How to Win Freeroll Poker Tournaments

Janet Jackson once sang that “the best things in life are free” and it would not surprise me if she was talking about freeroll poker tournaments that are offered by many online poker sites. These freeroll poker tournaments cost absolutely nothing to enter them yet they more often than not pay out in real money, the amount varying between sites and the reason for the tournament in the first place.

Freeroll poker tournaments are a great way to try out new games or even build a bankroll without ever having to risk your own money to do so. Because these freeroll poker tournaments are free they attract hundreds, sometimes thousands of players, most of them extremely weak and not very knowledgeable about poker, so in order to stand a chance of winning any freeroll poker tournaments that you enter you really need to approach them in a completely different manner to a standard tournament.

Early stages of a freeroll poker tournament

During the early stages of a freeroll poker tournament the play is usually extremely loose, with frequent all-in bets being called by a whole array of hands. This is because of the lack of entry fee in a freeroll poker tournament means those taking part have nothing to lose and they try to get an early double up or bust out early so they can enter another freeroll poker tournament either on the same site or elsewhere.

The best way to approach these freeroll poker tournaments is to play very tight during the early stages, only raising the most premium of hands such as aces, kings, queens and ace-king suited and be willing to move all in or call an all in with these hands. Although ace-king is not usually a hand you want to be all in with early on in a standard tournament, in a freeroll poker tournament you will often be up against much weaker aces, so calling with ace-king is play with positive expectation.

Closing out freerolls

So you have got to the first break of a freeroll poker tournaments, or freerolls as they are more commonly called and have noticed that more than half of the field has been eliminated. This is a very common occurrence in freerolls due to the loose-aggressive approach the players in freerolls take. Once you reach the first and second breaks complete amateurs will be fewer in numbers and you may find your opponents tightening up as the realisation they may win some actual money hits them. Although you should still be playing tight during this stage of freerolls you should also attempt to open up your game to take advantage of others playing too tightly, which will allow you to pick up vital chips to keep you ahead of the rising blinds and antes.

Freerolls are a great way to let of steam, to build a bankroll or to gain tournament experience. Winning freerolls can also set you up for greater things, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, a well-known poker pro, used freerolls to start his bankroll challenge of going from $0 to $10,000 and he succeeded. Good luck if you decide to play in any online freerolls.