Freeroll Mentality

I've been experimenting with the best method of play during an online freeroll. To say that these events are chaotic are a huge understatement. On more than one occasion, the first ten hands of the tournament each had an all-in pre flop. Needless to say, success in such an environment requires a modified game plan. Here's how I found the most success in these tournaments (It should be noted, these were medium sized (300 to 650 players) freerolls with a satellite entry as top prize, no other places paid.):

1. For the first half of the tournament, be an ultra-rock. Don't play anything but pairs and Ace-face, unless it's in your blind and you get in cheap. If you miss the flop, don't chase unless it's very cheap. In other words, pinch every penny until you've got the best chance to double up!

2. For the third quarter of the tournament, play your normal game. This is the only period in the freeroll where your normal, tight-agro game is going to work. Don't bother with bluffs unless you KNOW the other player is of the quality that will appreciate it. Bad players are difficult if not impossible to bluff.

3. For the last quarter of the tournament, pretend you're a maniac who somehow survived the rest of the tournament. In other words, leave maniac tells like overbetting, needless all-ins, raising in first position when you could have checked, etc. In reality, play good speculative hands, and the excellent hands you would normally play. Only play junk in late position against very good players, hoping for the tilt factor when you hit that flop.

4. At the final table, go back to your solid, tight-agro style. The surviving players should be able to handle the occasional bluff, and notice that you're playing tight. They have the right intelligence and awareness that will allow you to play the game you're meant to play.

Other than that, you want your betting to be consistent. Either three times the big blind, pot sized, or all-in. Don't get fancy, it's wasted on most of the field. You can also trap more with big hands early, knowing that some crazy person is going to raise it up with a suited jack or something. I wouldn't hesitate to flat call the big blind pre flop with pocket kings. When it gets back to me... and it WILL get back to me, I'll be all-in.

This isn't foolproof. In fact, you're probably going to lose a lot of these. But don't let bad luck get to you. More people will be involved in pots, so there will be more sucking out. Just try to get in with the best hand, that's all you can do in poker.

If you stick to this system, you should find your freeroll finishes getting higher and higher on average. And it's excellent practice to some of the more drunken, loose games that you might encounter.

By Bill Ricardi – Internet Gaming Guru

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thats the way for sure, nice strategy.
I won one of these tournaments once on fulltilt only 1st place got a seat in another sattelite, but i was to late because it was on a saturday night i felt sick about it because i gotta say these tournaments are REALLY hard to win because you gonna need a whole lotta luck while playing in it.

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i must be blessed cuz im in badbeat heaven

Nice strategy, still not many people get this and go allin on every draw they get the first minutes.

Very high-quality strategy I must say that this strategy is definitely going to help not only in understanding the game but also in getting close of a tremendous victory in a much better way.

Thank you, actually I was searching for some different strategies and have got great strategies

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It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

This is an extremely good strategy, but does take alot of discipline and practice. Once youve cracked that part, your on your way to higher and higher positions.

Nice strategy but can you exercice the same strategy for normal buy inn MTT's? Or are there some adjustments needed?

My advice would be don't waste your time playing them.

Freerolls are for losers!

Is your name really Bill?.

On a serious level though, how much would you say the strategy or theory changes in a MTT compared to a ring game?. And how would you classify the PKR Freeroll player quality?. Last Sunday I won one of the $10 Freerolls and I'd like to think that it did require some amount of skill and that it wasn't just handed to me so to speak. Since we're on the topic, I thought I'd get your thoughts regarding it.

Thanks.

Jonathan // [JdhMac]

Pot luck, with a sprinkling of skill. It goes without saying that the bigger the game and stakes, the more skill is required.
I'm starting to believe that luck really does have a lot to do with it though, if it's not your day you just aint gonna win it, sure you can improve your chances by playing well with crap cards, but if you keep getting bad cards/flops/turns/rivers/allins etc then the gig's fuct.

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