Hours wasted in freerolls?

[rastapapolos]

There's a lot of player that have played freerolls for building their bankroll. I mean you set a goal to reach for example 20$ and then start playing for real money. This aproach is good for learning and getting familar with MTTs and it's risk free. Now for the time you spend it can take probably months. For me it's good for young players or students that do have free time.

 

[dgroes]

Over the years, especially in my early online poker days, I spent countless hours in freerolls. Why not, I was only working part time and going to school part time. Life was easy back then. Now, my time is limited for poker so I'm playing less and less freerolls, spending my time on actual descent size buyins so I can get a sizeable return for my time spent, granted making the money. Any thoughts on how much time you've consumed in freeroll land. Is it worth it?

freerolls are nice for practice and winning money for giving the small bankroll a boost specially when you are good enough to land the first places!

 

[rmbmr]

Over the years, especially in my early online poker days, I spent countless hours in freerolls. Why not, I was only working part time and going to school part time. Life was easy back then. Now, my time is limited for poker so I'm playing less and less freerolls, spending my time on actual descent size buyins so I can get a sizeable return for my time spent, granted making the money. Any thoughts on how much time you've consumed in freeroll land. Is it worth it?

the experience alone is worth it. most spots are the same

 

[Jason Bralli]

I play a lot of freerolls, and build my bankroll that way! You learn to play and control the money you win!

 

[tamara822]

I like to play freerolls. I think they are good for several reasons. First, you learn to play on them. Secondly, you lose nothing. I mean money.

 

[partz]

no time for them, but it can be fun also a good way to increase your skills if you just start with poker

 

[VictorOd]

You can do million things while you play freerolls. Usually it's a low responsibility games. You can do other work, read or listen books, watch sports, series, movies etc.

 

[ndarragh91]

Freerolls are great for practice and starting to build a bankroll from nothing

 

[theANMATOR]

A slightly different path with freerolls

So - I think I'm on a slightly different path than most other players.

I've been playing for about 1.5 years now. Still a VERY noob rookie at this point.

I'm a late comer to poker - catching the bug in my 40s.

Firstly - I played play money site playWPT for about 6 months while studying the game like I was cramming for a college exam - for nearly a year 2-4 hours a day.

After I started kind of - feeling like the play money tourneys were easy to cash/win I decided it was time, so I depositing 50 onto Bovada/ignition - and then soon realized - I strongly disliked the annonamous 'feature' on that site.

Looked around for other US player friendly sites and found ACR and BOL.

Since I came to the dance later in my years - I felt it was a rite of passage that I had to grind any/all freerolls available. I had to endure the grueling experience - and maybe I might even earn a little money in the process.

I grinded every freeroll I could possibly play in last year. I deposited 25 bucks on ACR - just to make sure when the time came I could withdraw any earnings I had made.

Not counting the deposit I turned the freeroll earnings into withdrawals that are nearing 1000. So - yes - I believe any player can turn freeroll winnings into a proper bankroll - if they are dedicated and work hard on their game.

To be clear - I have not won 1000 dollars directly from freerolls. I have played micro events with the freeroll winnings - and turned those buyins into cashes and wins.

Lastly - I recently had a great experience winning a freeroll that gives out only one ticket into the Sunday 50k on ACR.
Although I busted within 20 places of the money - set QQs over my flopped set of JJs - all in on the flop - OUCH! It was a great experience to play that event against - I'm assuming - nearly an entire field that is a lot more experienced than I am.
I was even in the top 5 in chips for about 30 minutes - was a good experience to participate in an event - that I think in the future will be a weekly event that I participate in.

I believe that it is impossible to build a bankroll on freerolls. Of course, this is a good practice, but not for a bankroll. So more cache and sometimes tournaments.

No it's not impossible. Just keep at it!

I played freerolls for about 4 years
earned a maximum of $ 200-300
it's not worth it better to find a job

What did you do with the 2-300? That is a good BR to use for micro events - where the payouts are worth the time investment.

Yeah see in my opinion, all the beginners that keep saying "it's a good way of learning", it's actually not, because it's a complete gong show and people play almost anything, which will screw you up when playing for paid tourny's because people play completely different for money, especially the higher stakes.

From my experience - the learning I have taken away is being able to identify certain player "types" quickly - and play against them - using various methods. That is valuable - and has transferred well into buyin events - though I have not played any events higher than 10 dollar buyins.

I mostly agree with your opinion that freerolls - are wild and it's difficult to win vs players who play any 2 suited from any position, limp 7 ways - or 3-4bet with Ace rag, but it is useful and good experience to identify player types - and take their chips when the situation presents itself.

You are spot on with that, the playing field may be more novice, but it allows one to play various hands from different situations and thus allowing us to gain more experience no matter what... The more you play and digest, as well as reflect, the more you learn

This is a great point. Freerolls are a great environment to test different moves, and experience situations that a player will encounter again later on when playing for bigger monies.

 

[noLatenzy]

I don't think so. Cardschat's freerolls are incredible, 10 minutes blinds, 200/300 fields.
They are completely winnable.

 

[natelearnspoker]

I’ve won around a hundred or so dollars from freerolls, which has then been used on other buyins. Like others have said, I think it provides helpful experience to observe what works in poker and what doesn’t. I view freerolls as an relatively cost free experiment to try new poker techniques. Keep in mind that most players are Rec players and probably not good or fish. Try not to pick up on their bad habits and learn from the good players who pick off blinds and bet aggressively in the right spots.

 

[cferdi]

Depends, some freerolls are better than others. I've definitely built bankroll from them and have used them to put theory into practice, but you can't rely on the players in them to react the way they 'should' - i.e. they won't read you most of the time, they don't read position, bet size or anything, they just bet with anything it seems and allin almost any ace or picture card, or anything, but it can help you learn discipline. So whilst I don't 'only' play freerolls, I still play quite a few and don't consider them wasted time, especially if I earn 'anything' from them including information!

Generally CC Freerolls are the better ones, but even in these freerolls I've seen play that makes me wonder such as allin or nothing or other dubious play. But overall, they're better than ones where any random Joe can enter.

 

[CCWannabe]

I’ve won around a hundred or so dollars from freerolls, which has then been used on other buyins. Like others have said, I think it provides helpful experience to observe what works in poker and what doesn’t. I view freerolls as an relatively cost free experiment to try new poker techniques. Keep in mind that most players are Rec players and probably not good or fish. Try not to pick up on their bad habits and learn from the good players who pick off blinds and bet aggressively in the right spots.

I find myself to be a fairly patient player but gotta tell ya some major air punching happening when your AK BB loses to a 3 5 just three spots away from the money!

 

[Comarata3456]

So - I think I'm on a slightly different path than most other players.

I've been playing for about 1.5 years now. Still a VERY noob rookie at this point.

I'm a late comer to poker - catching the bug in my 40s.

Firstly - I played play money site playWPT for about 6 months while studying the game like I was cramming for a college exam - for nearly a year 2-4 hours a day.

After I started kind of - feeling like the play money tourneys were easy to cash/win I decided it was time, so I depositing 50 onto Bovada/Ignition - and then soon realized - I strongly disliked the annonamous 'feature' on that site.

Looked around for other US player friendly sites and found ACR and BOL.

Since I came to the dance later in my years - I felt it was a rite of passage that I had to grind any/all freerolls available. I had to endure the grueling experience - and maybe I might even earn a little money in the process.

I grinded every freeroll I could possibly play in last year. I deposited 25 bucks on ACR - just to make sure when the time came I could withdraw any earnings I had made.

Not counting the deposit I turned the freeroll earnings into withdrawals that are nearing 1000. So - yes - I believe any player can turn freeroll winnings into a proper bankroll - if they are dedicated and work hard on their game.

To be clear - I have not won 1000 dollars directly from freerolls. I have played micro events with the freeroll winnings - and turned those buyins into cashes and wins.

Lastly - I recently had a great experience winning a freeroll that gives out only one ticket into the Sunday 50k on ACR.
Although I busted within 20 places of the money - set QQs over my flopped set of JJs - all in on the flop - OUCH! It was a great experience to play that event against - I'm assuming - nearly an entire field that is a lot more experienced than I am.
I was even in the top 5 in chips for about 30 minutes - was a good experience to participate in an event - that I think in the future will be a weekly event that I participate in.




No it's not impossible. Just keep at it!



What did you do with the 2-300? That is a good BR to use for micro events - where the payouts are worth the time investment.




From my experience - the learning I have taken away is being able to identify certain player "types" quickly - and play against them - using various methods. That is valuable - and has transferred well into buyin events - though I have not played any events higher than 10 dollar buyins.

I mostly agree with your opinion that freerolls - are wild and it's difficult to win vs players who play any 2 suited from any position, limp 7 ways - or 3-4bet with Ace rag, but it is useful and good experience to identify player types - and take their chips when the situation presents itself.



This is a great point. Freerolls are a great environment to test different moves, and experience situations that a player will encounter again later on when playing for bigger monies.

I think the same way I think that the different cardschat freeroll, help a player in my case I improve myself or I understand how to play against a situation that appears to me later, and I say that time I faced it like that and it turned out so I try to copy it later, although many Sometimes it leads to disappointments, but that's poker boys!

 

[johnnylawford]

One way to look at it is if you can't make money playing free rolls what makes you think you'll make money playing buy-in games? If you can win a micro-stakes (or higher) game you should be able to beat a free roll, right? It's just a matter of exploiting the bad decisions free roll players make.


the other thing to consider is if you enjoy the game itself you should enjoy playing for any prize pool.

 

[robach]

.

If the field is too many people i avoid playing. Cardchat freerolls are pretty good I've only played in 1 so far and placed 3rd

 

[SightUnseen]

They're not wasted time if you're having fun doing what you enjoy. Also you have zero risk vs reward factor due to no investment. It's a win win. Great place for anyone looking to build a roll from zero or looking to learn the game if they're new.

 

[Dimission]

I try to limit it to freerolls because otherwise I would lose my money in one evening. Only, indeed, it takes an awful long time before you finally get $ 10.

That takes hours and hours.

 

[lusquinha2020]

i used to play a lot of freerolls thinking i'm smart, but playing freerolls is one of the hardest type of games. Not just because of the variance, but the kind of player and etc. I recommend you to deposit some money and try 9-max sng, there the variance is minimal.

 

[marcopero14]

i used to play a lot of freerolls thinking i'm smart, but playing freerolls is one of the hardest type of games. Not just because of the variance, but the kind of player and etc. I recommend you to deposit some money and try 9-max sng, there the variance is minimal.

Agree with you

 

[Sooted7s]

I have played about 10000 hands in freerolls. I have won 2 freerolls. I like them cause i'm new to poker and they help me learn.

 

[noLatenzy]

I think when you want to build your bankroll, freerolls are the best option.

 

[zinzir]

There's a lot of player that have played freerolls for building their bankroll. I mean you set a goal to reach for example 20$ and then start playing for real money. This aproach is good for learning and getting familar with MTTs and it's risk free. Now for the time you spend it can take probably months. For me it's good for young players or students that do have free time.

You might be playing poker for the wrong reason, my friend. If you already have a job and make money, why do you need an hourly rate from playing poker?
Poker is not about money, it is about making the right decisions, money is just a bonus. Remember, once you start playing money MTT's you are more likely to lose your buy-in than finish in the money.
Take it easy, and become a winning freeroll player first, and only afterwards move to buy-in MTTs. If you are interested in how to calculate if you are a winning freeroll player or not, you could visit my thread and read about it:
https://www.cardschat.com/forum/tournament-poker-59/you-a-winning-freeroll-player-459393/

 

[DenGybka]

Hi, I also spent many hours playing freerolls, but during these hours I got experience that helps me win now. Therefore, I believe that the hours you spent on participating in freerolls have benefited you.

 

[billibooo]

As a beginner poker player, I find freerolls very beneficial as well. Some tourneys are just inane, people going all in on nothing BUT there are many that give a good idea on how this should be played. <3
I am sure expert skiers find bunny hills pointless, to them but definitely get it for noobies.