Finding free poker money can be one of the most exciting experiences for online poker players. Most of the free poker money out there can be found in freeroll tournaments that various poker rooms, like PokerStars, and even poker communities, like Pokerspace, run for their players that cost nothing to enter. The trick to winning a freeroll poker tournament is control and patience.
Playing the Beginning Stages of the Freeroll
No matter the size of the freeroll, whether there's 100 players or 1000 in the player field, the beginning stages of a freeroll are very chaotic. Because there's nothing at stake in a freeroll, many will go all-in on the first couple of hands no matter their cards just so they can double up quickly or lose and go on to another tournament. In the opening stages of a freeroll it is best to play very tight unless dealt an extremely good hand like JJ-AA. Fold anything but a high pair, because it can be very easy to be drawn into a bad hand and lose valuable chips just to see a flop.
In the beginning stages it is very important to build a chip stack, not lose any. Defensive play is the name of the game of a freeroll. Act decisively and confidently as it can be very easy to suddenly find that the chip stack that was decently sized was chopped in half due to a bad call then fold. As the game continues and players become more invested in the freeroll, game play should change more conservatively.
Playing the Middle Stages of a Freeroll
Once two or three people from the first table are knocked off the virtual tables are sure to be shuffled and after the first half hour to an hour of play the freeroll should start to calm down. Once the tables have calmed down start to open up a bit more and play tight-aggressive poker. Play premium hands, but as the field starts to shrink be sure to move into a "raise or fold" strategy.
Before a freeroll enters into its last few tables it is very important to begin tight-aggressive play, unless the players are acting very cautiously by minimum calling. If a table is beginning to act cautiously now is the time to try and take advantage of it by raising or re-raising, as long as the hole cards are of value. This tactic is very good for stealing blinds and bets during a period where the blinds are sure to be in the 500/1000 range.
Playing the Final Table of a Freeroll
When playing the final table of a freeroll stack size is the most important factor in picking a strategy. If short stacked call all-in pre-flop the second good to premium hole cards appear; that's the only shot at staying alive. If in middle stack position play tight and only with good hands. Don't get caught calling or min-raising which looks weak. For high-stack final table play call the all-ins from the short stacks with nearly any hand. As the players start to be eliminated normal final tournament play should take over.
Freerolls can take a lot of time to win, or even cash in, but there is a lot of value to them. For those new to freerolls check out a poker community like Pokerspace which holds dozens of freeroll tournaments for free poker money all the time where the player levels aren't astronomical.
David Tubbs - David is a graduate of the University of Waterloo with an Honours B.A. in History with a focus on medieval Europe. While his formal ...
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