How do you typically play a freeroll?

gadaubac said:

I'm new to this. I've been researching and was advised to play slowly and steadily in freerolls. However, I've noticed many players frequently go all-in, and if they're lucky, they'll build up a huge chip stack. Only then do they start playing. This is quite interesting. I'm in Vietnam, so the time zone is different. If I'm lucky, I'll make it to the final table; otherwise, I'll just go to bed early. Looking forward to hearing many shared experiences.
Sorry if this has been posted before.

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Poker theory optimizes chip EV (or $ EV if ICM matters); it does not consider how much time it takes. If you do consider time, then it could be completely rational to, at the start of every free-roll, go all-in every hand until you either quadruple or lose your stack. Or until you triple, or just double, any of them could be optimal. It basically depends on how high of a stack you need until you consider it worth your time to attempt to play optimally from that point.

(For me this is just one more reason not to play freerolls, it sounds really annoying to have to make calculations like that.)

Claudiunm said:

In a freeroll, you should be more aggressive and play loosely at the beginning and try to build a comfortable stack before starting a more consolidated game. If you have a strong/premium hand, bet big (4BB or more) so you can clear most of the speculative hands before the flop. After the flop, if someone bets, evaluate whether your hand has synergy with the flop to decide whether to call or not. If no one bets, make a continuation bet to evaluate the reaction of the other players. However, keep in mind that you must defend your stack and not waste it.

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This is exactly what I'm practicing: how much to raise, when to call, and when I absolutely must fold to preserve my chips, even if I'm holding a top pair or AA.

Simple. When your card is good, play it.

I play normal, i try to play my best poker. But in specific situations i call a little bit more as in a non freeroll. Also my preflop raises are higher, because of the fact that players call more, so i generate the same affect with a higher bet in a freeroll as with a lower in a non freeroll. In the freerolls there are mostly alot of players so you could play for a win in 4 hours or more which is only cents. So its hard to play the bestpoker because if you run deep you win such amont as itm in a normal 1 Dollar buyin tourney.

It's true that this is a question that pops up on the forum from time to time, but don't worry. I think there are some older posts about this. I don't mind saying this over and over again as long as what I say can help someone.

In a freeroll, I can tell you to be patient or play aggressive, but it won't always work in a specific way. However, in the beginning, you should always have a little patience. Many people like to go all-in at the beginning, but sometimes you can play against players who are a little more calm than aggressive. I think you should pay close attention to your opponents: how aggressive they're playing, what cards they're playing, because many times they might have a 23 and go all-in. See how they play and try to play as you see fit. Not all freerolls are the same. Practice makes perfect. Over time, you'll be able to face those tournaments naturally.

I'm practicing daily, and whether to play tight or aggressive definitely needs a clear strategy (as CaioRJ shared). I'm also learning to observe and note down players' actions, but most players in freerolls tend to have the same playing style, haha.
I just finished a freeroll tournament in 2nd place and won $1.34!

Like this mostly but really depends 😀