Basic Freeroll Tournament Strategy

The play at freeroll tournaments is absolutely atrocious. This might be frustrating at first but you’ll soon see how easy it is to do well at freeroll tournaments. If you play a tight game and let the crazy players hang themselves, you can do very well at freeroll tournaments.

The key to winning at freeroll tournaments is to play very tight and wait for strong hands. You should never bluff in the early or middle stages of a freeroll tournament because the players in these things are so loose that it’s just a waste of chips. You don’t need to be tricky to succeed; you need to be tight.

Preflop Play

In early position, stick with big starting hands like AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT and AK and play them aggressively. You’ll want to come in with a raise with these hands and start betting them hard right away. There’s no sense in playing tricky with these hands because you’ll still get plenty of calls.

If you catch a big pocket pair and several people call, you’ll have to be very careful. I would still put out a bet on the flop but if you get any calls, you’ll want to play the hand for a small pot.

Sometimes you’ll raise with a big pocket pair and end up against just a single opponent. In this case, I would play the hand for a big pot unless there were higher cards than your pair on the board. The only time I would play a big pair carefully is if I was up against a noticeably smart opponent or we had more than 100 big blinds in our stacks.

Remember – this is a freeroll tournament. You will have to play your big hands like you mean it. Sometimes you’ll run into an even bigger hand but that’s how the game goes sometimes. Most of the time you’ll be playing against opponents who have nothing more than bottom pair or a draw.

When you get in late position, you can open up your game a bit and play hands like small pocket pairs in the hopes of hitting a set. These hands don’t hit hands very often but when they do hit, they can win huge pots for you.

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Postflop Play

After the flop, the only thing you need to do is bet if you hit a strong hand or fold if you miss. It is seriously that easy. If you play a 100% straightforward, completely predictable game, you are playing with the correct freeroll strategy.

Don’t chase draws, don’t try to bluff and don’t spend money on anything that isn’t a made hand. It sounds very easy but you’ll see that hardly anybody plays with a semi-coherent strategy in freeroll tournaments.

Late Game Strategy

In some freeroll the play with tighten up on the bubble right before the money starts being handed out. If you notice this happen, you can try the occasional steal but you need to be extremely cautious when doing so. As soon as you get a call from another player, you should probably give up on the steal.

Not all freeroll tournaments tighten up on the bubble, however, so sometimes you’ll just have to continue playing tight and waiting for strong hands. It requires patience but you can easily do well in freerolls if you follow this basic strategy. The most difficult part is keeping your cool when you play well but suffer a horrible bad beat and get knocked out of the tournament.

Bad Beats in Freerolls

Bad beats are a part of every day life for freeroll tournament players. It sucks but it’s true. The players in most freeroll tournaments know nothing of poker strategy so you’ll see them playing lots of hands and calling lots of bets.

Any time you play against lots of inexperienced players, you’re going to suffer more bad beats. But don’t let that deter you. Bad players are the most profitable players to play against! It just requires patience.

I still get the occasional e-mail from frustrated poker players telling me they can’t wait until they move up in stakes and can play against more sane poker players. I always have to tell them that catching lots of bad beats is actually a good sign.

Yes, it’s extremely frustrating but it also means you’re playing against people who are completely willing to pay you off when you sit tight and wait for strong hands. There’s no easier way to make a profit in poker than that.

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