Freeroll poker online Help!!?

Posted by Nancy P at: 2008-03-12 22:59:58
i just started to play online and try to improve my game so I can move up to cash games, but no matter how hard I try to play in these tournament I always get knock out with the best hand when Im all in pre flop with hands like AAs just to be cracked by some bad callers, is there any strategies to play and actually improve your tournament games and win one of those, Im feel so discourage to play now please give me some advice and info or opinion, you're greatly appreciated in advance. Thank you very much!

Posted by kalistud14 at: 2008-03-13 13:25:20
Well these free roll tourneys are good practice for real money games. In reality even the great players will only win a tournament 1 out of every 10. If you mix in the fact that there is mostly all bad/begginer players luck comes into play more then skill in these kinds of free roll tourneys. Just play them as much as possible and read some books on tourny play and you should eventually come out on top if not gain the skills to make plenty of money in the cash games Good luck

Posted by Nerice at: 2008-03-12 23:23:16
Freerolls are full of terrible players so you're going to get bad beat a lot. Don't worry about it. The strategy for these is: never bluff, and when you get a good hand, bet it don't try to slowplay, since people will call you with all kinds of garbage. If you get AA or KK on the first hand, just go all in in a freeroll. People will think you've just shoving any two cards, and you're likely to get 2 or 3 callers. When you move to real money tournaments, there will be a lot fewer totally insane players, even if the buyin is just $1. So be prepared for a somewhat different game. They'll still be plenty bad though.

Posted by Sharikas at: 2008-03-13 00:24:57
Read some poker books.

Posted by Mark F at: 2008-03-13 01:06:47
Early in the tournament, you shouldn't go all-in early in the tournament when the blinds are small (less than 10% of your starting stack) compared to the stack sizes. Even with AA you should not risk your entire stack going all-in preflop when the blinds are low (unless you are reraising someone to isolate the.) Your raise should be at most 5-6xBB. Especially in the freeroll and the low buy-in tournaments, the idiots are willing to call all-in with anything. When the blinds reach 10% of the starting stacks, most of the idiots have been eliminated so there will be fewer people calling you w/ A-rag or 98o against your all-in. This is the point in the tournament when you now have the right to become uber-aggressive. To really improve your game pick up the "Harrington On Poker" volumes.

Posted by dave33197 at: 2008-03-13 01:28:55
We are having a freeroll this weekendit's members only so the players are better than usual.

Posted by Chaz Vegas at: 2008-03-14 02:49:58
I suggest you try playing poker online. At www.pokerhandreplays.com you can learn about different poker strategies. You can create, view, and comment on replays of poker hands. I'm sure you'll improve after playing at the site. The best thing about this site is that it is free. You don't loose money during the process of learning.

Posted by AcidJazz99 at: 2008-03-14 08:27:37
At the start, when the blinds are low, play nothing but very strong hands. AQ+/QQ+. Try not to overpush unless in late position and only one/two people are in the pot AND at most two will call, preferably one. Start building the pot PF with a raise, and continue on the flop. Keep building it to the river, call a push on a safe flop, or pre, but don't push yourself until its safe to do so on the river, when your pretty sure your ahead. It is not hard at all early on at a loose table to get it all in anyway without pushing pre. Ex. Early blind level. AA. Lets assume you have 1500 chips, a few rounds of blinds does not matter much anyhow. Raise pre to 200 (overraise), you get 3 callers (not uncommon early in a freeroll). Pot is now 800 at least. Flop you bet 350. Get 2 callers and a fold. Pot is now 1850 at least (you have only risked 550 of your own chips and the pot is huge!). Turn comes. Time to decide, are you willing to go to SD or is the board too scary, after the next bet you are commited. When I decide at this point, if two are still in the hand, while I expect one to fold, I am deciding assuming both of the others are going to be going to showdown as well. If there is a draw on the board at this point and going to go or if I want to try to get it down to one instead, I will shove at this point, to try to get anyone on a draw out now, if it appears on the river, its too late to fold anyway. If it is a safe board, and it seems safe enough to not worry about both staying in I will bet around 600 (leaving me roughly 300-350 chips). On the river, I shove no matter what happens as I am not putting ~75% of my stack into a pot then folding. Now at a minimum I am getting 800-1500 pot, if I get some callers and they all fold on the flop or turn, at a 200-550 risk of my chips. Terrible flop/turn and have to fold? Oh well, too bad, but at least I only lost 200-550 instead of my stack. Early on many will call your shoves, AA vs 1 person is ~80% to win, against a full table it goes down to ~31% to win. As you see, the more that is in the hand, the chances of you coming out the winner just keeps going down. By pushing pre, anyone that calls cannot get out, neither can you. Some are just outright donks, some are trying to double up or more by getting lucky or busting out fast. People will drop out after your PF raise, then more as your building the pot on SAFE boards. Your odds of improving are ~7:1 unless you get a 4 card board straight or flush. So you get rid of people as your building the pot, and usually by the river at early stages the second best hands are pot committed and are not folding. Many times I can still get more than doubled up, with only one person left at the showdown, at a smaller risk to myself. Only good strong hands early on, dont push, but call pushes with AA-QQ/AKs. Possibly AQ if it is someone that is pushing a lot. (use tools if able to identify who is playing a lot of hands, and/or raising alot of hands and your sure to be ahead of them even with AJ if you wanted to risk it.) AA, you raise PF, flop comes suited toss it unless you have a flush draw as well (and use correct odds to call a bet.) By pushing pre with very strong hands your very likely to be ahead, or at worse a slight dog the majority of the time, but by doing so, you are gambling just like they are. It is going to showdown, and your forced to have the best hand. Your not leaving yourself a way out either, even when it would be apparent you got behind if played normally. Pick the players that are playing a lot of hands to try to get into hands with. They are willing to donate chips all day long. Later on start to loosen up a little bit, most of the gambling types are out, and the few left are either short stacked, or have a big stack. I prefer them to have large stacks. I use them to double up on, and again, and again as many times as I can. I play smart, they play lucky. Unless they get lucky, I get doubled up or at least a nice pot usually, and if I can tell they got lucky, then I get out and pick another spot. Its hard to believe, but some of the people will notice your playing tight and will be very wary of you, thats how being aggressive will help get those people out, even if you don't have the best hand. There is two types of aggression, one is smart, one is stupid. If there is multiple people in the pot, your not bluffing your way through, don't bother. If you raise PF with a good hand, and you get one caller, bet ~1/2 the pot, your liable to get the pot on the flop. If there are 3, save your chips, your going to have to improve, everyone is not going to fold. If someone is calling all the time and is in the hand, don't bet unless you are sure you have them beat. (again tools help ID these people without you having to bother trying to remember them on your own) Do not worry about how big your stack is compared to others. Most freerolls have large fields, getting to the final table of large fields is not going to happen all the time. When you are really short stacked, you have to make your moves. If your short because of not getting hands, its not hard to build your stack without ever seeing a flop if there is not a maniac calling everything at your table. Push, all but one is going to respect your push, and if you have just folded 20 hands or more in a row, even most donks realize you have not played, and will bow out of the hand. One time I went 45 hands, 45 hands of pure trash folded. My M was ~4, the antes had just kicked in, I pushed 5 times in a row (more than 3 is pushing it) with whatever I had and got the blinds/antes and was back to a ok size stack. The first time, people think ok he has a big hand, another soon/right after, ok maybe he has a good one again, after a few more close together then they catch on so be a bit more careful. While doing this, try to be in late position, middle at earliest, and one of the most important things about it, is be the very first one into the pot (I will fold A3 to a limp (from a tight player) or raise one hand, and the very next push with 10/4o, be the first one to put money into the pot except for the blinds when pushing with weak hands while short stacked and trying to steal). A loose limper you might not get called but I am very careful of trying unless they are the loose limper that consistently folds to a raise (in that case I am going to do it all day long to them, especially if they raise a lot then fold to a reraise), but someone raises, you really need a good read, and know for sure they are a person that can fold to a reraise if they are not a loose player. Sometimes your cards do not matter at all. Except with very strong hands like AA, do not push, put in 1/2-3/4 of your stack, then the rest on the flop to try to get a caller rather than hope they fold. A good thing that almost always happens if you wind up building up your stack this way, is if you have gone that long without any playable hands, is shortly after going hyper aggro to steal, you will get a good hand, then your not beleivable and you get action on a good hand when you want it. Do not play too many hands. Get chips, keep them, and add to your stack. Have only 3 buttons you use, fold, bet, and raise. If you cant bet or raise, your hand is not strong enough to be calling. The only exceptions, A. when you have a monster like flopping a boat, nut flush or so forth. If there is a aggresive player behind, I will check, and call and lay the hammer down on them on the turn or the river. B. You are on a draw. Know your odds for making your draw, and make sure your pot/implied odds are correct to call. Sometimes to mix it up, I will bet to either try to take the pot down right there, or to try to disguise I am on the draw if they call so if it hits on the turn I can either check to make it look like I am worried, or I can bet to make it seem I was not on the draw and still betting whatever I was betting on the flop, or I can check to make it seem I am worried they have the flush and so forth. Sometimes I will raise, or check raise (not often on a draw though) to try to get the pot right there as well. Identify the players you want to exploit, find the ones you want to try to avoid. Find spots where you can make a move, and its likely to work (especially short stacked), and do not use the call button much at all. Smart aggression is your friend, stupid aggression and the call button is you being the donk someone is looking to exploit.

Posted by HL at: 2008-03-13 02:03:59
Online freerolls are a great way to win real cash for no risk. But how should you approach them? If you've been struggling with your online tournament form recently, then freerolls could be your next port of call. Almost all poker rooms offer some kind of free to enter tournament, with real cash prizes.