Online Freeroll Poker Tournaments - How To Make Money

Freerolls - Poker tournaments which cost nothing to enter - are an increasingly popular way for novice poker players to learn the game and play for instant profits.  They’re on the rise too, with most of the larger sites opening more and more of these type of tournaments.  It’s easy to see why – it gets players involved in their poker site, where there’s a good chance they’ll fall into the pitfalls of losing money rather than winning it, and the house always wins.  But if you play smart, there are a number of ways you can maximise your chances of making money.  I’ve played poker at all levels, online, live tournaments and tough cash games.  I’ve also written professionally for a poker website for a long time.  I’ll tell you how you can pick up the necessary skills to bring home the bacon, time after time.

One of the first things anyone does in an online game is just to play poker.  But on every site you’ll see a detail in the ‘Info’ tab during your game that says either ‘Time Bank Balance’ or something similar.  This is the amount of time you have to hand when you are making a decision on a hand.  If you leave your seat, and the hand isn’t instantly folded, you’ll use up this time.  Make sure you don’t – keep an eye on  the game, and if you do have to visit the bathroom or pop the kettle on, check the box marked ‘Sit Out Next Hand’.  When you get to the latter stages of the tournament and the bubble is approaching, you’ll need this time – we’ll talk about how you can make the most use of it later. 

A player who is ‘on tilt’ is said to be rash, angry and careless with their money, and they’re everywhere in Freerolls, where inexperience and no stake required combine.  These players are essentially exactly who you want sitting at your table, preferably to your right, for reasons I shall explain.  If they are betting directly before you, you can take advantage of their tilting, by re-raising them, maybe even putting them all-in if you have a really good hand and sitting back to enjoy your victory.  Players usually go on tilt after losing a close hand for a lot of chips in which they had a hand they thought to be unbeatable.  This very situation happened to me last night. I was sitting with a very healthy stack of chips, but to my left but one was the chip leader, not just at the table, but in the entire tournament.  I called the other half of my small blind bet with K J and was delighted to see Q 9 10 on the flop. Three different suits were there, so there was practically no danger of the flush coming home to hurt me on the river.  I basically had the best hand possible.  My opponent was betting with A 10, and continued to bet heavily after his ace came on the river.   He had the best two-pair hand out there, and in most hands, this would be good enough to win. However, he paid no attention to my original call, and decided to put me all-in on the river, which was blank for both of us.  I gladly called and doubled my stack.  A few hands later he was out, after throwing my money angrily into the middle with moderate hands only.  Pay attention to tilting, because you can make a lot of chips from others doing it.

Poker isn’t a simple game to succeed in, but the rules are pretty basic. Anyone can understand the strengths of certain hands above others, and therefore the skill of the game is how you play. Finding your own defined style is a tricky thing to do, and disguising it from your opponents another wrinkle, but essentially, players fall into four basic groups;

• Loose/Passive - Bluffing these guys will be pretty useless, as they are likely to call with weaker hands. But you can play your strong hands heavier against them as they may well be playing middle pair and trusting their luck.
• Tight/Passive - Newcomers are frequently in this category. This type of player will fold too often and can easily be bluffed off pots they still have a chance of winning. Play aggressively against these types and you can win a large number of pots, even with rags.
• Loose/Aggressive - Many pros are classified as this, but in reality, they probably fit into the last group. A Loose, aggressive player will play wildly, rising, re-raising, often with absolutely nothing. Choose your moment carefully and you can take advantage of them.
• Tight/Aggressive – Not who you want to run into, but more who you should aim to be yourself. Will keep their chips well, but play strong hands powerfully, meaning your re-raise or bluff could get you into a world of pain. Be wary around these players at all times.

Freerolls are so popular because they cost nothing – that’s obvious.  But the other outstanding aspect of Freeroll tourneys is that to make real money, you need to finish very high up the pecking order.  Put into simple numbers, you’re likely to be up against anywhere from 2000-5000 opponents.  If this was a World Series match, you’d be paid out in the thousands once you reached the top 500 players or so.  But this is free, and depending on prize pot limits (covered in the next section) you might not see anything upwards of a dollar until you finish in the top 150 players.  Percentage-wise, you’ve got to be aiming to be in the top 5% of those involved.  That sounds difficult when it’s written down in such stark terms.  So any kind of timidity is likely to leave you needing a miracle to climb the pay ladder sufficiently.  Play your strong hands well, this means putting all of your chips in the middle more frequently than you would at a cash game.  But remember – it cost you nothing to enter, you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Double-up or treble-up to chip leader and you can start to exert pressure on your opponents.

Freerolls may cost nothing to enter, but that doesn’t mean they’re free.  What do I mean? I’m talking about re-buys.  Re-buys are essentially a way of buying back your original stack for a nominal amount, in Freerolls this is typically 10p or $0.20. But the amounts can vary, and double-rebuys (twice the money for twice the stack) are often available too.  You also need to establish how long re-buys are available for, i.e. how long players can keep re-buying once you’ve taken their chips, and reading up on this tournament information before you begin is a good way of gauging the action at the table. No re-buys will keep the game comparatively tight, as players have their tournament lives on the line with every hand. Multiple re-buys can lead to aggressive players with weaker all-in raising hands.  Knowing what the set-up is before the cards are in the air is vital to your chances.  Making a decision as to whether you yourself might re-buy if you get knocked out is a decision for you – but make you decision before you begin play – the likelihood is you’ll choose a poor option if you let game-play influence your bankroll. 

The Bubble is the tipping point between those who don’t make any money from the game they’re playing and those who do.  Money increases after that point of course, but when playing a Freeroll, here’s where you enter into profit (providing you didn’t re-buy) and celebrate winning something for nothing.  If you're in a healthy position chip-wise at this point, this is a crucial period of the game for climbing the payscale - don't simply sit there waiting for the bubble to burst.  This is your opportunity to utilise your chip lead over your short-stacked and nervous opponents as they'll be less likely to push all-in with the money right around the corner.  If you're middle-stacked, you can put some pressure on those below you in terms of chip-strength, but be wary of the big hitters as you needn't risk yourself unnecessarily. If you're short-stacked, this is where you use your time balance.  Whatever time you have left (it tends to be more the higher number of players are in the game, but for a freeroll, you can estimate between a minute and 90 seconds) needs to be eked out as you negotiate the last few places before you're in the money.  Feel no compunction about slowing down your play accordingly, and if you hit a big hand and think you can use the chance to double up, let your time run right down before you make your move.  That way, if you win, you'll be safely past the bubble and back in the hunt for a bigger prize and if you lose, those last few seconds of your time balance may just have ensured you leave with money instead of hopes for what might have been.

The flop, the first three cards which are dealt out after you have received your two in Texas No Limit Hold 'Em, is often the most important part of any hand.  Over 70% of the time the winning hand on the flop is the winning hand once the 'board' - all five cards - have been shown face up.  So in a freeroll tournament, playing a strong hand is even more prevalent when it comes good on the flop.  If you've been dealt A 10 and the flop is 10 8 4, bet it out. Never mind if a Jack or King come on the turn and river for instance.  7 times out of 10, your 10 with an ace kicker will see it out.  But this is only true if you bet on the flop itself.  Generally, if the flop helps you, it should be bet - on the flop I just suggested could fall, don't let someone with 7 6 for instance find that 5 for free, filling in their straight.  Use the power of your hand and hope someone has your top pair without the a rocket behind it - you could really take off.

Poker is fun - loads of it, too.  But the best feeling in poker isn't playing every hand, nor is it winning one hand, no matter how dramatic.  Enjoying poker, especially online, is all about the money.  And if you want to get that winning feeling more often than not, you'll need to resist the fun factor.  Fold more hands than you play.  It sounds basic, but check the statistics of how often and when you call.  In early position, i.e. shortly following the blind bets, you should be folding more hands than you do - I practically guarantee it. Middle position hands can be played if slightly stronger, and late position opens up a range more of playable hands (smaller pairs becoming more powerful with less players involved in the hand) and I'll talk about this in detail in future articles.  If you find your table is spending a lot of time chatting about the various fluctuations in luck during game-play, this is ideal.  You now have a table you know is paying less attention to what's going on than you.  If you can keep your concentration and follow your instincts based on the tips above, they're not going to know what's hit them.

This last tip could be the long-term difference between you busting out or making profit.  The good thing about it is that it's one of the easiest things to do, and yet so few players do it, so you're almost certain to be ahead of the rest if you follow my advice. It's pretty simple too - all you need to do is write things down.  Just write? Yes, it really is that basic. Whenever you play in a tournament, make notes on your opponents.  In the short term, this will help you in identifying other players' strengths and weaknesses at the virtual table you're sat down at.  Almost every online poker website provides players with the facility to (normally) double-click on a player's image, and make notes about this opponent.   The best thing about doing this is that it doesn't just apply to the tourney you're in.  Next time you come back to a tournament - freeroll tournaments are frequented by a large percentage of returning players - you won't recognise the avatar of your opponent, but you will see the note you made last time, telling yourself to watch out this opponent's check-raising or propensity to go on tilt.  Capitalise on hindsight from information you gather as you play.  And soon you'll be heading into profit - and staying there! 

Best of luck at the virtual baize - let me know how you get on.