Freeroll Strategy
General Texas Hold'em Strategy
Freeroll Strategy
riverboat89x
07-01-2006, 7:09 PM
I am new to this forum, but i have been posting poker advice in other forums for about a year now. This is one of my posts regarding freeroll tournament strategy. Hope this helps you all to win some money and develop another facet of your games.
THE FIRST 20-60 MINUTES
During the first 20 minutes of a freeroll tournament you can expect to bare witness to some of the wildest poker on the planet. There are hundreds if not thousands of other players - all of whom have nothing invested in the game and are prepared to treat the game like a drunken fling with a comedy wench. You'll see people making huge bets with trash hands, going all in with nothing and generally doing all the things the book tells you not to. Why? Well in a freeroll, there are a lot of bad players. The games tend to attract beginners with a phobia of the fold button. During this time play conservatively or very aggressive and allow the bad players to take care of themselves. If you choose to play very aggressive in the beginning, a hand such as AQ, AK, or any middle pocket and above is worth a pre-flop all-in.
LATER TOURNAMENT
After the first 60 to 90 minutes, or when the blinds reach $100/$200 or higher, the landscape should have changed. Most of the freeroll crazies have either been knocked out, or have found themselves with huge stacks and have tightened up in order to protect it. By now it's likely that your either out or are cruising nicely in the tournament. Your goal now is to focus on making it into the money. You can't afford to camp out and hope to simply land big hands - you need to look at every pot and work out a way to win it. That doesn't mean you will play wildly or make hopeless calls with bad hands, But, position is important so take advantage of it. Your style of play here is either raise or fold. There are only a few hands you want to be limping with. Raise, and make other players beat you. Do not let them get a cheap ride! If you can't justify calling an all-in don't do it, just fold. Your position in the tourny is not important but you should pay attention to it. You shouldalso keep your eye on where the cut for the money is. Players will tighten up when the cut happens. You should also, but you can also take advantage of this you have the chips. Stealing the pot before the flop is something you should look to do. Standard raises at this stage are four times the minimum bet, the size of the pot, the ammount of the short stack or in heads-up the ammount your opponent has remaining. You can vary this as you see fit but these should be pretty effective.
SHORT STACK
A short stack is any stack under about 10 to 20 times the big blind.You now can make some plays. Waiting for good hands is something to consider. It only takes one win to make you a big stack. All plays will require an all-in or substantial raise. This substantial raise will most likely commit you to the pot. Make these raises with o.k. (any A) to great hands (pairs). Also consider position and price. If you are in late position and there is only 0-1 players in the pot at that point any A is worthy of an all in push. Also consider whether or not your in a blind, watch your price. Try to go all in outside of the blinds this will in the majority of case cause dead money to be in the pot. Dead money is money in the pot in which the person whose the money was is no longer in the pot. Push in and hope to get lucky or hope to not get unlucky against a larger stack.
BIG STACK
The first thing you should do is challenge the short stacks when you can get heads up. Raise enough to commit them to their hands. If you do not get the player heads up, limp. The big stack will allow you to see a array of flop. Dont lose yourself in the cards there is no need to loose a lot of chips with bad cards. Pairs 8 and up, suited face cards and Aces suited. Being first to act states you are in command the rest of the hand.
HEADS UP
Any A in heads up is worth a preflop raise. Remember in heads up play a pair carries more weight than in a full table. During heads up play be more agressive, force your opponent to make the decisions; dont lose your focus though and leave yourself out to dry if he/she comes back at you. Remember what got you to the final table. Play your game and u'll be alright.
Re: Freeroll Strategy
Penny144
07-28-2006, 6:18 PM
Great strategy, I enjoyed reading your post and I agree with your strategy. Follow these steps and you most certainly will end up in the winning circle...
Re: Freeroll Strategy
Arjonius
08-04-2006, 3:03 PM
Frankly, my preferred freeroll strategy is to avoid most freerolls with more than a couple of hundred players. While they can offer larger prize pools, that is usually more than counter-balanced by the size of the fields so that the EV is lower than playing for a smaller pool against fewer opponents.
Re: Freeroll Strategy
MONEYMAN06
09-28-2006, 4:03 PM
Although this seems like a good strategy, it is not necessairly right, if you were playing a $50 freeroll at Absolute Poker I would recommend this strategy, however if you are playing in a tournament with very few people and a high payout than I wouldn't recommend playing this style. I think playing a tournament should be decided once you get there and get a feel for your opponents and your table once you figure that out than you can start thinking strategy. Playing tight isn't always the best way to go, although it seems to work most of the time and granted it will keep you alive in a tournament, you won't have much chips to play with later on. That is why it is important to just play the opposite, it is ok to play tight if your table is loose, however it works vice verca.
Re: Freeroll Strategy
xxVANESSAxx
11-03-2006, 9:15 AM
Very nice. I could use a little advice from time to time lol...I may print and take to table with me.
Re: Freeroll Strategy
skinroy
11-12-2006, 3:21 PM
i also agree that you need to be able to change up your play dependin on what kind of table you are at.
i'm a little fish lookin to be eaten by a shark
Re: Freeroll Strategy
Frankie40
11-12-2006, 4:01 PM
I agree with you Skinroy, I try to be as unpredictable as possible, that in itself may make me predictable, I don't know.
Re: Freeroll Strategy
Niki
01-22-2007, 9:03 PM
This is a great freeroll strategy! I used to play a ton of freerolls when I first started playing and they are a blast. There seems to be much more friendly chat than in the cash tournies. I actually made $5 when Absolute Poker used to have $50 freerolls. There were 2000 people and i ended up taking 2nd. Well, great advice!
Niki :P
nikitispoker.com