Top Five Tips When Playing Freeroll Tournaments

For a beginning player who has not yet made a deposit, participating in a freeroll tournament is a popular way to build up a small sum of money before heading to the cash table. If you play well, it is very possible that you will be able to start a successful poker bankroll by simply playing in freerolls. With a little time and effort, and good bankroll management skills, any player can start building their bankroll from zero. But playing freeroll tournaments can be tricky, they are popular so there is always a large amount of players registered to see how far they can ride their luck, shoving all-in with less than marginal hands and not even attempting to play “real poker”.

It can be a tedious job to reign in any kind of substantial bankroll, so if you are up to the challenge, consider the following advice:

1. Look for the players sitting out – These players have registered for the tournament but haven’t showed up to play. That means their blinds are up for grabs for anyone raising pre-flop; but make sure you pick your spots carefully and don’t get into any heavy contests from playing opponents.

2. Play a lot of freerolls and practice at playing them well - Just because you do not have any money involved doesn’t mean you should play like a maniac. Take this opportunity to calculate pot odds, determine your best moves, study position and look for obvious ways to determine your opponents online tells.

3. Focus on controlling your emotions – As negative as it may sound you must prepare yourself to lose when you are playing freerolls. Luck is much more of a factor because there are so many involved and there will be many that shove all-in just to see what you may do. When you are up against a maniac opponent, don’t let your emotions get the best of you, practice staying neutral and in control.

4. Play tight in the beginning of the tournament – The start of the online freeroll is always frenzied and chaotic as the ‘luck riders’ will go straight into the action shoving all-in with any two cards hoping to double their stack sizes, hoping it will give them an advantage compared to the rest of the field. Sit tight and wait for the good hands and inevitably you will get your chance to double-up. If you do bust out early, don’t worry, you won’t have to wait long for another chance to win as there is always a freeroll tournament scheduled on Yachting Poker!

5. Be aware of when the table dynamics change – As the “luck riders” drop out you will be left with opponents that have more of an idea of what they are doing. This is when you will need to start thinking more about the decisions you make and play more cautiously. A good tournament player is able to quickly identify and adapt to changes in the game, so be aware of when the transition from luck to poker starts to take place.