Early stages in freeroll

[danshu01]

In freerolls I’ve noticed early stages are very loose, so I try to play tight and wait for strong hands. Do you think this is the best approach?

 

[Gagner]

If it’s wild and lots of all ins I wait for decent cards in position. It’s always kinda wild but you have like a good 20 hands to try and win one hand.

 

[WladiYoga]

Hi, I do not think, this is a good approach, because if a lot of people are playing loose, means you can easily win with any hand against them. I actually call up to 4 BB with almost any connected offsuit low or mid hand in the beginning of a freeroll, because there are just so many times that you have a 5-6 off on your hand and the flop is either 7-8-9 or 5-5-6, and you think to yourself. Why the f*** did I not put freaking 80 chips into this pot? When all they have is messy J-4s or even A-A. Of course, you can not call ever hand. But sometimes, with suited mid cards like J-10 you can call their All-In, because 90% of the field are hard amateurs. Or you can even shove 9-10 suited yourself in. I would only start to play a little bit tighter in a freeroll where the first place gets like 30$ at towards the top 30. Just try to keep your value under like 65 VPIP so that not everyone calls you with everything, and you gonna be fine; plus, if you loos, never forget: you can only win or land ITM in so many out of 10 tournaments. So, if you go out, it's not the end of the world. Go for the next one.

 

[ninjareal]

haha we all have ideas , I like to try different ones depending on the table mix , one idea is if there is a player/s that is playing risky but gaining
the other loose players chips...well then I simply wait and target the big stack , once I have the right hand vs that player = double up , fun levels
in poker

 

[SOLO22]

In freerolls, there is a lot of variance and above all you have to know how to manage, to know at what times to be aggressive and, above all, in which to be conservative, you have to mix.

 

[stil370]

In freerolls I’ve noticed early stages are very loose, so I try to play tight and wait for strong hands. Do you think this is the best approach?

i like yr strategy

 

[moraeskvmi]

It's a strategy.

 

[Stringy]

play slightly loose to try and build up a big bankroll

 

[Kerasuss28]

In freerolls I’ve noticed early stages are very loose, so I try to play tight and wait for strong hands. Do you think this is the best approach?

I play also loose in begin, first 15 minutes I’m chipleader or out of tournament, if I’m chipleader I end up in the money always

 

[sam1984n]

لاحظتُ في البطولات المجانية أن المراحل الأولى تتسم بالتساهل الشديد، لذا أحاول اللعب بحذر وانتظار أوراق قوية. هل تعتقد أن هذه هي أفضل طريقة؟

I agree, I use the exact same strategy in my game

 

[sam1984n]

good plan but

هههه، كلنا لدينا أفكار، أحب تجربة أفكار مختلفة حسب تشكيلة اللاعبين على الطاولة، إحدى الأفكار هي إذا كان هناك لاعب أو أكثر يلعبون بمخاطرة لكنهم يحققون مكاسب.
أما رقائق اللاعبين الآخرين المتساهلين... حسنًا، حينها أنتظر ببساطة وأستهدف الرقاقة الكبيرة، وبمجرد أن أحصل على اليد المناسبة ضد ذلك اللاعب، أضاعف رصيدي، مستويات ممتعة.
في لعبة البوكر

It does not always save you and it is often a trap

 

[sam1984n]

According to my opinion, the beginning of the tournament is supposed to require some adventure, strength of heart and no hesitation in entering the game, especially when you have strong cards

 

[monkeytilter]

Not all freerolls are the same, some have big fields and poor structures (short starting stacks and rapid blind increases), others the opposite so it is hard to generalise across all of them but most are wild affairs in the early stages.

So you have a choice, sit tight and wait for big hands to win big pots vs all those loose splashy players or gamble it up with them - the faster the tournament the more willing you should be to gamble.

 

[kmiarka]

@danshu01 , playing tight is the standard "safe" advice, but I think @monkeytilter makes a great point about structure. If the blinds are moving fast, you can't afford to wait forever.

My personal take on these wild early stages:

Identify the "All-In" Bankroll: You’ll often see players treating a freeroll or a low entry like it's their last £2. They love to see flops but are terrified of calling off their full stack on a scary board. I look to exploit this with polarized overbets (1.25x to 1.5x pot). Most freeroll players don't know how to handle a bet that large and will fold everything but the absolute nuts.

Targeting the "Gamblers": Like @ninjareal said, target the big stacks who got lucky early. They tend to become overconfident and "spewy." If you can trap them, you don't just double up—you take over the table lead.

@WladiYoga , you mentioned calling 4BB with almost any connected hand - isn't the variance a bit too high doing that against 9 players who might all shove? Or do you find you can get away with it because the post-flop play is so poor?