Freeroll Tournament Strategy

A freeroll tournament is a poker game series that allows players to participate with no cost to enter, but with a real-money/value prize attached. Participating in freeroll tournaments is basically the best way to improve your poker skills without putting your money on the table.

Below are some strategies to help polish your freeroll game;

Tight is Right in The Early Stage:

Playing very tight is one of the most popular strategies in a freeroll. Using this strategy, you play in a very aggressive manner early. Doing this, your options are to build a big chip stack quickly or bust out. Because most freerolls only pay decent money to the top few finishers, it can be a waste of time to play for hours and only win a small amount. You might be better off busting out quickly than wasting your time.

The Early All-in Strategy:

You can easily use the early all-in strategy if you aren’t really a good tournament player. This strategy works a lot like the first strategy because you only play with decent hands, and by moving all in, you put the pressure on your opponents. You should avoid using this strategy to call all-in bets from your opponents without a great hand. You want to be the aggressor. It makes it look like you know exactly what you are doing, even if you don’t.

Playing tight aggressive early, and loose aggressive late:

The best approach to any poker tournament is to play tight and aggressive early. Aggressive play often puts pressure on your opponents which can lead to them making errors, if they are under immense pressure they can even make more mistakes. It is best to sit close as long as you can at the beginning of the tournament, but you usually have to relax your play as you hit the final table and fewer players are left. You will play several hands that you cannot play on a full table when you get to the final three or four matches. Truth is, depending on their stack size, location, and opponents, the best poker tournament players can change their play during this tournament.

What Works and What Doesn’t?

Calling early all-ins; It is necessary to remain careful and call all-ins only if you have a nut or a strong hand (e.g. 2 pairs or better). The only instance that an all-in is suggested without a nut hand, is when you can read your opponent during the initial stages of a freeroll.

Tight Isn’t Always Right; it’s a major approach that can cost you more than you think. Thus, the first thing you need to do is calm down and choose your place and don’t commit yourself with hands that can cause you problems, if you want to be a more effective freeroll player.

Take a look at the successful stacks to make sure that calling with small to medium pairs is still viable. Freerolls are typically structured quicker so that you can easily switch from a playable stack to a few orbits.

Continue to move your good hands, including the top pair, because you’ll get plenty of draws and much worse hands from most remaining players. You’ll notice the huge variation in freeroll tournaments. Be ready to go and try again another day!