Today I read blog after blog by players who made the claim that "freerolls are a waste of time, worthless", "only Donkeys play freerolls", "freeroll whores this and freeroll whores that". I cannot think of poker truisms that are more untrue.
The tone in many of these posts had an obvious background of "I'm too good","why waste the time". I agree - if your skills and bankroll are complete enough so that you never need to work on your game and you can afford to pay as you tune your game then you're right. I have a different take on Freerolls
1.) Many freeroll players are good players, many forums I participate in, a Freeroll player not the buy-in game winner won the yearly major tournament that's a fact, both
KAMRON and
strider239 come to mind. They
both won a WSOP seat's in a series of tournaments against buy-in and freeroll players.
2.) I for one would not have nearly the experience or level of game I have now if not for freerolls. That level is debatable, but however weak my game is it would be much weaker if not for freerolls - whatever strength my game has it is because of the availability of freerolls. I probably would not even be playing if they were not available.
Some of the conversation about freeroll play is full of "that Donkey played this and that Donkey played that" - I suspect most of it is because no one likes to lose particularly against a long shot. Often a careful read of the post shows it to be devoid of enough information to determine a "donkplay" was made or betrays the author to have made a poor decision. Typically, but not always, good players take fewer long shots so in a "good game" with "good players" you're not likely to see someones "big bet Aces" get caught by a caller with 72os because a player who knows their chances in such a call with a hand statistically likely to lose won't take the chance. In a "good game" the opposition is unlikely to put you on 72os if you make a big bet giving you the respect of "a good player must not have 72os to make that bet". It is more likely in a game where the loss is small and/or the person may not know the odds that such a play is made. Deal with this fact "bad beats" happen in any circumstances at any skill level - you can't handle that, you can't deal with your AK getting busted by 22 don't play poker.
Nothing is wrong with freerolls, just know that you are likely to face some situations that will beat you solely on luck. Think of yourself as Muhammad Ali in a street fight - you just might get bit, hit with a stick or kicked in the balls - this shouldn't happen in the ring but it might.
(Hmm I guess it has) It's kind of funny when you hear players with no accomplishment talk down Free roll players and games then you observe their play and find their knowledge is not what you may have inferred from the "authority" of their commentary. Have you ever noticed how most of the players who make big money in poker rarely make grandiose statements of their skill or the lack of skill of their opponents?
OK Hellmuth is one who does but my guess is much of his "stuff" is for TV personna reasons - he couldn't really believe that stuff could he?Freeroll play is a valuable tool in becoming a better player and as in all games there are players who have a wide range of skill. Don't be dissuaded from playing when you can. Play with diligence and like it's real money in freerolls (frequently it is) - track your play and results, what happened, try the things you know or read about to determine if and when they have worth - remember being immune to naysayers is an important skill. Eventually you'll be able to beat the players who say freeroll play is worthless.
Keep this in mind the next time you read a blog where the author is negative about freerolls and sounds like they
just missed being ITM in the last WSOP by complete chance on the river - Most of them can't beat the two players above anyway so what do they know..........
LOL
Merlin333
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Subject: Re: Freerolls are good... 
Sat Aug 09, 2008 8:15 pm
