Pros and cons of Freerolls

Replay Poker offers a freeroll every hour. Many players find them a satisfying way to collect chips. But are freerolls an ideal format to learn profitable, high-level poker?

Let’s look into what freerolls offer:

As the name suggests, freerolls are free. They are a risk-free way to learn new games and occasionally collect a few more chips to pad your bank.

The quality of competition can be quite low in freerolls, making it much easier to earn a return.

They are for the long haul. With an average of well over 100 players, they are still a challenging format which requires you to show skill throughout. The early stages require patience, and more aggression. In the later stages, you must also have chip stack awareness in order to maximize returns.

There are a mix of variants to play, so you can try your hand at Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo. Or even 7 Card Stud! You’ll get practice and experience with no downside.

Some Replay freerolls pay multiple tickets for the top place finishes, and those can be a springboard to much bigger prizes when you use them in other MTTs.

Even high-stakes players may take some time to drop down to the freeroll lobby in order to get a sanity check on their own game, or experiment with a different strategy.

But is it worthwhile to default to solely freeroll play, particularly when you have a healthy bankroll?

You can win up to four tickets in satellite games, or 15,000 chips, but unless you place in the top three, you get a relatively small return for beating such a big field of players. A 40-player 5,000 chip entry MTT pays twice as much in prizes and has half the entrants.

Freerolls can often be populated by “carefree” players who don’t try to play conventional poker strategy. This makes the game volatile at times. While it is satisfying to successfully collect the tournament chips of the reckless gamblers, there is less poker gameplay and more about getting your chips in with strong hole cards, trusting they will hold.

If you are collecting winning from freerolls on a regular basis, it is surely a sign you are a capable player.

In order to grow as a player, think about raising your sights and expectations by hitting the MTTs with an entry cost and learning how to conquer them.

Most Replay MTTs with a buy-in also feature a leaderboard. Besides being excellent value, learning how to strategize in a series of tournaments with long-term leaderboards can be an exciting and rewarding experience.