Freerolls Tournament Strategy

Freeroll tournaments have become hugely popular recently, as they offer poker players the opportunity to win hundreds or thousands of dollars without risking a penny of their own bankroll. They also offer players the opportunity to try a variety of new strategies, which they may not be willing to try out in a tournament that they've paid for.

Having an efficient freeroll strategy can really help you make the most of the best poker bonus you were able to find and, when implemented correctly, can grow your bankroll quickly and effectively.

The following guide will be broken down into three parts, allowing freeroll players to get a good understanding of how they need to play, and how their strategy needs to change as the tournament progresses.

The First Hour:

You'll find the early stages of a freeroll tournament is very aggressive with a lot of players willing to risk all their chips with a hand that is probably best off in the gutter. What's more that player will find himself being called by four or five competitors in the freerolls.

This sort of behaviour is understandable, as the players have nothing to lose and if someone can increase the size of their stack by four or five times at such an early stage, they're going to be in a strong position for the rest of the tournament.

However bare in mind, that about between 5% and 10% of the tournament field will be eliminated in these early exchanges and so I would personally recommend keeping your head down unless you a very strong pair in the hole (AA, KK, QQ).

Mediocre hands such as suited connectors aren't really an option here as you need to be prepared to back any hand with an all-in bet and most of the time, you just won't be offered the sort of value you need to make a call worthwhile.

Instead, spend this time studying opponents. Try and pick out those players who you think are likely to be there come the final reckoning, and which are just throwing their chips into the middle of the table and hoping to get lucky. With this information, you should be able to maximise winnings from highly aggressive players who are just there to make up the numbers, and steal blinds from the slightly more conservative players who are looking to cash in.

Intermediate Rounds:

With half of the field gone, you should notice play start to tighten up a bit. A large number of reckless players are out, and those that are left are starting to think they might be in with a chance of being paid. Starting hands requirements will increase and you'll find players a lot less likely to undo their good work by throwing all their chips into the pot with a mediocre hand.

This is a good opportunity for you to change gears slightly and play more aggressively. Use the information you picked up earlier on to steal a few blinds from the more conservative players at your table. If you find yourself with connectors or medium pairs, then you may want to consider limping in to see whether you pick something up on the flop. Generally speaking, you can relax your standing hand selection and generally being to play a little more as you would do in a normal buy-in tournament.

The Final Table:

Once you reach the final table, the natural tendency for a player is to tighten up. After all you've been playing for hours and the cash prize is finally within touching distances. With the blinds now being sky high and antes now making an appearance, it suddenly seems a lot more important to be holding on to your chips.

You really need to try and put these feelings to one side though. Where as a buy-in tournament may allow you to sit back and hope that other players got knocked out, a freeroll will generally only offer one cash prize. This means that the best you can hope for when following a strategy like this is to get down to heads-up play and find your stack hopelessly outnumbered by your opponent.

Instead, use the general wariness at the table to your advantage. Put pressure on your opponents by moving all in on those players with less chips than you. Make sure you challenge those players in the short stack who are limping in and hoping to see a cheap flop.

When you find yourself down to the last two or three players, I'd suggest raising almost every hand. If you find yourself re-raised with a less than average hand, then throw it away but generally speaking you want to be brave and put the pressure on your opponents.

When you have strong hands (especially AA or KK), don't go all in before the flop. Instead, slow play the cards in an attempt to lure your opponent into an all in bet.