Introduction
In the world of the online poker you can gain plenty of benefits out of the freerols – the biggest of which is that you can boost your bankroll when it gets low. But still there are some things you can do to maximize your chance to get value out of the freeroll. After all, these tournaments usually have plenty of players – often more than 500 – and you will need luck and skills in order to get at least a part of the prizepool.
Keep tight during the early stages of the freeroll
Players do not pay to get into the freeroll and due to this they are more likely to play loose and to risk more. During the later stages of the tournament it might be okay to play with weaker hands, in the early stages there are many more players and it is very likely that at least some of them will have a strong hand. Therefore, the best thing you can do when the blinds are still low is to only play when you have strong hands.
Avoid going all-in in the early stage
The early stage will probably have plenty of all-ins by players who are hoping that they can win the big money and who are willing to risk everything because they have not paid for the entry. It may be hard for you to be patient but remember to go all-in ONLY when you have a really strong hand.
Middle stage
What we already said is still valid for the middle stage but now you will have to be a little bit more aggressive. Do not worry about your ranking – you should focus on making as many chips as you can while preserving the ones you have already won. Do not compare the size of your stack with the other players. Stay focused on keeping yourself in the tournament and getting to the final stage.
Be conservative when you have weaker hands but play more aggressively when you have a good hand. Still, do not try to bluff unless you are many chips ahead of the others.
Final stage
Now the blinds will be quite big and will take a nice part of your stack. And you will have to start using a sound strategy to get a nice payout. Playing only with strong hands is not going to be enough. You will have to bluff using the weakness of other people. Usually there will be people you can definitely outplay.
But do not try to bluff on the players with big stacks. If they call your bet, even if they lose, this will not do them much harm as compared to how much it will hurt you if you lose the hand.
Watch out for the small stacks, as well, for they will probably start using a high-risk strategy in order to start winning – this includes bluffing, going all-in even with relatively weaker hands, etc.
Be aggressive during the last part of the freeroll. Do not just sit there taking no initiative but try to do your best. Still, be reasonable and carefully pick when and with whom you can use this strategy.