Poker: Freeroll strategy

OK, we’ve made it passed the early rounds of the freeroll poker tournament, and are now in the thick of the middle stages, looking to survive and kill off some of the competition while we’re at it. It should be noted, a freeroll does share some of the similarities of a regular tournament, i.e. blinds. And after an hour or so has gone by, the blinds will have increased multiple times, and you’re probably looking at about 50% of the players left who entered the tournament.

First thing to do after that first hour ticks away, probably as soon as the blinds increase again, is assess your chip stack. If you’re in the top 5-10%, you’re in good position. If you’re not, now’s the time to make a move to double up or resign to the fact that you’re better off losing out and trying again. There are many others at that table in the same boat as you, so choose carefully and be prepared for others to make extremely aggressive moves. You can wait, but don’t wait too long. If you have the cards to call someone you think is making a power play to survive, then trap them and go for the kill in that manner.
If you’re in the middle, don’t go head-to-head with the large stacks, they’re looking to crush players just like you. That’s what they’re doing while you’re trying to double up to join them. So you stick with the smaller stacks and pressure them. They have much fewer fold options with the blinds where they are than you do with a larger stack. But you can’t be comfortable yourself. Like I said, you can’t wait too long, or the blinds will push you right down to that smaller stack group.

Also, now IS the time to bluff. Small stacks will be trying to stay alive just long enough to get to the money at this point, so they’ll be extremely careful to walk the tightrope of the blinds vs. the raises – but unless they have a powerful hand, the likely choice for them will be to fold and fight the next hand. However, if the short stack initiates the raise, don’t bluff back. Yes, they might be playing aggressive to double up or go home, but you don’t want to take that chance with rags…at least give yourself a high card or small pair to go to bat with in this situation. Catch them on the limp, not on the power play.

If you’re a large poker stack, others will be trying to avoid you. So your goal is to lean on everyone else to put as many people out as possible, while at the same time be aware that they’re all going to try to trap you to double up their own stacks.