FreeRoll strategies

[fweak]

i will try this out, thank you for the tips

 

[seinfeldrulez12]

the averaage chip stacks in freerolls literally change every second, so u want ur stack toto increase consistently to keep up. With nothing to lose in them, u gotta be more aggressive at the table.

 

[RammerJammer]

T.J. Cloutier in his book "Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold 'Em" with Tom McEvoy makes a great point that I try to keep in mind in ANY tournament situation, whether it's a freeroll or a cash buy-in.

"It's all about survival."

You can't win if you don't make the final table. His goal in tourneys is single-minded: to make each break with more chips than he had at the last one. One chip or a thousand chips, it doesn't matter. Just be patient and add to your stack. Stay away from hard decisions. Muck the coin tosses. Put the pedal down on big pairs ONLY. In short, keep it simple. Takes a lot of pressure off your game.

P.S.: I read "Super System" and tried Doyle's philosophy of "attack, attack, attack", and "stab at a lot of pots". God bless him, he's The Man, and he's made millions, so far be it from me...but I nearly went broke. I prefer slow and steady to constant skirmishes.

 

[Paynetothemax]

Even though it didn't cost me anything I still think there is alot of pressure to deal with because money is still on the line.:aetsch:

 

[Martinez760]

Yeh i had a bad beat on the full tilt tourney today did terrible. Had top pair n he got trips. Then same guy cought jacks on the river to beat me. Every week is a new strategy but mostly i just call alot cuz u never no wut cuold come up...especially at full tilt.

 

[hawkeye2005]

I think strategy depends on the number of players and the pay out structure. This is probably obvious. My strategy is if the pay out is only to the top 10 or so--i'm forgetting about the ones where 100th place nets .50--then you've got to get up early. I've spent far too many hours widdling away my time waiting for good hands only to be slowly widdled down and never reaching the money spots. I figure go all-in every decent hand you get early on, try to double and triple up as early as possible to give you more breathing/waiting room in later rounds. You've got to get a big stack early or you'll lose. This is especially true in any tournament, but even more so for freerolls with 6000+ players.

 

[RammerJammer]

I read an article by Mike Caro on Multi-table Tournament Strategy. He said that the number of players in the field and the quality of the opposition are factors, but it's important to remember that the one thing that never changes is poker percentages. KK is still a big pair and you still don't try to draw on the river with two outs. Don't get so hung up on grabbing chips in the first hour that you make bold moves with weak cards. On the subject of aggressive vs. passive play in the early rounds, he believes that the low blinds are a good time to play more of the marginal hands that you might muck later on. But initiating an all-in with J 9 is probably not a good idea.

 

[Poison91]

I'm looking to change my FreeRoll strat. I use to play real conservative waiting for the idiots to knock themselves out and than out play the good players. But the problem with this is while everyone else is making a large chipstack I'm folding borderline hands. by the time I'm ready to go at these players it's to late and their chip stack overtakes me.

I can't believe the older posts were the answers I was looking for.

 

[Poison91]

Yeah this is true and this is why you need to play pretty loose I think. Always go all in with really good hands early on, hoping you can get an idiot to call you and then double up. Once you get around three times your starting stack doing this, I recommend playing really tight and waiting around after the idiots are gone.

good tip bro

 

[Poison91]

Actually guys I have had a lot of free roll success and i normally go afk for at least the first 30 minutes of any free roll...i know in theory it doesnt sound like a good idea but early on you do not lose much from blinds and the retards who make excessive raises that sometimes push you out of playing a decent hand cannot steal your bets...everyone has their own strat and trying to double triple up early is cool but its not consistent...plus always remember chips that come fast leave fast so if you have success make a preset line and dont cross it because theres a fine line between being on tilt and being on a tear

interesting point of view

 

[Pabloro10321]

They are freerolls, don't stress and play with your strong hands without hesitation, otherwise you'll end up regretting and doubting too much.

 

[Poison91]

Poker strategy

Actually playing tight or loose does not really matter in online poker. I have personally come across cases where I am in the hand preflop with AA and have gone all in and another idiot goes all in with 36 and manages to make a full house. This is a basic flaw in the online poker where the cards are generated randomly each turn , and not placed in a shuffled ordered like with a real deck, and I think that is amajor flaw and if you guys notice , 90% of the time even if you have a very good hand , somebody with alarge stack would always win even if they went in with ahand which is inferior to you. Don't believe me then check it out next time.

I never thought about the deck, very good friend

 

[Poison91]

Ask 10 different poker players for a good strategy and you'll get 11 different answers. Seriously you need to find "a" strategy that you can stick with. Playing loose or playing tight in the bigging will get you through the first break but the real strategy needs to be in your end game. Plently of people can say they've made it to the finaly rounds but fewer people can truthfully say they have won the tournaments. Dealing with the deadbeats in the beginning its dealing with the pros at the final table who actally know what they are doing that is the difficult part to me because they know how to set traps and how to avoid them. Personally I'm a big fan of playing tight but using table presence at key points against small stacks. I have heard people who say I don't bluff it never works" well if you don't bluff in poker then you arn't a very good poker player. The fact is you just can't get the cards ALL the time and if you do then you are one of a kind (and a liar) you have to learn how to push and know when your bluff is being called and get out of the way and not end up trying to bluff a winning hand. Sometimes the cards just don't go your way. I've had several losses at the final table that you couldn't have paid me to play differently, flo a full house only to loose to a higher full house on the river etc there are always horror stories but you can learn a lot by just playing. Best of luck in the tournies

-capax

It's true about strategies, but what differentiates each player are the prizes won (how many times they make the final table, or reach or cash in, yesterday someone published all the tournaments they won, it's impressive, I would like to know their style of play, but I doubt they would reveal it because they would be harming themselves).

 

[Poison91]

Very good post, my friend, it has been very useful to me.

 

[Mig32]

I relate a lot to your situation — I used to play freerolls with the exact same mindset: tight early on, waiting for the chaos to settle. It works to survive, but like you said, the downside is you often end up short-stacked against big stacks who can pressure you relentlessly.

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with widening my range a bit earlier, especially in position and against predictable players. I still avoid unnecessary flips, but I try to chip up steadily so I’m not forced into shove-or-fold mode too soon.

Maybe the key is balance — stay selective, but don’t let good spots pass you by just to play it safe. Good luck adjusting your freeroll strategy — it’s definitely a unique challenge!