Joined: Oct '09
Location: Spain
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 2851
I just realised this week that playing freerolls really screws up your Poker abilities. I get the impression they´ve really changed since i started playing more than a year ago.
I played 2 this week.
On FT the aussie Million freeroll round one. 2700 runners, was 34th with 62 left. (54 go through) So I had my ticket, but realised while playing that the next round is on Christmas night at 03.30 in the morning, so I couldn´t play it anyway. So I went for a big stack. Hit trip K´s by the turn and went all-in with the huge blinds running then. Someone calls...he´s 29th...and he´s got an inside straight draw! 9% chance of hitting it.
He beat 2.650 players just like me, and he´s risking a ticket (which he´s already won if he´s careful) on a 9% draw! WTF? I just don´t get it. I don´t really care about the ticket...but I just don´t get it...
I also played 3 $5.000 freerolls on Party ( you get those tickets anyway by earning 5 points the previous day). I am NOT kidding when I say that there are all-ins 90% of the rounds the first hour. (really). You cannot see a flop without going all-in, and it´s a speed tourney, so you have to or get blinded out before the hour. So I did 3-4 times on average (go all-in) just to stay ahead of the blinds. No one seems to play Poker in those things anymore. It all comes down to an hour of coinflipping, and hoping you get and stay lucky. There used to be some Poker play before, but now.....? And it´s still $5.000! I just don´t get it.
What pisses me off is that these donks just play coinflips the whole tourney, and will probably do the same in the $50.000 freeroll I qualified for as well on the 2nd of January. Sad sad sad... All that money going to some lucky gamblers with no Poker skills whatsoever.
Why don´t the just play Roulette and stay off the Pokertables?
Long story, but just to say that all this stuff gets VERY frustrating, and I noticed i get pissed off and that is not helping my game at all at those times.
Looks like te only games I can still enjoy are the $10+1 deep stack tourneys on FT, or the $6 minimum Sng´s.
Everything below that has apparently become Garbage Poker where people are just afraid to play after the flop, and that is exactly what makes Holdem exciting. Post-Flop play! that is also what takes skill.
so the game is going to hell IMO, and the donks are climbing the buy-in ladders, so soon well have to play $110 tourneys or Gamble....
Joined: Feb '08
Location: Ireland
Age: 53 (M)
Posts: 638
and im starting to play freerolls now .... i like them .... free entry either get far or bust out early to these crazy beats .. But in saying that im doing ok in them ... But dont think i would be doing them if the field was big ... the ones i play usually have 130 entrants ... cashed my last one sunday night for $10.50 after coming 5th .... struggling right up to the bubble ... then got moved to a table with a Donkey bigstack who was playing like a lunatic and managed to double up twice against him.
hope things improve for you with these as they can be a handy sourse of money
Joined: Feb '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 1886
Posted by IslandJack: to whoever read this WHOLE thing...Congratz!
Sorry I couldn't but I scanned the gist of it.
I play a lot of freerolls cos I can't seem to turn down the possibility to win free money but the play drives me crazy. I've played so many of those daily 5000 party freerolls you're on about but I cannot make money on them. Even when I knock out all the idiots early on and get a good chip lead the play is so crazy the donks soon catch up with me.
I think party poker loves donks to win money and intentionally makes the freerolls donkfests. I'm not suggesting any conspiracy theory rigged or deceitful actions from partypoker but they are aware that these tourneys are so easy to get, they are not aimed at their loyal big spenders, they are aimed at feeding the donks, the gamblers, enticing the newbies. So I don't play them too seriously. I play decent poker, hope for the best whilst doing something else and accept the outcome.
Joined: Jan '09
Location: Philippines
Age: 41 (M)
Posts: 326
Its very hard to win the freerolls! why not play the guaranteed tournaments instead. If we play freerolls there is a chance that theres is so many players unlike the other tourney. and if it is a freeroll many players just dont play it as poker but they are playing it like bingo or LOtto lol....
Joined: Nov '10
Location: Serbia
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 2087
Thanks for congratulations man It was hard work but I manage to do that! Anyway I dont play regular freerolls anymore for same reasons. If I find good private freeroll then it is OK, but on regular freerolls play people who have installed every poker room and they play most of freerolls, going all in non stop and hoping to get lucky. Waste of time...
hey dont knock the freerolls......... it free money
yeah you get alot of donks but i think there great to try out new moves or tactics , without hurting your bankroll............. but i know where your coming from gets frustrating from time to time, ive won over 1k in freeroll in the first week of joining betfred, when i deposit there about 4 months ago i got 2 free tourney tickets, won the first depositers tourney, and with the other ticket i won that 1 too, did a thread about this forgot what it was called something like money for nothing, check out my threads to see it
here i found the link which leads to my other freeroll win
hi all a couple of weeks a go i posted that i won a depositers tourney, in which i deposited and got two tourney tokens, i won with the first token and saved the other for when i had time, moved house came back from holliday,
Posted by dozn01: hey dont knock the freerolls......... it free money
Yeah and that's why we cannot be done with them, you can't reject free money and indeed I agree with you about that sometimes you get rid of them but not all freerolls have this time of poor play, just choose and play the right ones mate gl.
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
I know what you are saying IslandJack, however you can't take freerolls to heart and I don't think they should be the only poker you play. I used to play in one daily freeroll where the average field was 120 players and top ten spots paid, and this size freeroll I found nice because it only lasted three hours and I had good chances of finishing in the money several times a month. Sure, the first few rounds can be donkfests, that is normal! But usually as the tournament winds along the donks get eliminated and you get down to real poker. I usually push all-in as soon as I have AQ-TT or better during the first few rounds of the table, looking for a quick double or triple-up. If you get busted so what? Do something else! But if you hit, then you can go deep and make the investment in time more worth it. Then you can be more patient and start to choose your hands, and as people start to get desperate and go all-in you can pick them off. I stay away from freerolls that have more than 200 people, I don't have the time and often the money at the end is not that great that I want to spend 7 hours playing. GL!
Joined: Jun '10
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 45 (M)
Posts: 169
Posted by Calmplay:
Posted by dozn01: hey dont knock the freerolls......... it free money
Yeah and that's why we cannot be done with them, you can't reject free money and indeed I agree with you about that sometimes you get rid of them but not all freerolls have this time of poor play, just choose and play the right ones mate gl.
Yeah,i play only the few freerolls where i have always done well in but no matter what freeroll u get,there is always the donks who just bet all-in at start of them but by level 5 they are mostly gone or have a huge stack which u will eventually get,i prefer my mtts for maybe5-10$s but i have done well through freerolls on p/stars by qualifying for other tournies like the tt cpl month ago by finishing in top 27 out of 10k and then finished in 400odd place of 18k players and got $300s aswel as a few others so cant complain. I have some i play for entry into bigger tournies or the 1s i play for as little as a £5.50 tournie ticket but i have accumulated plenty of them 5.50tickets and then used them to play in 4players h/u winner takes all so it all adds on to whichever account im using so i agree that while there is plenty donks that do annoy the fk out of you but then what u expect when its free,gl at the tables!
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Philippines
Age: 51 (M)
Posts: 1011
if you have enough bankroll to play at higher level, why settle for those freerolls? only players like myself play them... considering, the outcome is not rested on who plays better, but whose luckier after all the cards have been dealt...
Joined: Jun '10
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 45 (M)
Posts: 169
i now only play a cpl of freerolls aswel as my usual mtts and cash tables but i always do well in the 1s i still play in and i like to add what i can to my accounts as it aint that much time wasted whereas i would play dozens on any sites a cpl years ago for hours but not now and its not luckiest always as i have done ok for a while out of certain freerolls and i see the usual faces at the end,not always imo but thats why i still play them 1s,you get the donks at start but as i said above they either are mostly gone by level4-5 or are sitting with a good amount that i know is mostly coming to me or s1 else when they go all-in again with their raggy ace4 which they think is a great hand for an all-in,lol.gl at the tables!
Joined: May '09
Location: Croatia
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 20506
yeah I get sick beacuse of all donks which play freerolls and pay on everything,especially like you say in first hour you cant see flop,almost everybody go all in!but 97% freerolls that I play,are for my country or just my region BALKAN and this is very good!for my country maybe 400 people play and its good number,thats why I play this freerolls!like today we had 1000 e special freeroll and only 364 players played!
Joined: May '09
Location: India
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 4873
i agree most of the freerolls are donkfests and if you try to play proper poker its real hard to win. sooner or later some1 will donk you out. i dont play freerolls much and the ones i play are private restricted ones with few players.
Joined: Oct '09
Location: Lithuania
Age: 33 (F)
Posts: 1180
and micro limits is the same as freeroll I think real game starts from 5$ buy in there you can see less donkeys and play normal not as dailly dollar in FTP or freerolls
Joined: Jan '10
Location: Germany
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 1379
most freerolls suck anyway there are only few prizes or few people paid... the last good freerolls i played where on pokerstars those depositer freerolls last year.
Joined: Nov '10
Location: Serbia
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 2087
I just finished 4th out of 5646 people and won FANTASTIC 10 I played for 5 hours and lost those 10$ in 20 minutes Freerolls are definitely waste of time
Joined: May '09
Location: Croatia
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 20506
it depend what freerolls to play!like I said I have very good freerolls for my country,not so much players and good prizes and this is on poker stars!and balkan freerolls are very good too,so for me its not loosing time
Anyway I dont play regular freerolls anymore for same reasons. If I find good private 
and indeed I agree with you about that sometimes you get rid of them but not all freerolls have this time of poor play, just choose and play the right ones mate 
