Are Free Rolls poker?

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calicronic

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Since you're not really risking anything but your time is this really Poker?
Most of the time it's more like a lottery with All Ins on the first hand.
Would you do that if you paid to be in the tournament?
Would you risk your cash and chance to advance so blindly pre-flop if you had money on the line?
 
Any time you play poker it is poker. It doesn't matter if you are playing for nothing, for apples or for money - you are still playing poker.

If you spend zero dollars, $1 or $100 - you are still playing poker.

Does it change how people play - yes it does. Most people will not play their best game when they have nothing on the line. But - it is still poker.
 
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Last time i checked,yes,they are poker. 😛
 
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At the start of free entry tournaments, players certainly make bolder moves, but these moves occur because some think this is the best strategy for this type of tournament, as they have a large number of players and the biggest payouts are for players. players who reach the final table.
 
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Not easy

It's not easy for many players to shove their entire chips onto cards.
 
calicronic said:
Since you're not really risking anything but your time is this really Poker?
Most of the time it's more like a lottery with All Ins on the first hand.
Would you do that if you paid to be in the tournament?
Would you risk your cash and chance to advance so blindly pre-flop if you had money on the line?
Click to expand...

Many who pay to be in a tournament gamble early. Some even try to win the tournament in the first hour and rarely ever succeed.

Once those people get knocked out it plays like any other.
 
Hi! Not all freerolls are a lottery. If the Freeroll has a good structure, not too many people and good prize money, then it is quite a high-quality game. But of course you need to make an effort to get into such freerolls. Isn't this a kind of fee for participating in the game?
 
caracaski220

Of course it is still poker. they are very hard to win. Especially beacuse of the huge variance of tipes of players and stiles. alll ins witth 27 off allmost cleaning you out. To make it to the end you have to sort through many obstcles and good play is rewarde ( especially reading your opponent)
 
For one person, a loss of $ 10K is a small loss, and for another, a gain of $ 3 is a big gain )))
 
Debi said:
Any time you play poker it is poker. It doesn't matter if you are playing for nothing, for apples or for money - you are still playing poker.

If you spend zero dollars, $1 or $100 - you are still playing poker.

Does it change how people play - yes it does. Most people will not play their best game when they have nothing on the line. But - it is still poker.
Click to expand...


Debi nailed the explanation.

The only thing I would add is that while freerolls ARE still poker - they are NOT gambling because one doesn't risk anything.

Different tournaments with different structures use different poker muscles.

If you don't like freerolls then do yourself a favor and don't play them.

Good luck !
 
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Poker_Mike said:
If you don't like freerolls then do yourself a favor and don't play them.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I guess, frustrations like those expressed by OP stems from the fact, people want to sit down and have a free hour or two of entertainment. And with wild players on the table your choises are often limited to going all in or fold. So you dont get into any postflop spots, which tend to be more interesting. And if you call, there is the risk of an early exit. However you did not pay anything to participate either, and everyone can play, as they want. So if you want a tournament with more postflop play and less risk of an early exist, then just pay for instance 5$ to play. What you pay is what you get 🙂
 
It all depends on the player,how they feel about the game in General...Whether it's a Freeroll or a tournament with bitcoin...
 
Freerolls may look like a lottery, but only for players for whom poker is a lottery in general. I'm sure freerolls are the best option for beginners to get the experience they need. For me, it doesn't matter if I play in a freeroll or a buy-in tournament, I always try to play the right game and make adequate decisions.
 
black and said:
Freerolls may look like a lottery, but only for players for whom poker is a lottery in general.
Click to expand...

Whenever people complain about soft games like freerolls being "a lottery", I also cant help feeling, they sort of dont understand poker. Yes I get it, those wild players increase variance. But against better players you are also going to be all in and at risk at some point. It just happen a bit later in the tournament, when blinds have gone up, and they usually have a more reasonable hand.

But its still luck, which determine, if your AQ gets there, or their 99 hold. So why is this totally different from getting your AQ all in early on against someone with the Doyle Brunson hand T2, because they think, its fun? AQ has a better chance to beat T2 than 99, so if your goal is winning, you should be happy about someone willing to get it in with T2.
 
I think freerolls must seen a little different to tournaments with buy in. At the beggining of a freeroll, there is a huge number of players and some of them are gambling and bingo playing...but later when u survive all these kind of players u can compare freeroll to tournament with usual buy in 😉
 
The other day while playing a freeroll there was this one guy who complained every single hand about All INN's. But he was the one doing most off it.
 
horscht22 said:
At the beggining of a freeroll, there is a huge number of players and some of them are gambling and bingo playing...but later when u survive all these kind of players u can compare freeroll to tournament with usual buy in 😉
Click to expand...

True. And if you want to gamble with them, then you do have something in front of you called a fold button, which it is allowed to use 😉
 
I agree 100% with Debbie's comment, any poker is poker, and people do tend to play different when they don't have anything on the line.

I personally still won't join the rest of the bingo game players, unless I have high pockets, but will take a few more chances that I may not have otherwise taken.
 
Bottom line for me, I play to win if there is money of any kind involved. Other wise I'm not playing the tournament.
 
So close today darn it 3rd tried hard lol:help:
Winning freerolls is still enjoyable and are a good stepping stone to the higher stakes games.
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Last edited:
calicronic said:
Since you're not really risking anything but your time is this really Poker?
Most of the time it's more like a lottery with All Ins on the first hand.
Would you do that if you paid to be in the tournament?
Would you risk your cash and chance to advance so blindly pre-flop if you had money on the line?
Click to expand...


If you make it to the final 2 tables of a freeroll, you will see it is very much real poker, with some very good players and maybe one or two lucky donks.

Especially the CC freerolls. The people in these freerolls are way better than your run of the mill player off the street. If you can cash in the mean streets of the CC Freerolls, you have a real chance of doing well in money tournaments.

Would I go all in first hand? yes. IF there are rebuys or I have AA. I would probably not be the first all in, but I would call one.

I have also pushed all-in in real money tournaments. Again, if there are rebuys, and if I have a premium hand. The whole point of having AA is to get as much as your money in the pot as you can while you're ahead.
 
I dont look at the buy in as this is a free or $1 or $10 tournament. I look at the first place money and that is what the tournament is to me. Also I play a freeroll like I play any tournament, I play to take the 1st place money.
 
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