Online Poker Freerolls & Play Money Tournaments

Freerolls and play money poker tournaments are a great way to learn the basics of online poker without risking any money. A freeroll is a poker tournament that allows you to play for a spot in another tournament, or a cash prize. By definition, a freeroll doesn’t have a buy-in – you’re playing free of charge. For this reason, you can often play in freerolls by registering for a poker site even if you don’t make a deposit. A play money poker tournament allows you to participate in a tournament with play chips. While it’s free to play, you won’t be entitled to any cash if you win.

The Benefits of Freerolls & Play Money Poker Tournaments

Play money poker tournaments are extremely useful for players who know very little about poker and are looking to understand the rules, learn basic poker strategies, and familiarize themselves with the interface of whichever online poker site they choose. Perhaps best of, all you don’t have to risk a single cent of real money to participate – and when it comes to freerolls, you can even win money to help set you on your way.

Generally, the quality of the players you’ll be facing in a play money poker tournament or freeroll will be very low. This will serve as a nice confidence booster for players who might be intimidated by even the lowest buy-in tournaments at online poker rooms.

The Hidden Danger of Freerolls and Play Money Tournaments

The major disadvantage of freerolls and play money tournaments is that they can give an unrealistic perception of the ways in which online poker is normally played. Freerolls and play money tournaments tend to include a lot of wild play, which you might not find in regular poker tournaments. This is because players aren’t putting anything on the line by entering the game.

In the case of a freeroll, players are playing with the intention of making the money spots and winning a cash prize, but at the same time, they don’t lose anything by busting out. If you get accustomed to the typical strategies used in a freeroll or play money tournament, you might find yourself using an overly loose strategy in a regular buy-in poker tournament.

Proper Strategy for Freerolls and Play Money Tournaments

You should have two things in mind when developing your strategies for freerolls and play money tournaments: increasing your chances of winning a monetary prize at the end of the tournament (in the case of a freeroll), and playing the same type of game you’d be playing if you’d been forced to pay an expensive buy-in.

With these in mind, you should be using tight, aggressive play, pursuing your strong hands by raising and re-raising, while folding weak hands that don’t stand a good chance of improving on later streets. If you play loosely and pursue any starting hand that comes your way, you’ll be reducing your chances of winning the tournament and practicing incorrect strategies that will translate poorly to a normal poker game.

Choosing the Best Freerolls

Many online poker sites offer frequent freerolls, and as such, your job is to be a discriminating consumer and pick only the best online poker freerolls. The reason for this is pretty simple. Although you’re not risking any money by entering a freeroll, you are risking your time. In order to make freerolls profitable, you should only choose freerolls that are worth your valuable time. Generally, you should stick to freerolls that have large prizes and are distributed among a large portion of the top finishers.

By doing so, you’ll accomplish two important goals. For one, you’ll have a shot at winning a significant sum of money, should you make a deep run in the tournament. In addition, you’ll be getting quality practice time against other players who are playing to win, rather than making nonsensical decisions with every garbage starting hand they encounter. Of course, it’s usually possible to participate in multiple freerolls simultaneously, but this will force you to pay less attention to each game, reducing your chances of winning.

The Pokerology Freeroll Club

Pokerology.com provides regular freerolls for our active forum members who join the “Pokerology Freeroll Club (PFC)“. While our freeroll games might not have the huge prize pools of other online poker freerolls (see best online poker freerolls), they offer a far better chance for you to win money – simply because our games are private and don’t attract a large number of players. It’s also fun to play against other forum members. So, if you’ve not signed up yet – join our poker forum today!