Basic Poker Freeroll Strategy
As we know, freerolls are a great way of attracting new people into the joys of playing poker, and this strategy is intended to give people that have no knowledge of poker whatsoever a basic guideline of how they can take a free trip into the world of online poker. If they like it, then they can come here for lots of great advice on how to play properly, and use your links to sign up for all the best poker sites. If they don't have as much fun as they hoped, then at least they haven't lost any money in the process
I've been trying out playing poker freerolls. On the face of it freerolls don't seem to be worth much because of the low prize money relative to the number of entrants. There are typically 400 players competing for around £100 of prize money, which means the average player is earning just 25p for playing, but the surprising thing is that the quality of play is absolutely abysmal. I mean, I know its a freeroll, but when someone calls your aces with J 2 you really have to wonder....
I suspect the players are actually so bad you could enter a tournament, not actually play it (every hand of yours will be automatically folded), and still occasionally finish in the money
The following canned strategy should get you into the freeroll money on a regular basis (I had never played poker before I found this guide, and I have made the final table of numerous freeroll tournaments using it, much to the disgust of the poker "purists")
Early in the tournament:
1) Go all-in with any top pair (AA, KK, QQ)
2) Every other pair call for the minimum, and go all-in if you make a three-of-a-kind or better. Usually some idiot will call you
3) Call for the minimum with AK and KJ, and go all-in if you make top pair or better
4) Play any small or big blind hand where no one raises. Fold these immediately if you make less than two pair on the flop
5) Fold everything else
6) When in doubt, fold. Let the other players kill themselves off
Late in the tournament:
1) When the blinds are still less than a sixth of your stack, play as above
2) When you get below that you want to go all-in with any ace or any king, and any two cards whose rank value sums to ten
3) When the blinds are a third of your stack just go all-in with anything
4) When in doubt, go all-in. Aggression is very important in the later stages of a tournament
Poker experts please note, this is a very simplified strategy. Though, given the quality of opposition, I doubt it is that far from optimal. No point in trying to outplay opponents who don't even care what cards you have
Please note that I am not suggesting that this is my idea, or that this is how you should play once you have gained an understanding of the game, and certainly don't pay to enter tournaments if this is all you have to go by. You are also likely to receive a certain amount of abuse from "experts" that think that all players should play "properly" in all tournaments, regardless of whether it's a freeroll or not
But if you're venturing into the world of poker for the very first time, hopefully this will be helpful as a rough guide. Good luck!
Reply With Quote
and hopefully help me in future 
