Freeroll Mentality

[Fonzi]

Freeroll Mentality

I've been experimenting with the best method of play during an online freeroll. To say that these events are chaotic are a huge understatement. On more than one occasion, the first ten hands of the tournament each had an all-in pre flop. Needless to say, success in such an environment requires a modified game plan. Here's how I found the most success in these tournaments (It should be noted, these were medium sized (300 to 650 players) freerolls with a satellite entry as top prize, no other places paid.):

1. For the first half of the tournament, be an ultra-rock. Don't play anything but pairs and Ace-face, unless it's in your blind and you get in cheap. If you miss the flop, don't chase unless it's very cheap. In other words, pinch every penny until you've got the best chance to double up!

2. For the third quarter of the tournament, play your normal game. This is the only period in the freeroll where your normal, tight-agro game is going to work. Don't bother with bluffs unless you KNOW the other player is of the quality that will appreciate it. Bad players are difficult if not impossible to bluff.

3. For the last quarter of the tournament, pretend you're a maniac who somehow survived the rest of the tournament. In other words, leave maniac tells like overbetting, needless all-ins, raising in first position when you could have checked, etc. In reality, play good speculative hands, and the excellent hands you would normally play. Only play junk in late position against very good players, hoping for the tilt factor when you hit that flop.

4. At the final table, go back to your solid, tight-agro style. The surviving players should be able to handle the occasional bluff, and notice that you're playing tight. They have the right intelligence and awareness that will allow you to play the game you're meant to play.

Other than that, you want your betting to be consistent. Either three times the big blind, pot sized, or all-in. Don't get fancy, it's wasted on most of the field. You can also trap more with big hands early, knowing that some crazy person is going to raise it up with a suited jack or something. I wouldn't hesitate to flat call the big blind pre flop with pocket kings. When it gets back to me... and it WILL get back to me, I'll be all-in.

This isn't foolproof. In fact, you're probably going to lose a lot of these. But don't let bad luck get to you. More people will be involved in pots, so there will be more sucking out. Just try to get in with the best hand, that's all you can do in poker.

If you stick to this system, you should find your freeroll finishes getting higher and higher on average. And it's excellent practice to some of the more drunken, loose games that you might encounter.

By Bill Ricardi ? Internet Gaming Guru

[SharBear613]

I really enjoyed this article! Everything he said made perfect sense. For the most part that is how I play this mad freeroll tournaments. All expect #3. I have never considered playing like a maniac, but it makes perfect sense. I will definitely give it a try.

My question is this.....

He mentions that this is applied to freerolls of 300 to 650 players where the prize is a satellite entry. What about the freerolls that are for money or more players. Anyone that has played on Pokerstars, Full Tilt, as well as other sites know that freerolls can bring in 1,000 - 5,000 people! Does he plays these differently, I wonder.

[rrauwl]

Originally Posted by SharBear613

I really enjoyed this article! Everything he said made perfect sense. For the most part that is how I play this mad freeroll tournaments. All expect #3. I have never considered playing like a maniac, but it makes perfect sense. I will definitely give it a try.

My question is this.....

He mentions that this is applied to freerolls of 300 to 650 players where the prize is a satellite entry. What about the freerolls that are for money or more players. Anyone that has played on Pokerstars, Full Tilt, as well as other sites know that freerolls can bring in 1,000 - 5,000 people! Does he plays these differently, I wonder.

I don't play them at all these days.

The thing is, for most players with even a smallish bankroll, your freeroll cash gains aren't worth the effort. 2000 people all battling over a 150 dollar prize pool with the top 50 paid? Too much of a craps shoot for not enough reward.

But yeah, the bigger freerolls are a whole other ball of wax. Sadly, not a ball of wax that I have a whole lot of time to research either.

Bill Ricardi

[errigal]

I used to play lots of sngs and using a TA style found myself ITM about 45% of the time but as i'm not very good these were at low buy ins so not much profit.
Lately reverted totally to freerolls or almst totally. My TA style seems well suited here and there is nothing to lose.Some sites eg Purple lounge on sundays and 365 daily, offer tourneys whereby if you dont cash you get your money back.Can't ask for more than that. These are between $500-1000 so not huge but good experience for no cost.
The best tip I can give is to sit out first 20 mins as even monsters tend to be eaten up by the maniacs early on.
I never win as I'm too cautious throughout but given good cards every 20 hands or so I make the money regularly and little fish are sweet.

[Fonzi]

Originally Posted by rrauwl

I don't play them at all these days.

The thing is, for most players with even a smallish bankroll, your freeroll cash gains aren't worth the effort. 2000 people all battling over a 150 dollar prize pool with the top 50 paid? Too much of a craps shoot for not enough reward.

But yeah, the bigger freerolls are a whole other ball of wax. Sadly, not a ball of wax that I have a whole lot of time to research either.

Bill Ricardi

Hi Bill, I must have missed this post. Thanks for all your efforts.

As for freerolls and profitability, I find that the best way to build your bankroll is to play in large freerolls and also private freerolls like the ones we run. I know many players who have never make a deposit, yet have bankrolls that are in the thousands. Freerolls are also a great way to learn to play the game for free. Once your bankroll starts to increase, move on to money added private buyins and your bankroll will surely takeoff.

[Assistanc3]

I have a few accounts that I have yet to make a deposit
but use them for for freerolls.

I have been building up a statistical analysis of my:
hands, plays, winings, etc

as for the first post it is almost on par with what I have found to work best. The only step I personally do not do is step 3.
in place of that the "middle/late" stages, I tend to use the info I have built up of notes, and take advantage of those.

people will say notes are useless in freerolls
..... I can say 100% they do go a long way to cashing out
if not this time, next time... or the time after.

[Only1JA]

Agree with most of what was written, but going manic in the middle I am not convinced about. Most of these freerolls have a large amount of guys sitting out. The key to success I have found is to survive until they are gone, by then you are close to the bubble and time to play serious poker. The first two hours is about avoiding the allin cowboys, winning a couple of nice pots here and there, chase nothing and get ready for the main action in the last third. Trapping is quite often easy and check-raise is the way to go to build consistently. Also a lot of players start to get tired or impatient after 2-3 hours and it is easy to spot in their erratic play. Once you are close to the end it is all about robbing the blinds and playing position. I have even folded aces preflop when 3 others guys with even stacks went allin before me. Two less players and more of the winnings with no risk. In that case a flush beat a set of 9s and I learned a lot about the winner. His allin with K/8 suited suggested he was getting tired and bored. He tried again next hand with a pair of fives and got trimmed.

[Budojon]

I agree with fonzi that freeroles are great for training and his strategy is quite similar to mine.

I've just been playing online for some weeks and just got my first final table after only 8 tournaments using this strategy. Didn't win, came in second after 30 minutes of head to head.

By the way, can someone explain some of the table chat. Things like LOL, etc. Some are quite clear but with some of them i'm totally puzzled. Is there some sort of dictionary available.

[errigal]

reading "making the final table" by erick lindgren. I never heard of the guy before as I'm not into all this celebrity culture s***e, but he is apparently a good player.
anyway by what he says , I play way too tight . play when you have EV+ he says.
OK Harrington(he's another good player I believe) is getting kicked into touch for a while to see how erick does.

I'll let you know if I MTFT.

[nightmoves44]

Maniac huh,lol..I use alot of your tactics myself,specially the first half of the game.I dont wanna give away all my secrets so ill stop there,just to say ive made 1st place(in freerolls) more times than I can count,and last table more time than i can remember!