Frustration with Freeroll Tournaments

I know I’m not alone in navigating Freeroll tournaments. So many calls with random hands no matter the bet sizing and also the all-in shoves with random hands causing the variance aspect to skyrocket making winning any hand lucky. For several years (I know, it’s way too long) I used to play that way too solely relying on hand percentage odds preflop and recklessly call and overbet everytime. More recently I’ve been finding more success in folding more often on the all-in shoves and more cautious with my bet sizing regardless of how strong my hand is from pre-flop to showdown cause let’s face it most hands go to showdown or at least the river in free rolls regardless of what the opponent is holding for cards. Also, in tournaments when I fold tons of hands till I get a strong hand and possibly a string of strong hands Im finding success in trying to recognize the waves of these strong hands hitting or not and proceed with caution often folding strong hands to large bet sizing and wait for the next string. A little elementary poker knowledge I know but hang in there if you’re also struggling and continue to try to improve your game. 😎

I’ve noticed the same thing in freerolls. The biggest adjustment for me has been accepting that not every strong hand needs to be played, especially when someone suddenly puts their tournament life on the line. Patience and avoiding unnecessary spots can make a huge difference when the field is this unpredictable. 😎

Well, yes, the fundamental problem with freerolls is that many people use them to go on a rampage, even though many others are trying to improve, learn, and build their bankroll through them. It’s tough when there are a lot of maniacs, but the game can still be enjoyable, especially once the tournament reaches the top 100. Fortunately, by then the game starts to take a more sensible course.

I understand why that can be frustrating, especially when you feel like you played the hand correctly and your opponent got there with a hand that probably shouldn’t have been in the pot in the first place. But honestly, I think that’s part of the game, especially in freerolls. You’re going to see people calling with almost anything and making plays that don’t make much sense. Sometimes they get rewarded for it, and that can make it feel like playing correctly doesn’t matter. But you can’t control what your opponent does or which card comes on the river. You can only control your own decisions. If someone wants to call an all-in with a weak hand and gets lucky, good for them. I’m not going to change my strategy just because they got lucky in one particular hand. If I keep making better decisions than my opponents over hundreds or thousands of hands, that’s where the advantage should come from. So when something like that happens, I just try to accept it and move on. It’s annoying when it happens, but it’s still poker. You can play the hand right and lose, just like you can play it badly and get lucky. That’s simply part of the game.

Don't confuse the outcome with the quality of your play. The key recommendation is to evaluate whether you made +EV decisions, not whether you won the hand or made it deep in the tournament. In tournaments, a good decision can still result in elimination, while a bad decision can sometimes result in a win

You forget that micro-limits and freerolls are not just for players who want to improve their game; there are also problem players, beginners, casual players just having fun, and, more simply, “call stations”. Because of this, the nature of the game varies greatly, and luck plays the most important role here.

Freerolls are well known to be a minefield. In my experience, simply playing ABC poker will be successful in the long run. Yes, there will be more variance. Yes, you will lose to hands that shouldn't have even seen a flop. But, if you still to your game, you will eventually punish those types of players.

Get used to it, these situations don't stop just because you move away from freerolls.
I've played all kinds of tournaments from from free to $500+ buy in and you see still see a lot of nonsense, just less often as the number of "bad" players in the game decreases as the buy in increases (there is no magic cut off though - there are fish in all games IMHO).

Just work on improving your game with a solid decision making process and be ready for the variance roller coaster that poker is.

freerolls are just that, you will get all types of players, so take it with a grain of salt and play your best.