Do Freerolls Make You A Better Player?

[CRBadBeat]

Hello All,
You have seen me promote www.beverlyhillspoker.com/quicklook.htm (http://www.beverlyhillspoker.com/quicklook.htm) on here for their freerolls. I do have some questions and would like your opinions on freerolls.

The pro's say over and over that experience is the key to becoming a winning player. Could you achieve this in freerolls. I know there is a lot of dumb play in freerolls (like 4 players all in on the first hand), does this just make you adjust and play a little more selectively? I think all the loose players would be a lot like playing against Lane Flack or Daniel Negreanu with their loose but very agressive style. What do you think?

[fnurt]

I think it is nothing like playing against the pros, but I do believe that players who are new to tournaments should play in as many tournaments as they can, and freerolls are great for this. Tournament situations are still tournament situations, and you can learn a lot.

[schwza]

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I think all the loose players would be a lot like playing against Lane Flack or Daniel Negreanu with their loose but very agressive style. What do you think?

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lane flack and d.n. are LAG, but they're not stupid. is this post just an ad for whatever the hell it is you're linking to?

[CRBadBeat]

No it is not for the ad. I could just post an ad. I am serious and not saying that Lane and Daniel are stupid, they are awesome. D.N. is my favorite player. I am saying you need to be more patient in these tournaments.

[schwza]

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No it is not for the ad. I could just post an ad. I am serious and not saying that Lane and Daniel are stupid, they are awesome. D.N. is my favorite player. I am saying you need to be more patient in these tournaments.

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yeah, i realize you're not saying l.f. and d.n. are bad - i'm saying that people in freerolls are and that that's why it's not remotely similar to play against freeroll folks and against superstars like l.f. and d.n.

[CRBadBeat]

Yes, I see your point. I am also a pool player and the way to get better is to play against better players. If you play against weak players it can bring your game down. I would assume this could relate to poker as well. If you were playing against great players, you would be more focused and determinded to try and win.

Thanks for your input.

[SossMan]

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Yes, I see your point. I am also a pool player and the way to get better is to play against better players. If you play against weak players it can bring your game down. I would assume this could relate to poker as well. If you were playing against great players, you would be more focused and determinded to try and win.

Thanks for your input.

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All poker is about adjusting to your opponents. Playing against bad players takes a different kind of game than playing against very skilled opponents. The SKILL is being able to adjust and consistantly make proper decisions based on a number of factors: opponents skill level being one of them.

[riverflush]

I totally agree with that - you need to be able to adjust your game to the skill level. I've got a friend who constantly complains about the loose, poor players in our local tournaments/home games - and I think he misses the point. I try to adjust my style to this, and the ability to shake out how your opponents play is just as important as your own skill. A good player can outlast the sloppy players - even if they win big pots every now and then.

[SossMan]

I have never understood the "I can't beat bad players" argument. Don't you just wait until a big hand and then bet it for value? You don't really have to think. I think the short term fluctuations combined with always getting your money in with the best of it and getting sucked out on.

[CRBadBeat]

I agree, I don't know how many times I have used this statement in the chat box - "Would you please stop telling him to play better!!" LOL

[RFJ]

Freerolls get more interesting during the middle of the game. Usually by then the really loose weak players are gone unless they've had an unusually good amount of luck. I'd say it depends on the type of freeroll. There are freerolls where the prize pool is over 10k. Not too many people would push all in with no hand in the beginning of the tourney unless they had never played before. Any game whether freeroll or regular game gets you familiar with the odds of you hitting your cards which is a good thing. You can get a relative value of the hands your holding with comparision to the community cards. Some of the rebuy tournaments are worse than the freerolls. At least with freerolls when you have that type of player they are out real quick. IN a rebuy i've seen players play like that rebuy 15 times. This makes the game more difficult when there are 1 or 2 people building massive chip stack due to their card rush. They get so much chip lead that they really don't have to play to place. Usually they will be at least 10x over the whole table before the rebuy period is over.

[CRBadBeat]

I think you are correct. If I make it an hour or two into the tournament, I normally get a good position. I have yet to win a big one but have made the final table in a few really big ones.