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Are freerolls worth playing?
I hear a lot of players say the freerolls are a waste of time for the prize money. Although the payouts are low (3 hours to win £22) I've been playing them as a way to practice my game.
I can get to last 50 quite easily so I'm now wondering if I should keep playing them (as 3 hours for 50 pence seems quite a low hourly rate) or play more buyin games and get a better return on my money. My worry is that I'm still making too many loose calls and so I will just become another ATM for the more experienced players.
Do you still (or have you ever) play the freerolls and are they a good pratice ground for a newbie?
Comments
i think they are fine if you are still a new player, just play tight and value bet and you should be able to do well
If you've gone busto then obviously the freerolls are the only way you're going to get a game. For beginners they can be an exciting introduction to tournament poker without having to risk any money. When I was a new to real money poker I won a freeroll here on Sky, it was a great boost to my small bankroll and made me realise that tournaments could be more fun (and more profitable) than DYMs.
Now that I have a much bigger bankroll I hardly ever bother playing in freerolls. Compared to the tournaments with an entry fee the freerolls are a bit of a lottery with so many 'away' players and others playing in a maniac style more suited to Facebook. As my experience has grown I've decided I'd rather pay an entry fee and spend my time playing in a slightly more sensible tournament with the carrot of bigger prizes. As a winning tournament player I know that if I spent say 1000 hours playing freerolls, then 1000 hours playing regular tournaments, I'd almost certainly make a bigger profit from the regular tournaments.
I like the freerolls being on the site because they must do a lot to bring in new players, many of them will then go on to join the pool of regular players. Tikay says traffic has been growing on Sky, maybe that is in part due to the daily freerolls.
The one piece of advice I would give to anybody is do not re-buy in freerolls. Most players who take the rebuy end up losing money, all of a sudden they will realise it wasn't quite so free for them after all.
If you can avoid the early dumping of chips or benefit from them then after the first break is when the play gives you experience imo.
I have been told that the £2.20 deepies are also a good place to learn, but I have loads of points and I can "try things" later on to see how they work out in the freerolls. It gives you the freedom to do this without fear of loss which you shouldn't have when you play. Once the br is a bit higher I will be able to do this in the deepies as the buy in won't be a major slice of it.
I NEVER rebuy. I don't see the point as it doesn't teach you chip management. People are loose when they use it.
For me it is not the cashing in the freeroll although that is nice, it is going deep in them that I want. Once got as far a 8th and that was good fun.
Good luck.
Thanks for your thoughts guys. It's nice to get sensible and constructive responses. I def. agree about the rebuy point (learnt this the hard way after placing the other day and realising I had won -£1!!). I've managed a few placings in them with a win last Thursday which was a nice boost to my br so I think I might try a £2.2 deep and see how I get on.
Did find playing the freeroll helped me S&G play yesterday. I had gone a bit loose over the weekend (no idea why my game changed other than a few '3 card river suckouts' against me may have sent me on tilt). Played a tight game on the freeroll last night, finished 30th and then played a Bounty and a DYM (micros both) managed to win both!
They helped me when I first started out to become profitable again, as I lost £50 on cash tables pretty quickly when I didn't know what I was doing then won a few freerolls to to get my net-deposit back into the + without depositing again and risking more.
What I have been doing lately now I have a bigger bankroll and know a bit about what I am doing is playing a buy-in tournament, then playing 2-3 freeroll or micro buy-in mtt's simultaneously. It helps make sure I stay solid and keeps me from getting bored and spunking off my chips randomly bluffing. Also if you take a badbeat you can take it out on the freeroll and shove randomly with 74o so if you lose, your just out of a freeroll.
So they are worth playing for various different reasons.