Texas Holdem Poker

wackymac · Junior Member Joined: Dec 27, 2005 Posts: 6

Does playing in freerolls help your game or hurt your game? I'm beginning to think they can be bad for your game. Think about it. You can't play a normal game because of the other players. There are those who want to learn and are serious about the game; there are those who don't care one way or the other. (Those are the guys who bet all in with 3, 9 off and end up with a full house.) Then there are the morons who think they know everything there is to know about poker. They comment on every hand. They tell you how lucky you are when you win and how stupid you are when you lose. They have opinions on everything and no matter how stupid it is, they insist on sharing it. You have to change your game to play with the last two types. That can't be good. The bad beats in freerolls happen way too often to be random. There is something wrong there. I am finding it increaseingly difficult to maintain my sanity while playing in freerolls. Oh well! I'll continue to play freerolls no matter how bad I think they are. I can afford freerolls. I can't afford much else these days.

webmaster · Site Admin Joined: Nov 26, 2003 Posts: 668

Whacky - for sure the play in a freeroll tournament will be different, but actually thats just the first third of the game I'd say. The last few Ive held have taken 3.5 hours to complete (even if I hadn't made the final table I'd have stayed to watch as they are mine). The crazy play that you need to steer clear of is usually easy to spot. You're holding A9 and the bloke before you goes allin pre-flop? Easy, its a fold. A9 is a fold every time.

Get about an hour in and the tourney reverts to normal with the sitouts gone and the serious players left. Freerollers that go allin with 37 regularly never make it to the end, they have a few minutes of glory while those around them fold or they catch lucky cards then ...bam... out just as fast hitting a KK or AA wall.

Curious though, I didn't expect many people to come to the forum moaning about my $1000 freeroll. Welcome nonetheless, good to get a range of views.

wackymac · Junior Member Joined: Dec 27, 2005 Posts: 6

No matter how good or bad they are, the idiots are still playing in them.

Zena · Newbie Joined: Dec 28, 2005 Posts: 1

the only way I deal with them is play them as I would a normal tournament.

the one thing freerolls teach me is patience.

yes you get bad players in them but if you play solid hands yourself youre more likely to come out ahead of the poor players

ROYALKNIGHT · Senior Member Joined: May 27, 2006 Posts: 57

it will help my game. it wont cost me anything and i can see how people play. and know what to expect next time i play with them

jlp06 · Junior Member Joined: Apr 28, 2006 Posts: 6

I just have to learn to handle all the bad beats, they seem to happen more in freerolls with people who don't care and call anything. I believe the luck factor is a bit higher in freerolls.

aanuts · Junior Member Joined: May 27, 2006 Posts: 5

I love freerolls great way to earn some free cash. I hate the alliners soo what I do is I sit out the first 10 min and let all the dumb people get out. This helps me a lot!

dovla · Junior Member Joined: May 27, 2006 Posts: 14

i really love freerolls.. when you are bored and nothing to do.. and don't want to play with pressure (and still you can win something) Smile

i play freerolls as any buy-in .. (it depends of the prize.. if it's a big freeroll i play tighther) but i don't change too much my tactic when playing freerolls and buy-ins ..

and i really think (and i'm SURE!) that players on some forum freerolls with 100-150 people are too much better than players on those 5$,10$ and 15$ buy-in freezeout tournaments

dolson42 · Junior Member Joined: Jun 07, 2004 Posts: 5

1 rule that I use when playing early in a freeroll is:

Always leave myself an out.

I don't call an All-in preflop unless I have A,A K,K Q,Q (and even then I am not suprised to get them cracked).

Play very conservative in the 1st round - try to build a chip stack - not necessarily doubling up in a couple of hands. Most of the players who play All-in early are usually eliminated in the first 10-20 minutes.

Like the others on this thread have discussed - learn to be patient.

peruvien · Junior Member Joined: Jan 25, 2006 Posts: 11

I play all hands when blinds are small.
often i finish in top20 and often I lose at 1 place who paid. But it's poker. I respect players win bad cards , when I win with cards I am happy.

Sonandres · Junior Member Joined: Jul 29, 2006 Posts: 6

I think that always you can find bad beats... it doesn't depend on if the tournament is a Free Roll or not...

See you..

Sonandres

madmax155 · Junior Member Joined: May 09, 2006 Posts: 7

because people like peruvincin will call allins on garbage and hit it lol

ssmooth8 · Junior Member Joined: Jul 25, 2006 Posts: 6

People will say freerolls help your game but your game play in freerolls is definitely loose compared to a buyin tournament or a ring game table. It's just fact as 100 chips is really $100 in ring games. The word free brings the idiotic players as well.

cards2u · Junior Member Joined: Sep 30, 2006 Posts: 6

you took the words out of my mouth.
I find im takig my freeroll attitude into other games with me. and of coarse in real games there is a completely different attitude towards the game. I think the best thing to do is limit the amount of freerolls you enter.

MtnGirl · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 4:18 pm Post subject: Freerolls

Everytime I set down at the table, I try to play as if it is my own hard earned money at risk, playing any game is a learning experience.
I am finding that during the first hour most of the deadwood has been eliminated, after that, I am finding that it is silly mistakes and not what others do that end my play Rolling Eyes

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