Freeroll tips for John and other heads up ramblings

Filed under: Poker Freerolls, Poker Strategy


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So by popular demand, we'll talk freeroll strategy. For starters, I'm often asked "Mike, how do you play a freeroll?" I don't necessarily interpret that to mean they're asking how I personally play freerolls, but instead how they should play freerolls. My advice though is almost always geared towards me, as I tell them, "along side six other cash tables and/or tournaments." The freeroll is a suppliment to my game. If I'm at a poker room that is holding one, I'll play it, but I typically don't log into a poker room just for the roll.

When playing in a freeroll, especially early in a tourney, I don't think beyond level zero. There's no sense in doing so, considering it's highly likely that as we read this the big blind just called a 10x raise on some site in a freeroll while holding Jack two suited. So, my next answer is that I take a good hand and just push with it, hoping to improve and/or be better than the obvious board. With any luck, I put in a raise and someone comes over top of me, we end up allin so that there's no thinking at all. I'd prefer to not even play post flop until hour three of a freeroll.

Finally, if you're going to bust out of a freeroll tourney, do it with a premium hand on the first hand of the tourney so that all your friends and readers can give you a hard time :)

So there you have it, my freeroll advice... I'm more focused on heads up play.

Actually, I went 5-1 yesterday playing heads up. I was asked about the min raise in heads up play and why I use it. I need to point out now, write this down, I'm not using the min raise to announce a hand. I'm not using it because I think I have the best hand. I'm using it to annoy and condition my opposition.

What do I mean by this? Well, when I am on the button (important to note this), I min raise with any two cards. To my opposition, this makes it look like I really don't know how to play a I'm making a cheap steal attempt. Sometimes, they fold because I have position, or they have hands such as 2-5o. I am wanting them to "show me" what a real raise looks like when I am not on the button. If I pick up a quality hand, such as AA for example, and they "real raise" me, I throw in that annoying min raise. Once again, I make it look like a steal on the button. Most of the players in the lower limit Heads up matches don't realize the difference, as a min raise is a min raise, so they push allin. NH GG me!

So really, what I am doing is getting these people irritated, putting resistance on them while I am getting them to push at me. When I get a hand, I simply step aside and let the momentum of their aggression do most all the work. It's as simple as that.

Tonight on the calendar, CheckRayz-Kiwi $5+.50 $100 added tourney. See you all tonight!

Mike