Freeroll Strategy

[omahilo]

in freerolls if I get like KK or AA and you got a raiser and caller in front of you, I will push them allin and you will get aleast one or two callers... builds you a chip leader then you can just wait and play your game. Other than that I usually play tight and wait but I like to double up early in freerolls to make it worth my time and not play 5 hrs and not get anything.

[eddo31]

i think that a freeroll is a significantly different situation than a real money tourney, and that you should adjust your play accordingly. from my experience in the prima freerolls, playing very tight early is key to making the money. as you said, half the field is gone in the first hour, and in that amount of time you have not lost a significant amount of money to blinds. if you play tight early, and then open up your game after the first hour you can place relatively easily.

this advice is aimed primarily at the huge (3000 entrants) freerolls that i used to play. these generally paid out a significant number of player (something like the final 6 tables), so you would obviously have to adjust your play if it was only the final 3 or 4 that got paid.

[Chutups]

In freerolls I just try to double up a ton early on even if I risk my chips, I hate playing for 5+ hours and end up getting nothing at all.

[Defendant]

Well...with all the crappy play out there early in freerolls you will get callers when you push KK/AA so wait for those.

Defendant

[hackers238]

Yeah, I find the same thing. I only play microlimits, so freerolls are obviously a draw for me because comparitively, thats a lot of money!

The Prima Freerolls (I play on Gaming Club) now allow either 6000 or 10,000 people, and pay about 130, making them pretty much a waste of time. I have had difficulty placing in them as of yet, and have won a combined $2 from those tourneys.

THe PokerChamps Freerolls are much easier to beat, but as I just started playing them I have yet to place in the money. They average 550 players, and pay out to 20th. I have finished 27, 29, and 36 last night... close to the money but not in it.

I think that my problem is playing tight at the beginning. I folded every hand for the first half an hour, and almost half the playing field was gone. Then I started slowly moving from only top 10 hands back over to my normal game. I also had a run of cold cards though, not a single hand or pocket pair for 35 minutes, and the blinds brought me down from 1000 to almost 700. I think that if I use this strategy again I will probably place in the money.

[TajaUk]

I dont mind going all in early to dbl up, but tend only to play top hands. This normally see's you through the first hour or so and within reach of the money. If you sit and wait for a great hand its normally worth the wait.

I have won 3 or 4 on the gaming network, 2 on ladbrokes and 1 on stars. They pay very well some of them. Whatever you do tho in them, u will need luck.

[hackers238]

By win, do you mean 1st, or place? If you won first then congratulations!

[Kidd7138]

I play in the Poker Champs freerolls a lot too and my general strategy is to play somewhat tight for the first 2-3 levels, but not to the point where I only see 5 flops I'm not blinded into. Usually I like to have at least 1,500 after level 3, from there on I'll play more aggressively and try to accumulate as many chips as possible until the playing field is really narrowed down. If I have a nice chip stack with ~40 left I'll usually start playing super conservative until I hit the top 20. At that point you usually have to start getting aggressive or the blinds will eat you alive.