Freeroll tournaments are wildly popular and offer by numerous online poker rooms because of this fact.  Players like them because as the name suggests these tournaments are free to enter with money and prizes going to the winner.  The rush had gotten so great for freerolls that some set a limit to the number of players that can get in on the tournament.  Sometimes these tournaments are open to anyone and sometimes they are restricted to players that have clocked enough play time, earned enough points ect., acting as a type of rewards program.

 

The Players

As you can imagine these tournaments attract an array of players, but the bulk are going to be those who are less experience and those with a smaller bankroll who are trying to make the most of it.  However the type of freeroll it is can make a real difference.  If it’s a satellite freeroll with a seat in a good tournament you’re likely to see better players come out of the woodworks, but with the cash prize games it’s usually the opposite. 

That’s because the cash prizes are usually small and not worth the time of the better players.  That means that though cash freerolls aren’t the tournaments that are going to give you great practice in reading players or improve your game you do stand a better chance of winning especially if you’re a beginner.

Your choice of freeroll tournament can give you an advantage before you sit down at the table.  Other than what is being awarded and the quality of players attached to it you’ll of course have better odds if there are fewer players.  Here the time of day is a big factor, with the middle of the day and evening usually being peak hours.  Do some research and find out what the higher traffic hours are for the poker room you want to play at. 

 

Early Stage Strategy

So how will you need to play a freeroll for the best chance at taking home a prize?  This is tricky because no one really has any money on the line.  Paired with the fact that you’ll be up against a fair number of inexperienced players means that people are going to be playing a lot more loose and you’ll have to adjust your playing to that.  Not until players start getting whittled down and you get closer to the prize pool do you see people really start playing poker.

At the beginning of a freeroll tournament take advantage of the fact that others are playing loose and keep your game tight.  Don’t try to steal the blinds too often, don’t try bluffing because people are going to be calling, call more raises yourself as well as re-raising more when you’ve got good hands.  By playing tighter and choosing your hands you can slow play the over-eager loose table to build up the pot and your stack when you win. 

In freerolls pay attention to the stacks.  If you’re playing tight but looser players who are getting lucky they might be building up a stack that will be hard to compete against.  To help keep this from happening again get the pot as high as possible when you have a good hand and play more aggressively. 

Don’t be afraid to even go all in if you have a really strong hand since you have a good chance of getting others to chase you.  You’ll always want to be building your stack but you’ll at least have little more breathing room if you’re among the larger stacks at the table.

At the beginning of freerolls the goals are to build up a big stack and learn the players around you so you can work off their weaknesses.  You’ll need both when the tournament has less players and the games get more competitive.

 

Strategies for Later Stages

When the tournament is down by about 50% of the players that’s when people will start playing playing differently.  Look for a good number of players to keep their aggressive style, especially the big stack players.  Those with less of a stack will be the ones playing tighter, smarter poker. 

Pay attention to how other players have adjusted their style and act accordingly.  Look for things like when those who are playing tight and playing on the short stack start raising because it means they usually won’t unless they’ve got something.

If you find yourself with the bigger stack later in the tournament with tons of tight players around you this is your opportunity to play a little looser.  You’ll be in the position to steal the blinds, use all-ins the scare others off and play more hands.
Understanding the mentality that goes into free poker is going to give you the upperhand.  Remember those with less to lose are going to act that way, and in the beginning of a freeroll everyone has nothing to lose.

 

Visit our Freeroll tournaments page for upcoming freerolls

 

Back to Poker Tournaments main page