Freeroll Strategy III

There are some situations that you can look out for to help maximize your chance to cash and get some free money.  Just remember to assess the situation, don’t be afraid to make a mistake (it is a free tournament, after all), and have fun.  Free-roll tournaments are the perfect place to practice your craft with some of the worst players in poker, because face it, they are the source of a lot of chips, and learning how to get some of it is part of the fun.

Limping Every Hand

A lot of free-rolls, have a lot of multi-way pots in the first few levels.  Normally playing weak hands like 75o or K4s would be wrong, but if you hit your hand, you can double or triple up.  Don’t be afraid to see some cheap flops.  If you hit the flop, you should get paid.

The All-in Monkey

There is usually a few of these players floating around.  They think the best way to play is to push all-in every hand.  They do this because people get irritated and call the all-in with cards just as crappy.  This lets the monkey win too often, so they keep doing it.  Stop it!  Keep your cool, and wait until you have a great hand.  Then just limp.  When they shove, show them pocket kings, and take their stack.  If someone else calls the monkey first and wins, at least the monkey is gone, and you can play poker again.  And if the monkey wins, there are just more chips for you to take when you wake up with a hand.

The Nine-Round Rule

At what point do you have so few chips that you should push all-in with any two cards?  If you only have enough chips for one round, then you must play, otherwise the blinds will come around, and you’ll be gone.  Even if you double up, after the blinds, you’ll be back in the same situation, with the clock counting down until the blinds rise again.  So clearly, even enough chips for two rounds is too few.  Even with three rounds, and a double up to six rounds, you are still in danger, and waiting for great cards is only going to drop you down to a stack too small to scare anyone.  I have found that the magic number is ten rounds.  Once my chips drop below that, to nine rounds or less, I either fold, or push all-in.  A lot of times, it seems like a huge amount of chips to push in, but that’s the point.  You want a stack big enough to hurt them, so they will think twice about calling.  And every time you win the blinds and antes, you give yourself more big and small blinds, so you can continue as long as possible.  And if you get called and double up to 20 rounds, you gain some room to play poker again.

Big Bet Poker

As discussed in “Power Hold'em Strategy” by Daniel Negreanu, big bet poker is played with the five-times rule.  Play tightly, and when you enter the pot, bet five times the blinds.  If someone has limped, bet seven times, and if two or more limpers are in, bet nine times the blinds.  This means that if the blinds are 100/200, with two limpers, you would raise to 1800 chips.  And if the raise is 25% or more of your stack, then just push all in.  This of course is a simplified version of the strategy, so feel free to read the book, which has some great advice.  After a few times of doing this, and following it up by shoving all-in no matter what flops if you are called, people will stay out of your way.  But remember, you must play tightly.  Trying this with two napkins is not going to work (that’s what everyone else is doing).  Because you are playing great cards, you’ll be a huge favorite, and stand a good chance at making the final table.  Give it a try when you find yourself at a table of limpers.  If no one is folding, be glad to find yourself at a table where people call large raises with crappy cards.  Don’t be afraid to push all-in with AJo.  It’s probably the best hand out there.

Big Stack Bully

If you are lucky enough to double your stack a couple of times, you can be the big stack at the table.  Make sure to start raising it up.  Sometimes everyone is waiting for big hands, and you can raise almost every hand.  If you can steal half the blinds every round for even 15 minutes, your stack will grow quickly.  Sometimes being the bully is the right play.

The Ghost Town

Sometimes, after raising a few hands, you realize that everyone else at your table is gone.  They’ve all shut off their poker program, and you are the only one not folding your hand.  It is great when this happens, and while this is rare in real-money tournaments, it is not that uncommon in free-roll tournaments.  Sometimes there are a couple other players at the table.  Pay attention to these situations, because even if the table has ten players, if seven of them are sitting out, it is really a three-handed table, and starting hand requirements can be loosened. 

Multiple Big Stacks

When there are many big stacks at your table, all betting and raising, don’t get discouraged, cursing your luck for not getting a table full of small stacks.  The more stacks at your table bigger than yours, the more stacks can double you up.  Get in there and see some cheap flops.  A huge double-up in the middle of the tournament is all it may take to cash.

The Waiting Game

While the nine-round rule is important, always pay attention to your position in the tournament.  Sometimes the best strategy is to simply fold every hand and wait to cash.  Even if you only have enough chips for seven rounds of play, if you are 13^th in chips out of 50 players, and 40^th place cashes, then just let everyone else go crazy.  You’re guaranteed to cash if you just wait.  Until you drop below the cashing point there is no reason to risk it (unless you wake up with pocket aces).

Bluffing

Here are some things to think about:

• 
  

  Semi-bluffs work because the chance of winning the hand, plus the fold equity, can turn a hand like a flush-draw, which is only about 30% to win after the flop, into a money maker.  In free-rolls, people hate getting bluffed, and almost never fold, which makes semi-bluffs much less profitable.

  
  

  Top pair, good kicker is usually enough to win the hand, even if they push all-in.

  
  

  If you can’t beat top pair, don’t try and bluff, because most free-roll players are NEVER going to fold.

  
  

  Try to re-raise to isolate bad players.  Just don’t try to bluff them

  
  

  Expect more bad-beats than any other tournaments in history.

Here is an example.  Blinds are 50/100.  Hero (me) has 4,200 chips.  UTG has 11,000 chips, and plays every hand.  UTG limps for 100.  Fold.  Fold.  Hero has:

 Ks Jd

and raises to 400 to isolate the bad player.  Everyone folds, and she calls.  Pot is now 950.  Hero’s stack is now only 3,800.  Flop is:

2s 6c 9s

 Check.  Hero bets the pot: 950.  UTG calls.  Pot is now 2,850, and the hero has 2,850.  Turn is:

               2s 6c 9s 6d

Check.  Hero pushes all-in, and UTG calls with:

               2c 4s

River is:

               2s 6c 9s 6d Ad

Hero just shakes his head, and tries to stay positive.  The hero didn’t follow his own advice.  “Never bluff.”  Some days it is harder than others.