I just started playing freerolls last month when my BR dropped to zero. I dont play often but i got to final table 2x and make the money braket often.. Many players go aggressive at the start to build chip leads and become tight when closing in on the money... But i play it opposite and it had better results. i play tight at the start cos i think everybody will get their nut cards and its up to them to get max chips out of it. and then closing in on the money, i play it aggressive cos then most players would be playing tight. How do you play big tourneys? post your stories here and lets help each other improve.. Good luck to all at the tables!!!
Joined: Dec '09
Location: United States
Age: 41 (M)
Posts: 22
Best advice I was ever given on MTTs is to increase your aggression with the blinds. Because each chip has more value later in the tournament than they do early(think about it...if someone wins a huge pot at 15/30, it has very little impact on the end game, if any), it's important to open up your game as the tournament nears the end.
Also, try to be predictable and unpredictable at the same time. If you raise preflop from every button and/or every cutoff position, it will be nearly impossible for your opponents to put you on a hand. They know you're going to raise, so they have to seriously narrow their calling/raising range to try and catch you offguard. The problem is, big hands don't come along often enough for anyone to stop you from raising every time you're in position. Raise the same amount whether you're dealt six-deuce offsuit or pocket aces. Eventually, you'll have a huge hand and someone will push all in with QT or KQ or A9 or some marginal hand. Try this in a freeroll and tell me what you think.
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Australia
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 6483
good advice FlopMeARoyal.
I agree with what you said to noynoy.. And there's probably gonna be people here telling you since its a freeroll just play aggro in first hour to try and build a monster stack.. But I think you're on the money, play ultra tight in first 1-2hrs.. Wait for nut hands then shove in and double up. Then later, when everybody is playing to 'survive' past the bubble, open your range right up and steal a stack of blinds etc.
Standard MTT play is different around the bubble, in that since people have actually paid for the buyin, they are less inclined to be bothered about a min-cash - since it's usually only slightly more than the buyin anyway.. A lot more people playing to win / FT in a buyin game. In a freeroll, most people just looking to cash and they make v soft targets.
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Philippines
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Posted by noynoy: I just started playing freerolls last month when my BR dropped to zero. I dont play often but i got to final table 2x and make the money braket often.. Many players go aggressive at the start to build chip leads and become tight when closing in on the money... But i play it opposite and it had better results. i play tight at the start cos i think everybody will get their nut cards and its up to them to get max chips out of it. and then closing in on the money, i play it aggressive cos then most players would be playing tight. How do you play big tourneys? post your stories here and lets help each other improve.. Good luck to all at the tables!!!
ive been playing mtt freerolls for my entire online career, and still i dont see any strategy to play it effectively... maybe i'm 1 of the donks that you may call, but ive have placed 6th twice...
Joined: Nov '08
Location: Netherlands
Age: 41 (M)
Posts: 6
^^ this is way to serious its a freeroll for christ sake! You should try and build a monster stack in the low levels. Do this by watching opponents wo are either playing bad or not serious. Just play premiums (AT+, 88+) and try to stack off borderline idiots who think: well its only a freeroll. F*ck the bubble go for the first place/final table. What you should be aware of is your effective stack VS the risk you are taking. When the stakes go higher it all depends on your table; if your table is passive steal a lot of blinds with a lot of hands, if not you should just shove the better hands. But my advice in freerolls: always take risk in the early stage to build a monster stack!
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
Most freerolls typically take a few hours to complete, and the prize is usually not a HUGE sum. I have played quite a few and placed in the money a number of times, but due to the time investment and low return for that time, I will go all in early with something solid like TT or better, or AQ / AK. If I get clobbered I do something else or go onto the next one, but if I manage to double up or more, then I am in position to go very deep. With a large stack you can then play more aggressively in certain spots, and as the tournament progresses and people start to get desperate and push with weak cards, you are able to pick them off and continue building. GL!
Joined: May '09
Location: Croatia
Age: 39 (M)
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I cant push on start if I dont get some bigger cards to play,beacuse know that people know to pay on anything in first hour of play and dont want to lose againts donks,so wait for some cards and later maybe play agressive!
Joined: Jan '10
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 36 (M)
Posts: 543
I think im inclined to agree with FlopmeaRoyal here. I've changed up my strat recently from being quite aggressive in the first few levels to try and chip up to being super tight and waiting for ( REAL ) premiums, not 88, AT like somebody mentioned earlier. Although i dont play freerolls really i think a similar strat might be best. Try and sit though the first hour or two building your tight image and only playing absolute monsters pre. That way you can take advantage of people shoving into you, steal blinds a hell of a lot easier when the levels go up ( due to your super nitty image ) and outlast the majority of the uber donks in the field. Also, remember it's not your responsibility to take out the short stacks ALL the time if you have a big stack... Sometimes its better to just think, " Well, i have like another 3/4 hours left to sit here and wait for a hand, why risk a third of my stack calling here"
Obv there are clear cut examples of when to take on the short stack but still...just my 2c!! Its worked for me in the last week or so. Since ive changed my strat ive won 2 180man 2$ on fulltilt, came 2-8th in 3 more and came 25th in the Daily Double A out of 2.5k entrants. I like my new strat :E
Joined: Dec '09
Location: United States
Age: 41 (M)
Posts: 22
shoveandtilt makes a good point: playing tight early will make an opponent question your hand range for the rest of the tournament. There aren't many situations in MTTs where automatic equity can be found, but you can improve your chances at adding equity to every situation you're in by openly playing super-tight early. You'd rather reraise the guy you just saw shove with A6 suited than the guy who plays two hands every 1/2 hour.
And Cracktor: yes, it's a freeroll, and you might not think freeroll strategy requires this much analyzation, but it's important to remember that you train how you fight. If you're pushing with ATo in a freeroll, you're going to do the same thing when it matters, because this is how you programmed yourself to play. Take it from a guy who sat for seven hours to win a FT freeroll in the past, then lost all my winnings almost immediately because I took the freeroll mentality into a buy-in tournament. Everything you do and don't consider has consequences, so why not try and cover all the bases? The whole point of playing in freerolls is to try and improve your game, and that's the line of thought I'm working with here.
Joined: Jan '10
Location: United Kingdom
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Some people just don't fancy putting there own money at stake when they fear they aren't good enough...or what we like to call... scared money I think freerolls and certain step based sng's are a great idea for beginners to try poker out, they just need to realise certain adjustment is needed before they play in real buyin MTT's as Flopme mentioned.
Joined: Nov '08
Location: Netherlands
Age: 41 (M)
Posts: 6
Posted by FlopMeARoyal: shoveandtilt makes a good point: playing tight early will make an opponent question your hand range for the rest of the tournament. There aren't many situations in MTTs where automatic equity can be found, but you can improve your chances at adding equity to every situation you're in by openly playing super-tight early. You'd rather reraise the guy you just saw shove with A6 suited than the guy who plays two hands every 1/2 hour.
And Cracktor: yes, it's a freeroll, and you might not think freeroll strategy requires this much analyzation, but it's important to remember that you train how you fight. If you're pushing with ATo in a freeroll, you're going to do the same thing when it matters, because this is how you programmed yourself to play. Take it from a guy who sat for seven hours to win a FT freeroll in the past, then lost all my winnings almost immediately because I took the freeroll mentality into a buy-in tournament. Everything you do and don't consider has consequences, so why not try and cover all the bases? The whole point of playing in freerolls is to try and improve your game, and that's the line of thought I'm working with here.
well my mentallity is certanly not f*ck it its a freeroll; i'm considering a strategy that is the most +EV long term. So in that case shoving 88/AT might be a very good move. Not aotomatic, but like you mention yourself: You'd rather reraise the guy you just saw shove with A6 suited than the guy who plays two hands every 1/2 hour. And thats a situation you should always be aware of in every MTT! So when playing a tournament with deep stack and big buy in (sunday million) there will not be to many players risking their stack with rags. You will be aware of that and thus not shoving non premiums!
To conclude i would like to say that in my opinion poker is all about finding the best edge between risk and reward. Freerolls can be very helpfull to teach you how to get to final tables!
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Poland
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 1189
Depends on a tournamenti play. If it's "normal" freeroll like 500 ppl+ 50-100$~ i prefer playing something like AQ+ TT+ push because many times they go all-in with any Ax some KQ/KJ/JQ. And when i was playing freerolls i was opening like 10-15 of them in mostly all sites there could be any. I think it's better even loose with AQ to some KJ or Ax at start then to get suckout by w8ing 1 hour for AA to came. Use some stats program i think they are really usefull in freeroll. Cause if u see player who push even with a little hands like 20 on him and u see he his stats like 80/50 u know u can easy call him with looser range. And most important for me... Do notes... observe enemy. On Freerolls it's easy to see who is playing how. Really easy. Ultra tight player , Ultra loose over aggro donks and begginers which go all-in with TPanykicker. Mostly only that 3 players. Very rather u see something else.
Dunno why it is easting the word f r e e r o l l here... for myself.
Haha also one thing. You say people will question your range if you play tight? IN FREEROLL? IN THE BEGGINING OF THE FREEROLL? Are you serious? Most of ppl look into their own cards not thinking what enemy have. Oh i have Ax flop came with A wow gogo all-in. That why u need observe players and find out which are the one who rlly do some dmg against you. Also after playing same f r ee roll s for some time u will notice ppl repeat = easier to make stats.
edit: last thing. also remember if you're using stats... remember sitouts are changing them which are annoying in freeroll. So stats are rlly usefull for some players only so do notes properly.
Joined: Sep '10
Location: United States
Age: 61 (F)
Posts: 62
If it's a big field free roll like 9,000 players, then I have no problem with the get in or get out early style. Triple up or get out is my goal. Better to get out early than 3 hours later before hitting the money. Another way to play free rolls is the minimum time, maximum results method. It is not as solid, but I have made the money with this style of play with very little play time. Triple up then sit out for an hour, then come back and triple up, then sit out another hour. If you have success doing this just twice---you should be near the money in the third hour and can start playing for real. You will lose a lot of these early playing this way, but you will win one from time to time with very little effort or time wasted.
Joined: Oct '08
Location: United States
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 40
depends on how many people are in the game but thats where you get sucked out on the most.. ive won alot of freerolls and i cant say theres any great stategy in them......be a donk and get up in the chips lol j/k
Joined: Jan '10
Location: Indonesia
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 1875
Wow, So many good advise at this thread. I never see ( like this at this forum ) before. And a lot members seldom sent post before give their advise. Like it. I feel donk if give more comment . Good luck every1. I hope your advise help me soon
Posted by IslandJack: I was reading this thread this morning, and I said to myself: I need to win the first Party freeroll to make a point.
And I did. The point being that there IS a way to win freerolls.
Very nice!
Do you mind telling all of us what that way IS? Did you adjust your playing style much (for freeroll)? Do you feel you can repeat this, and are you going to try?
Always nice to see someone active in these forums doing well...
How do you play big tourneys? post your stories here and lets help each other improve.. 
its a 
