Building from Scratch: What is your ultimate freeroll survival strategy?
The best strategy is to adapt to the table... When the table is too aggressive, you tighten up and let the game come to you—they’ll end up running into a wall on their own... And when it’s playing tight, that’s when you can open up your game by stealing the blinds.Nameless14 said:
My ultimate strategy for surviving freerolls is extreme patience, especially during the first few levels. In the beginning, there are too many crazy players moving all-in with any two cards, so trying to bluff is completely useless. I prefer to play very tight, value-bet my strong hands, and avoid unnecessary risks. Once the bingo-players bust out and the structures slow down a bit, I start stealing blinds and playing more aggressively. Tight-aggressive style is the key to building a bankrooll from scratch!
At the beginning, play with patience, to avoid unnecessary risks, only play when opportunities present themselves, and when the number of participants decreases, you have to take risks to pressure the plays, to accumulate some chips.
I prefer to play tight in the early levels, especially in freerolls. There are always players willing to go all-in with medium or even marginal hands just to try to double their stack. I would rather stay patient, protect my chips and let them take those risks. As the field gets smaller and the tournament gets more serious, I can become more aggressive. My goal early on is simply to survive the chaos and keep a healthy stack.
lean toward playing tight early, but I’m not folding everything until I get aces. If someone is shoving any two cards, I’m happy to take a good spot against them. I just don’t want to gamble for the sake of building a big stack.
My biggest leak in freerolls is taking them too casually because there’s no buy in. If I were building from zero, treating each one like a tournament I paid to enter would be my first adjustment. Value bet against the loose callers, avoid forcing bluffs, and start stealing more when the table gives you opportunities.
My biggest leak in freerolls is taking them too casually because there’s no buy in. If I were building from zero, treating each one like a tournament I paid to enter would be my first adjustment. Value bet against the loose callers, avoid forcing bluffs, and start stealing more when the table gives you opportunities.
