very fast.
Anyway i think freerolls just as good as any other way to learn poker, well except for some expensive tournaments where u gonna go broke very fast :angel:

 

[abgvedr]

Everyone has valid points (and a few invalid ones). To learn poker you need to play poker.. be it for play money or the up-coming 888 $100,000 free roll.
If you have learned that free rolls are a waste of time then you have learned something.
If you have learned that free rolls are (almost) free money then you have learned something.

What? 100 000 freeroll? What's up with 888 its not like its even the most popular room, why can they burn money like this?

 

[mariale_1990]

You may have a bit of reason in what you say, but not only in freerolls are you going to find these situations, in every paid tournament you can find players who simply do all in-fold, you are going to find bad players and bad beats, I have played many tournaments with tickets (not freeroll) and another one paying my entrance, and I have had to play against people who each hand is all in, I have also met players who bet everything with any card and end up winning with cards weak, example: $ 109 tournament I had won a ticket, I entered to play and a player did not stop betting everything on all hands and if he lost all the chips he would re-buy , my point is not because it is a tournament paid all The players will be good or they will play correctly, in every tournament from freeroll to payment you will find all kinds of players and different types of situations, and to finish I do not think that playing freerolls is a waste of time, I think something can be learned from them

 

[dorivaldojr]

I believe that in the first place you must learn to play poker by watching videos, and then playing with play money, afterwards I think it is a good thing to play freerrols to get to the poker tournaments!

 

[Shay]

You may have a bit of reason in what you say, but not only in freerolls are you going to find these situations, in every paid tournament you can find players who simply do all in-fold, you are going to find bad players and bad beats, I have played many tournaments with tickets (not freeroll) and another one paying my entrance, and I have had to play against people who each hand is all in, I have also met players who bet everything with any card and end up winning with cards weak, example: $ 109 tournament I had won a ticket, I entered to play and a player did not stop betting everything on all hands and if he lost all the chips he would re-buy , my point is not because it is a tournament paid all The players will be good or they will play correctly, in every tournament from freeroll to payment you will find all kinds of players and different types of situations, and to finish I do not think that playing freerolls is a waste of time, I think something can be learned from them

This:deal:

 

[Sansam]

An excellent opportunity to practice playing in tournaments, sometimes you manage to get prizes.

 

[Psyanide14]

I agree with this for the most part. The only exception being the CardsChat platinum level freerolls. There’s usually a decent number of players 200-300, great prizes and most don’t play the all in or fold mentality you refer to in the larger freerolls. You can really try different things during these freerolls to see how the changes go. I actually find worse play in the $1-2 MTT I normally play than the platinum freerolls.

 

[henriquemaduro]

First of all, I must mention that this tips are just for someone started playing poker recently and wants to improve his game experience and learn much more about games
Many people told me if you want gain some game experience play freerolls, Then I took this advice and played so much freerolls in many different poker rooms and considered those tournaments as a learning session, but after one or two month I've noticed that I didn't catch any improvement so I analyzed more about freerolls and this is why I don't recommend freerolls for learning poker:

1-All in or fold mechanism:

Most of freeroll players take this tournaments as a fun things, their strategy is so simple: If you have a good starting hand make all in, if you don't just fold, this kind of playing style is most thing you see in early stages of freerolls and make the game so lucky, In my opinion first thing any beginner player should learn is how to make luck's effect less,
making an All-in pre-flop is the most luck based thing that you can do in poker:hmmmm2::hmmmm2:

2- Bad Players, Bad Beats:

If you are a freeroller I'm sorry but most of freeroll players are not good enough and making bad decisions sometimes this bad decisions comes with very very good luck, for a example in many freeroll tables you see a person that make all in with 96o after the flop (imagine he has a pair of 6 )you call his bet with AA and he make a set on river just by luck, In this kind of situations must beginner players will get angry and maybe stop playing poker for ever

3-Waste of time:

Most of freeroll take so long because there are too many players involved. If you take a look at ratio of prize pool and entrants, you'll be noticed the prize pool and places paid are so low and It is not wise to spend time, You can watch twitch streams or play on micro buy-in tournaments for beginning of your poker career.


At last I must apologize for my bad English but at least i tried my best :icon_rabb:icon_rabb
Freerolls are a great place for having fun as a poker player and don't bother yourself to win such tables
There maybe more reasons but i can't remmeber right know:hmmmm2::hmmmm2:
I'll be glad to know your opinions on this topic
and you can point out my English grammar problems.

I agree with the points, but for me cardschat freerolls are diferents, and if not at a freeroll, where does someone will learn? lose some money on paid games?

 

[Jedrey]

Your points are very good and I agree with them.
Freerols are just for fun and to put into practice what you have studied.
You play with a lot of different people and it gives us the opportunity to learn different ways of reading people, it gives us the chance to put our game into practice.
I actually think that freerols give us the opportunity to test things that we can use in other tournaments.

 

[hcuervo]

Playing the Freerols helped me a lot in my game, also studying is very useful but definitely the free ones are special

 

[Zapahlohotrona]

You can play, but you won't find anything of value there ... By the way, it is the insane amount of coinflips at the early stage that is the fundamental difference between a freeroll and a tournament with at least some noticeable buy-in. And this is what can freak out regulars in regular tournaments. Besides, any raise will often run into three all-in. Quietly, you rarely get to the river in freerolls.

 

[AizenFalck]

I think you are very right in your points but you also have to see the type of player who is learning through freerolls, not everyone acts in this way and there are those who really acquire a lot of experience in them to debate later in tournaments of a more serious character. Regards.

 

[korbal29]

You wont learn a lot playing freerolls ,only bad habits because its loaded with bad players

 

[perrywh]

Freerolls are a tool just like studying, watching big tournament play and playing low level tournaments to learn. Use them all and you have a chance to be a player! Millions of hands later!

 

[ToNy70929]

I think freerolls are useful for players who have just started playing poker and for those who do not have a lot of money to play in big cash tournaments.

 

[AKQ]

It is quite a crapshoot compared to stakes OBVIOUSLY lol
Often enough though the last 20-30 players in those freerolls are the same ones you'll see at the mico stakes.
I have had some epic battles of great players in freerolls.
It may be a frreroll but if AKQ Zorba MTL Mile Bablovod etc etc are sitting at the table.
It doesn't matter that its a freeroll LETS PLAY!!

 

[Raphael Zabel]

I agree that the vast majority of freerolls are a real lottery. But for those who are just starting out and don't have a lot of money to invest it is an option.

 

[samuri]

FREE ROLL

why is it k 9 wins all the time.