Freeroll tournaments offer poker players the chance to win money while not risking any of their own bankroll. They can be found daily on most sites, usually for modest prize pools, with occasional larger prize pool freerolls around particular events and promotional activities the site is undertaking.They represent one of the best ways to build a beginner's poker bankroll. They can also be a frustrating experience as you try to work through in some cases thousands of runners and varying standards of play. Variance is high, but the prospect of reward for no outlay is tempting. In a series of articles I am going to take you through some strategies to negotiate the freeroll minefield. These will cover early play, the mid and end games but firstly:
Why play freerolls?
Put simply, for the prospect of a return for zero outlay. You can play "cash prize freerolls" or "satellite freerolls" where you win seats into larger tournaments. Players typically use cash freerolls to try start and build bankrolls. If you create accounts, even without an initial deposit, you can play freerolls with real money prizes. So, by cashing a freeroll, you can start building a roll on sites. If you’re not interested in taking small amounts of cash and trying to turn it into more, freerolls probably aren’t for you. If you’re interested in the challenge of bankroll building, and you’re not interested in buying into several different poker sites, cash freerolls might be for you.
Satellite freerolls are just as common. Almost every site has satellites that can get you into larger tournaments with bigger prizes. The odds here are against you more than in the cash freerolls. Generally there are fewer “cash” positions. Even if you win a seat, you’ll have to do well in the next tournament to turn the freeroll prize into hard cash. It can be done, but the prospect of a return is much slimmer.
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Stay tuned to Guide To Poker for part 2 of our strategy guide to playing poker freerolls.
