“At my lemonade stand I used to give the first glass away free and charge five dollars for the second glass. The refill contained the antidote.” -Comedian Emo Phillips
Freeroll tournaments can at be found almost any time of day at most online poker rooms. Free roll doesn’t necessarily mean free. The online poker room executives must have grown up in Emo Phillips’ neighborhood because they almost always charge something for free rolls. But unlike “play for free” poker games, free rolls offer a payoff.
How’s $1,000,000 for a freeroll payoff? Paradise Poker is promoting their third “Million Dollar Freeroll”, set to take place in July 2006. Players will have to win a seat to this tournament, but the first entry for a shot at a million dollar poker tournament seat is absolutely free. Freeroll qualifiers to the tournament are held three times a day. At 4 p.m. EST the top six winners will qualify for a seat at the tournament. The top nine winners of the 9 p.m. EST tourney earn a seat. Night owls on the West Coast may want to enter the 1 a.m. EST qualifier where the top 15 contenders go on for a shot at the million.
If players don’t qualify during their first attempt, all hope is not lost. They still earn a seat to the qualifier for every 100 “Million Points” collected. Playing any online cash games automatically earns points.
Almost all poker rooms offer a free roll tournament with some type of payoff for first time depositors. Are players likely to win a free roll their first time out? No, probably not, but they can practice for buy-in tournaments and can gauge their progress by where they average in the pack. It can be a learning experience and boost a novice player’s confidence. A six or nine man tournament isn’t so intimidating to a player who finished ahead of one hundred other players.
For players who want to set their sights a bit lower or just have more chances to win, there are lots of chances to play. Party Poker has free rolls for as little as 30 “party points”. Those who want to play in this tournament will have to get up pretty early for a chance to win $23.00 for first place, down to $5.00 for eleventh. For 500 points, players’ club members can try for a first place $545 share of a $2500 pot.
Free rolls can be a good place for amateur card sharks to change up their play if it isn’t working for them. Tight players can benefit from going “all in” with a high pair and loose players might try a bit more patience. A word to the wise and not so wise, going all in at the beginning of a game, before anyone has any blinds on the table is more likely to earn scorn than chips. It might be better to raise and to coax some extra chips in and then go all in. A raise will hopefully get rid of the riff raff who might beat AA with two pair of low suits. Then, depending on the flop, it might worthwhile to go all in. Just be aware there will be bad beats no matter what a player does. That’s why they call it “gambling”.
Pacific Poker has frequent $50.00 free rolls with a maximum of 500 players. The only cost for these tournaments is time. Empire Poker holds $500 free rolls everyday at 3 p.m. and 12 midnight EST. For 50 “ultimate points” Ultimate Bet players earn a place in a $500 free roll tournament. A recent payout for first place in this tournament was $112.50. Pokerroom.com offers free $500 free rolls, but if a player wins, they must have a certain number of player points (depending on the amount won) before collecting the cash. Absolute Poker rewards new depositors and new registrants with free roll tournaments, which the final 200 players qualify for a “main event” tournament where they compete for cash prizes. Poker Stars has a “weekly round 2” $1000 free roll. Entry to this tournament is awarded to the final three tables in Poker Stars’ daily free roll tourneys. First prize in a recent tournament was nearly $200.00. Not in it for the money? Players can play to qualify for a chance to play in a tournament to win a special edition Full Tilt poker jersey at Full Tilt.
Exploring a favorite online poker room for free roll opportunities can offer rewards of varying value. Golden Palace has a liberal points system with numerous free rolls. For a mere 20 “action points” a player has a chance at a whopping $13.50 for first place and down to .75 for tenth through twenty-seventh. For 4000 points, a player has a chance to win $500 for first, $300 for second, and $200 for third. Not bad for a free roll.
No matter what type of freeroll game or poker room you choose, while the prize itself may not be the most valuable, the experience you will gain is. Freeroll poker will teach the discipline to wait out bad hands, work through a large field of poker players and, if you're lucky, some final table practice. Good luck and enjoy the lemonade!