Joined: May '12
Location: Argentina
Age: 43 (M)
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1- Don't look your hole cards when you fold, think when you fold it was right. 2- Let all in pre flop to Bingo players. 3- Play with position!!! 4- If you rise pre-flop and flop is bad for your hole cards, better is fold and wait for another better hand 5- Play 1/10 hands is a fine porcentage. 6- In turbo mode, loosing time is a bad strategie. 7- Dont worry about bad beats, bad players and free buy in = more bad beats, take it easy. 8- Remember, is very hard to keep your initial strategy, but if you do, you win more. 9- If you are tired. go to sleep and come later. 10- Remember it's a freeroll, no money in buy in so be carefull with runner runner calls,
Joined: Sep '12
Location: Romania
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 1052
Posted by nicofinito:
1- Don't look your hole cards when you fold, think when you fold it was right. 2- Let all in pre flop to Bingo players. 3- Play with position!!! 4- If you rise pre-flop and flop is bad for your hole cards, better is fold and wait for another better hand 5- Play 1/10 hands is a fine porcentage. 6- In turbo mode, loosing time is a bad strategie. 7- Dont worry about bad beats, bad players and free buy in = more bad beats, take it easy. 8- Remember, is very hard to keep your initial strategy, but if you do, you win more. 9- If you are tired. go to sleep and come later. 10- Remember it's a freeroll, no money in buy in so be carefull with runner runner calls,
11-When you got AA and adversar/s goes ALL IN pre-flop fold
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 3361
I kinda like this bit of inforamtion for a first time poster. at least it's all good advice and your not asking how can you earn more Mobpoints or for someone to lone some money. hope to see / read more posts from you and welcome to the forum nico.
Joined: May '08
Location: Lithuania
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 10090
have to agree with both of u (greenmohave & teddybears73) always nice to see someone coming into forum and starting their journey with an informative post and not one of those "me is not had been receiving my do deposit bonus- can some had me been helping with this" great post nicofinito- i hope you will not be finito with this post
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Australia
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 6483
Posted by nicofinito:
1- Don't look your hole cards when you fold, think when you fold it was right. 2- Let all in pre flop to Bingo players. 3- Play with position!!! 4- If you rise pre-flop and flop is bad for your hole cards, better is fold and wait for another better hand 5- Play 1/10 hands is a fine porcentage. 6- In turbo mode, loosing time is a bad strategie. 7- Dont worry about bad beats, bad players and free buy in = more bad beats, take it easy. 8- Remember, is very hard to keep your initial strategy, but if you do, you win more. 9- If you are tired. go to sleep and come later. 10- Remember it's a freeroll, no money in buy in so be carefull with runner runner calls,
Nice post, but I must disagree with item 2, it's a common misconception that going allin preflop is a "bingo" play.. Poker is all about your equity in a pot, if you have a positive expectation getting it all in preflop, then do it. Even drawing hands like AQ, AK etc - Basically, put your opponents on a range (based on previous hands - are they loose? Tight? etc.) and if your hole cards have positive expectation against an opponent(s) range. Then go for it. Just remember the GAP concept: Your calling range should be extremely tight, but you can open up a LOT when you're shoving, since you also have FE(Fold equity)
Posted by nicofinito: 2- Let all in pre flop to Bingo players.
Nice post, but I must disagree with item 2, it's a common misconception that going allin preflop is a "bingo" play.. Poker is all about your equity in a pot, if you have a positive expectation getting it all in preflop, then do it. Even drawing hands like AQ, AK etc - Basically, put your opponents on a range (based on previous hands - are they loose? Tight? etc.) and if your hole cards have positive expectation against an opponent(s) range. Then go for it. Just remember the GAP concept: Your calling range should be extremely tight, but you can open up a LOT when you're shoving, since you also have FE(Fold equity)
I hear what you say, and I agree.
However, I think this point deals with the early stages of a freeroll, which is a bit different. The problem here is that you need to be aware of how many people are still to act, before calling an all-in, because lot's of times you end up with 4 or more people all-in, and then it's just a gamble, no matter how good your hole cards are...
Also, when you know it will be HU, you can call with an extremely wide range here, since the chances are you're up against any two cards. I think JJ+ is good enough, in the first few hands of the tournament.
I do agree with point 2 though, because the all-in idiots that win, will end up with huge stacks, and very little ability. It's safer and easier to just take their stacks once the initial onslaught is over... These players have no idea what the GAP concept is, and will call huge bets after the flop when you've hit your monster: "easy come, easy go".
Joined: Apr '11
Location: Romania
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 6669
Pretty good advices and indeed pretty nice first post so you deserve a welcome too
As for your rules are pretty straight forward, but on rule 4 i think even a small cbet like half a pot or even less especially against one opponent is a must.
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 4827
All-in pre-flop may work at some points, i'm not saying in the begining of the freerolls like so many use to do, but in a more advanced stage, when the freeroll's already have more than two hours of action. At that point, short stackers will start loosing worst and all-in pre-flop may give you advantage getting those short stacks and improving your stack, against other players who would have the same amount of chips than you and prefer not to take that risk against dead-chip players. About the rest, love it, you're so right, this is good work for mobsters to read, learn and apply!
Joined: Jan '09
Location: Italy
Age: 53 (M)
Posts: 3871
One or two years ago a mobster (don't remember his name but unfortunately he doesn't post anymore) made an excellent post about the strategy he used to cash in freerolls. I'm not able to find it now but when I first read it I copy/pasted it in a .doc file on my pc. I think this thread is the right occasion to copy/paste it in the opposite direction.
- - - - What follow is the copy/paste :
Hi! I submitted this story to a magazine, but I was only going to get $10 for it. I figured why not help some people who are grinding?
My PokerTracker is being brutal with Bodog, so I can't post any solid statistics from tournaments. I have cashed in Cake Poker and Bodog tourneys using this method. I haven't tried it any other place so let me know, I'll make sure to never answer your post.
I like to limit my time playing, so this treatise barely requires you to even know how to play poker.
PICKING YOUR POISON:
The most important choice is finding a room that has No Limit Hold'em with a starting chip count of 1200 or 1500 with a high prize amount. Avoid any fixed limit games as they can take twice as long for half the payout. You want to maximize your profit and minimize your time at the tables.
If you would like a schedule, check out **removed, against our forum rules /admin**
Bodog Poker: This is by far the best room to play a freeroll. You get points for playing freerolls that you can use in other tournaments, the payouts are high and the player field is only a few thousand. The players here are average in skill. Freerolls 3x a day.
Cake Poker Network: The players here are weak. Follow my strategy and there is a good chance you'll cash. The prizes are low but the field goes fast. Freerolls about 8x a day.
Merge Gaming Network (Reefer Poker): Weak players and tournaments are capped at 1500 people. Lowest prizes out of all. Offered a few times a day.
FullTiltPoker: Prizes are OK, but the fields are always at least 10,000 players. Interface is good, and the players range from really good to players who go all-in every hand. Offered almost hourly.
Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet: Bad prizes, higher player fields, tables rebalance too often. This means for three hands in a row you could be moved from table to table, which does not allow you a table image. The players are average. Freerolls about 8x a day.
Pokerari (Everleaf Gaming Network): This is the smallest poker room and is extremely slow. But it also has the worst players, and you don't have to download anything. 2X a day.
Avoid'em: Pokerstars and TruePoker. If you've ever played on any other site, you'll understand. Although Pokerstars has high game frequency and variation, they are often limit games and take hours for prizes. TruePoker is painfully slow, and offers one freeroll a day.
How To Cash in Three Parts:
Here is the strategy I use to cash. I do not care about first place, or even 50th place. I would just like to build a bankroll bit by bit. I use variations, but here is a beginner's treatise. This is based on data from freerolls on Absolute Poker.
If you want to win the tournament, here is my suggestion. Run the program in reverse (do steps 3, 2, 1) until you reach the final table. Play marginal hands at the beginning and go all-in quite a bit more. You're more likely to bust out early, but there is a small chance you'll have a giant stack by the time the cash comes.
That's a statistically untested theory, and completely anecdotal, but I think tournament regulars would agree that this type of play is risky but common.
Step 1:
Until big blind reaches 100 or 40-55 minutes:
Don't bluff at any street. Go all-in with AA, KK, or QQ in middle or late position. If you are facing a raise and re-raise or higher in any position with QQ, fold. In late position just call with AK suited or off-suit. Otherwise, fold. Do not worry about stealing blinds, they are too small and even freeroll players can trap.
If you are faced with a situation where there quite a few callers and someone doesn't raise your blind, check it down. If you have the best hand possible on the flop turn or river, check and re-raise three times a bettor. If they raise, go all-in. If your hand is still the nuts on the turn and river, I can't really give you more information. If it is a dangerous board, bet 2/3 of the pot at the flop and turn. Of course, call an all-in raise.
Next hour:
At this point in the tournament I got AK suited, KK, AA in a row. The players at my table had abnormally large stacks. I won the first two hands by going all-in. Since my heart rate was up, I raised minimum in second position with AA and had one caller. The caller hit a set of 8's on the turn and trapped me badly on the river. I checked the flop and minimum bet the turn. He called my turn and I thought he had hit top pair, a King on the board. I bet the pot at the river and got reraised all in. I played the important pot odds rule here and got burned. For every dollar I called his raise with, I could have gotten six back. So I called.
The pot odds in these tournaments do not matter much. I wouldn't advise calling a reraise on the river if you have the third or fourth best hand just because you can get 2 to 1 on your money. If I can get 4x my money by calling in the middle of the tournament, I'm happy. The blinds are low, and you still can recover. And recover I did.
Loosen your starting hand requirements. I become a calling station during this period. This is where I am most successful and have the highest rate of return according to the software. Just follow this card. As silly as it sounds, K10, KJ and Q10, suited or otherwise, are not premium hands unless in late position. You have a lot of catching up to do.
Marginal Cards:
I call with off suits--- AQ AJ A10 KQ pairs 2 through 8 And any suited Ace-x
Call in any position, fold to raise higher than 3x Big Blind.
Minimum Raise With--- 99 1010
...and suited
AJ A10 KQ QJ J10
Raise in any position, fold to raise higher than 3x Big Blind or more.
Raise 3x Big Blind--- AK off AK suited AQ suited JJ QQ
Raise in any position, and reraise. If one player pushes, call. Two or more players, fold.
AA, KK all-in preflop in middle and late position but raise 3x BB if you are first or second to act, and re-raise all in to any raise.
My advice is be extremely aggressive unless you've hit a set, full house or flush. I usually check the best hand on the flop and bet 2x the minimum on the turn. If someone raises on the flop, I rarely just call. A lot of poker is statistics, you want the player out of the hand if you know they have the possibility of chasing a good one. If you have a large stack, this is the perfect time to just call a raise on the flop if you have the best hand. You can take a bad beat and the profits can be huge. However, most people will just fold if you bet to early with a large stack.
If you want to get more chips from a player, try and get your value bets on the river. Most of the time I get reraised on the river I'm beat. When I get called, I usually win. So make the bet small, but not too small that they are enticed to bluff. I'd try ½ the pot.
Don't overplay straights.
Be extremely defensive against straights or flush draws. Overbet the pot if you hit top pair on the flop. If you get callers, be aggressive on the turn if it's a flop with a different suits. If you get reraised after being that aggressive, they might have hit a straight or set.
Tips: Try not to talk on the Chatbox, always muck. Timing tells only work if you have been at a table for a while. That is, quick checks on a huge flop or extremely slow calls may indicate a huge hand for a player. Most of my timing tells don't even matter because I'm multitabling. Consider yourself a poker playing robot. And remember, AK suited is a better valued hand than JJ.
Step 3:
20% of the field left
For step 3: raise 3-5x the Big Blind, suited or otherwise:
AA KK AK AQ JJ QQ AQ AJ A10 KQ
The pre-flop cards you play stay the same as Step 2 with a few exceptions.
Stop calling with suited Ace-X cards. This is personal preference, players start getting tight here. If you have A2 suited and you miss your flush, chances are someone might have a pair or better kicker.
I call most raises with a pocket pair of anything and hope for a set, even if I'm short stacked. I will then fold to in all-in reraise.
I raise 3-5x the big blind with every hand I listed for step 2, even AA and KK. If you go all in with a monster, most individuals aren't going to call you at this point unless they have a monster, too. A common situation is AK offsuit vs. KK.
The goal is to get to the money. Raise aggressively with pairs EVEN if you miss the flop or hit a set, but try to avoid re-raise all-ins at all costs. Most players going all-in by this point think they have the best hand. In order to reach this point in the tournament you may have gone all-in only once. That being said, you will need to at least three or four times to stay alive and cash if you played extremely tight at the beginning.
If you believe you can make the cash just by auto-folding, do it. If you calculate wrong, well then follow this rule: Push all-in with any ace or a pair if you have less than ten big blinds.
Once you are in the money:
If you are a low-stack, start pushing all-in with any of the hands I've already listed. Once you get to an average stack size, play again like the final third of the tournament. If you have a big stack, play extremely tight until you get to the final table.
Here's a fair warning: With this strategy, I always enter the money with about half the average chip stack.
Winning a pokerfreeroll is like breaking into show business: There's a lot of luck involved, but some talent helps. Of course, you don't have to be handsome or funny, only patient.
Joined: May '12
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 2064
Am I the only person that thinks that 'good poker' is 'good poker'?.... Whether it's in a freeroll or the Sunday Million. In any tournament you need to adapt your game based on the other players at your table... so a tight start is always advisable until you have a feel of the players. Then you should just do what's 'right'. Just because a tournament doesn't have a cash buy-in, doesn't mean you should play with a different mindset. Yes, in a freeroll the average standard of players will be worse than in a real money one, but I don't think that means you should lower your standards to theirs. Have faith in your game.... and have faith in your decision making - and no matter what tourney it is, you'll do well.
If you think of it in EV+/- terms it makes it all very obvious. Every time you make a decision, it's either plus or negative EV... and the same thing goes for every one of your opponents. So if you are on a table with a lot of people making incorrect plays, their EV is majorly minus.... and if you're making good decisions, your EV will be majorly plus.
Posted by yout85: Am I the only person that thinks that 'good poker' is 'good poker'?....
True, but in a freeroll starting tight is not the optimal play; you're giving up equity by doing that. Don't join the 5-way all-ins, but call with a wide range, when you know it's just the 2 of you.
I play about 80% of the hands early on, when the blinds are tiny, but fold to any raise. If I can see the flop for 20 chips (which I can quite often), I can cash in on monsters. This just is not an option in other types of tournaments.
So "good poker" is "good poker", but "good poker" is something different in different situations. A freeroll is just one of these situations, albeit a rather extreme one, in the early stages.
Joined: Nov '12
Location: Bangladesh
Age: 30 (F)
Posts: 29
Yeah like the strategy , I have read it somewhere before I thing, All I got to add in there is , Don't loose you game and mental strength playing with donkey players.Watch them observe them and then catch them simple. They will make mistakes, you just have to wait for it
Joined: Nov '11
Location: Estonia
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 614
in freerolls im speaking about pokerstars ticket hunting always all in with semi ok cards or even total crap to get good start if no good start can simply start another one(example week ago i played same time omaha fixed limit hi-lo and pot limit badugi omaha i won in other one finished top 20) no point to struggle with low stack .... in BRM freerolls i do actually try to play decent only because leaderboard but there is al time showe anyways if ya survive that then have chance for cash
Joined: Aug '12
Location: Slovakia
Age: 36 (M)
Posts: 688
1-2. I agree 4. depends on how many players are you facing and if you have some "informations" about them, then you can try to steal. 5. I use to play 20-25% of hands, depends on my stack, or how many agressive players are at table. 6-10. mostly I agree
Joined: May '12
Location: Slovenia
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 35
12. Never go all-in with your stack till the break starts. 13. Call all-ins only when it will cost you less than 1/4 of your stack. Chances are, you'll have to call again.
Seriously, putting your stack at risk at freeroll's is silly. Except if you have an extreme premium hand, you can always take it easy, force bluff all-ins when you have monsters, be top 20 in chips. And never call when there's more than 2 all-ins before you. Then you can survive.
I mean, sure the math says that your AA is a 70% favorite, but there's hunderets of all-ins every turney
but there is al time showe anyways if ya survive that then have chance for cash
