Online poker freerolls are an opportunity to practice your poker tourney playing skills. Although the poker winnings may be limited, it enables you to play real money games with no risk of a single penny of your own money. Freeroll poker tourneys are fun, and a free opportunity to gain tourney experience. One can use freerolls to build a cash bankroll and use those free winnings to enter poker cash table games, or other cash buy in tourneys.
Poker freerolls draw a large variety of people. You will find many players will treat the poker freeroll as a joke. Many will go all in with their chips all the time. Making it very difficult to know what kind of hand they may have. You will often find that your bets and raises are not respected. If you want to be successful at a poker freeroll, only play good starting hands. Don't bluff, wait for the good hands, then make big raises and bet large.
In the early stages of the poker freeroll, because many are not likely to respect your betting, you should go all-in with good hands before the flop. If you have a starting hand of AA, KK, QQ or AK you should go all in before the flop from any position. If there has been no raises and you are in middle to late position, you should go all in before the flop with JJ or AQ. If no one has raised and you are in middle to late position and hold any pair from sixes to tens, you should raise by at least four blinds. If you are in late position and hold lower pairs, middle to high suited connectors, or a suited ace, simply limp in by calling the big blind and see if you can improve your hand on the flop.
If you're still in the hand after the flop. Did you hit anything? If not, then simply check, and fold to any bet. In freerolls you opponents will tend to play eradict, so do not attempt much bluffing, especially in the very early stages of the freeroll. If you hit two pairs or better, hold an open ended straight draw, or flush draw, you should bet very strong, maybe even go all in. If you are holding top pair, only go all in if there are only 2 or less opponents left in the hand.
In the late stages of the poker freeroll when the playing field has been reduced down, the best strategy is to either raise or fold preflop. Just limping in at this point to see flops is a bad strategy at this point. Make sure to not get into hands with short stacks if you are not holding premium hands. At this point short stacks are looking for opportunities to go all in, and will leave your chips at risk if you are playing mediocre hands with them.
To challenge bigger stack players who can eliminate you from the poker freeroll in one hand, you must have a strong hand. Good starting hands to raise 4 big blinds and go all in on any subsequent raise would be; AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, AQ or AK. KQ and AJ are good raising hands but it is best to fold them upon any re-raises as your opponent very likely may have you beat. If you have raised preflop and have only one opponent left in the hand it is best to make a two-thirds of the pot bet after the flop. If you get raised go all in if you hold two overcards, a top pair, flush draw or better.
If you play well, and get a little lucky along the way, you may find yourself in the money, and at the poker freeroll final table. Have respect for the remaining players, if someone in early position raises, they more often than not, are holding a good starting hand. Go all in with AA, KK, QQ, JJ and AK. If someone in middle to late position raises, go all in with AK, AQ, AJ and any pair 9 or better. If there have been no raises, and you are in late position, you should go all in with sevens, eights and KQ.
Playing online poker freerolls can be lots of fun. Here are the best online real money poker freerolls.
