[carl1957]

Ok... due to a long string of non-poker circumstances , I have no money for a bankroll.
I figured I'd do the ultimate and build one from freerolls - after all I have studied the game , how hard can it be? HA!
Can't play tight coz you get blinded out, and I seem to get sucked out on if I play any looser;
Soooo, the question before us is: Is there an effective strategy for freerolls? or just hang on and wait for the "lucky" break?
If it makes any difference ( I can't imagine it does), I play at PPages/bugsy's, UB, Everest, and PTime.

[smoore]

I'm a conservative player who is learning how to open up in the first hour of an online MTT. The reason I'm learning how to do this is because unless you flop really good you're going to have 10xBB by the break. That leads to some rather dry second-hour play. The second hour is "chip gathering" time in most structures so having to play push/fold hampers your ability to build a big stack.

That big stack is what gets you through the bubble with a chance to go deep so you need one.

So now, in the first hour I'm limping and cold-calling minraises with lots of trash that I would have folded two months ago. Suited connectors 78 and up, ANY pair, offsuit connectors JT and up, any two broadway, even the dreaded Axs. The only reason I can do this is because my postflop play has improved dramatically over the past six months. I don't go broke with flopped two pair as often and I can milk more value out of truly great hands.

That brings us to freerolls. You've paid exactly $0 to enter this tournament, your sole investment is time. Therefore, you should play a "modified maniac" strategy in the first hour in hopes of building a huge stack. There's no reason to play a freeroll conservatively, you have nothing to "save". Go ahead and get a little crazy, crack some aces with 67s, call some raises w/22 as long as your implied odds favor it. Once you get your big stack, play a normal game... bully the small stacks, steal blinds, be threataning to the medium stacks, etc.

One viable strategy might be "I am going to push or fold preflop based on XXXXX hand chart until I either triple my stack or go broke." If you used this strategy you'd be out very quickly in lots of tournaments (little time investment) but in the others you'll have some chips to play cards with along with a really crazy image at your initial table.

GL, and I was almost there with ya but a lucky win in a micro tournament brought me back.

[smoore]

Oh, after playing tonight, I've noticed I'll limp Qxs and higher in EP without fear during the first two levels.

dunno if I should be that loose but if I pay T30 100 times to see flops like that I figure I only need to connect/bluff successfully once every 30 times to show a profit, even discounting postflop ownage. Thems goot oddz.

[carl1957]

Thanx guys!
I'd noticed I was playing too passive as well - taking things WAY too serious - good point $0 invested.
I'm competitive as - well you know, just have to relax a little i guess.
I;ll keep you posted.....

[noelsarchs]

I played a 1000 person $50 freeroll last night on Doyles Room.

First 5 hands I took down 6 people after the flop by checking good hands letting them bet into me once I had what I figured was best hand.

Never ever did this before, but I went from $2000 in chips to $14,000 after 5 hands....then the table was filled with 7 more players all on disconnect. So me and the other guy made a deal to just steal all the disconnected blinds and not play one hand against each other.

We did that until we split all the remaining $14,000 in chips from those disconnects. This took exactly one hour bringing us to the break.

I had $21,000 in chips at the break, sitting in 14th place now with 145 people left of 1000.

Now I'm on a new table and I played ONLY super tight premium hands, not taking ANY chances with these idiots who play ace rag till the river. Well, in the next half hour, I played 3 hands and lost my entire stack to those ace rags or gutshot straights and small flushes. In each case I had the lead after the flop and turn, yet was called by three people who had nothing but draws.

So I'm not sure how to play these freerolls because it's really just a free for all. No one folds, everyone plays Ax, any high cards and suited anything all the way to the river. Or they just start playing Kill Phil all in strategy on every hand.

[guitarizt]

Tight is right.

[Tayman20]

Freerolls are by know means like real poker tournaments (by real i mean like with buy-ins w/ real money). This can be a good thing and a bad thing. The strategies for the two are generally completely different. Your best bet in freerolls is to play the first couple hands and see if people are going all-in like crazy. If so then wait for your hand and do the same. People will call and if you win, you double/triple up, if you lose then you wasted 5 or 10 minutes. Try and do this a couple times if the cards are treating you nice. Then once you have aquired a good amount of chips you can settle down and play some real poker. People will be wanting that money and will be slightly more conservative and you should be too. Just my advice and good luck!

[SpeakEasy]

Play standard tight poker.

Identify the donks. Try to isolate against them with re-raises. If you have a solid hand, take their stack. They will give it to you.

Eventually the field will narrow to good/decent players. Adjust accordingly.