FreeRoll Strategy (Maniac, Limper, Rock)
General Texas Hold'em Strategy
FreeRoll Strategy (Maniac, Limper, Rock)
Warbuff
12-10-2007, 7:08 PM
This is borrowed from a friends site, but I though many here would find it useful.
Also a little advice for anyone learning about poker.
"Don't play a big pot with out a big hand" Juanda
Play your game not theirs...
Always remember anytime you enter a pot your whole stack could be at risk!
Enjoy, I hope you all find this informative and useful
I wanted to come up with some ideas for playing freerolls and realized there are just are so many "proper" ways to play them. For example, you have the "maniac" style, the "rock" style and the "limper" style. All three will be explained in the following article and I hope one of the following ideas provides you with a new way to look at a freeroll tournament.
The reason for me writing this is simple. When I first started playing freerolls, I was constantly getting blinded out of the tournament. I was always finishing on the bubble and never seemed to get into the money. I was getting frustrated with the amount of time I had invested in freeroll tournaments only to leave with nothing in my pocket. If you are going through this same drought I once experienced, please read on. Some of these styles may be familiar to you if you are a regular freeroll player. If not, enjoy!
The Maniac
We've all seen them at the table and we've all cursed at them from behind our monitors at one time or another, including myself. However, think about this; how many times have you seen that person accumulate a large chip stack right from the beginning of the tournament and become the table captain for most of the freeroll tournament? Continue that thought; how much power do you think having that large of a chip stack from the start of a free tournament will have? AHH HAA!! The light bulb now goes off.
By playing this way, you are accomplishing at least one of two things. One; you are near doubling your chip stack everytime you pull this move off and win. Two; if you lose, you are saving yourself a lot of time and you can move on to the next one. There are some requirements needed to play in this manner however.
My recommendations are detailed below. This method is to be implemented during the first hour of freerolls. If you make it through to the first break, you will most likely be up there with the chip leaders, if you are not the chip leader already. If you are still around for the first break, you can then sit down and play your regular poker game. The whole point of this style is to build your stack as much as possible to gain an advantage over everyone else in the freeroll.
1. AKs, AA, KK - Go all-In, anytime, from any position and following ANY raise that may have come out in front of you. If you are at a table full of rocks (highly unlikely, there is always someone willing to call an all-in during the first hour) you will get folded down and take the blinds. I know, big deal. By making this move however; you are setting the stage for the next time you do it. Someone will most likely say to themselves, "OK, I'm going to get rid of this maniac", "I call". Odds are, with any of these starting hands you are a big favorite to win. You are hoping for a race at best.
2. AKo, AQs, AQo, QQ + the hands in #1 - Go all-in with these starting hands from middle position (10 players - seats 4 through 7) as long as NO ONE ELSE has raised MORE than 4X the big blind. If they raise more than that, you have to consider your stack at this point. If you are risking more than a quarter of your stack in order to call the raise, fold. I know it will be difficult to do, but it is recommended. If you think about the GAP CONCEPT, this makes sense. Of course if an all-in raise came out in front of you, fold; you are most likely already beat.
3. Pocket Pairs (I would recommend only down to 77, but the choice is yours) - Raise, raise, raise! Raise the standard raise of 4-5X the big blind from mid/late position (10 players - seats 4 through 10) Be advised though, that only raising the pot this much will result in at LEAST one caller early on in a freeroll. If you raise preflop, be ready to RAISE again after the flop. By doing this, you are showing strength. Really though, if you have 66 and the flop comes AAK, use your better judgement and check/fold it. You probably don't have a chance against several players at this point. The idea of going in like this with mid-high pocket pair is to try and catch a set on the flop that will be hidden. Then nail the coffin shut on whoever wants to call you.
4. The only hand I haven't talked about are connectors. By using the maniac strategy, you are taking your tournament life into your own hands. I consider connectors post flop cards and you need to PLAY them. Which honestly goes against the maniac strategy.
The whole idea of the maniac strategy is to play a made hand and play it aggressively in a freeroll tournament. For those of you new to Hold'Em, a made hand is basically any pocket pair. At best, with this strategy, you want a race situation and if you play it correctly, that is what you will get. Many players in freerolls utilize the all-in strategy early in the freeroll tournaments and it does work, trust me. Now I know this may not be your way you like to play or are looking to play, but I do recommend trying it out - more than once! Sure, you will bust out many times by losing to that dreaded river card, but the whole idea is to double up or move on QUICKLY so that you can enter the next one. What did you lose by trying? 20-30 minutes? Give it a shot and let me know how you made out by posting some replies in my poker freeroll forum. Play at a Titan Poker Freeroll NOW!
The Mad Limper
Freerolls also see another type of player, the limper. This style of freeroll playing lets you limp into ALMOST every pot. It's a dangerous type of play and can get you into trouble if you do not know how to let a hand go. The basic strategy behind limping into every pot is to see flop after flop. Think about this for a minute, how many times have you played premium hands only to see rags come out on the flop? Freeroll limpers have the luxury of playing a LOT of hands, but they also see alot of chips go into the pot. A lot of hands means you are bound to catch something every once in a while. Limping requires some good post flop play as you are bound to be up against a higher pocket pair quite often.
The most important part of limping is knowing when to fold your hand. Try it out, you might find you like it. Every hand (unless already raised in front of you), limp in. If you catch a piece of the flop, play it and play it aggressive. Be leary however if you raise a pot post flop and someone calls or reraises, you may be beat if you fold a second pair or low pair. If you miss the flop completely (this includes landing a draw after the flop), drop the hand. LET IT GO, just LET IT GO. Knowing when you are beat is an important part of playing no limit hold'em and will save you some chips. Even more important, knowing when you would be drawing dead is even more important. Play at a Titan Poker Freeroll NOW!
The Rock Star
I'm not really a big fan of this strategy. This method has landed me out on the bubble more times than I care to count. The reason being, by using this method, you just don't play that many hands and the chances of being out played post flop increase. By the time you get near the money, you may have chips but compared to many other players, you are on the short stack side.
Playing like a rock means you only play premium hands from premium positions, ONLY!!! Basically a rock player in freerolls will only play AKs/u, AA, KK, QQ from early positions and JJ through 66 in mid to late positions (as long as no large raises come out before you). The experienced player will add suited connectors down to 5/6 or 6/7 from a late position. This style of play rarely utilizes connectors, but if you decide to throw them into the mix, play them from mid-late to late position (seats 6 through 10) as long as they are suited and you can get in cheaply; less than 4X the big blind. This is a basic poker strategy and doesn't necessarily apply ONLY to freeroll tournaments. Plenty of strategy tips and advice are readily available on the web regarding this type of play. I recommend playing this method in sit-n-go tournaments and small field multi-table tournaments (freerolls or buy-ins).
Once more, not ONE of these strategies is supposed to be a guarantee for you to place in the money. Like I mentioned in the beginning, try all of these styles out. Out of the three, you will find one you are most comfortable with. Stick with that one for a while, then switch it up and play a different style. I hope you found this article informative and interesting. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them...
Re: FreeRoll Strategy (Maniac, Limper, Rock)
KingT89
01-04-2008, 6:42 PM
yes definitely i belive this as well good show,,,
Re: FreeRoll Strategy (Maniac, Limper, Rock)
IM_NOT_LION
01-14-2008, 3:43 PM
I like the ideas you have expressed, however a "made hand" does not refer to pocket pairs but rather to a hand that uses all 5 cards. e.g. full-houses, straights, Quads, and flushes.
"If you call, one of us is going to be disappointed"