Disillusioned with freeroll tournies

kevthecelt

anyone else even bother with these anymore? i dont think i will return to them in the near future, the fact that the fitz have now replaced their chips with 'blowaway' ones makes the game seem even worse, the standard of players is terrible and theres alot of insanely bad cards being played, imho i would prefer to pay money in a home tournament and lose than pay no money in a freeroll and lose, without question, you gain no experience at all in those crapshoots, well thats just my €0.02.

Davey Devil

I think the quality of play in the freeroll can get some what frustrating at times, the key is to not let yourself slump to some of the poorer player's depts. Keep it really tight and restrict your buy-ins to make it worthwhile. If your spending over €30, you're playing too loose. If you have a good night where your good hands stand up and you pick your spots, a ticket can be easily won. I've noticed the Sunday night freeroll has a little more quality than Thursday.

I'll be playing the freeroll tomorrow as I love playing in the 250. You can't beat it for value. You can win a ticket for say €20 and then go on to win alot of money in the big tournament, hey it's been done before . Also, poker can get very serious at times if your playing for higher steaks. I enjoy the freeroll because I can get my bad play out of my system and try a few new things which I'd be unwilling to do in a bigger game.

New players can gain some experience of general rules of playing in a casino and how things are done, without the pressure of playing for a load of cash. They can also learn how not to play by observing the carnage around them.

mewso

Not to mention the thursday night freeroll is probably the closest you'll get to practice for the WSOP.

Davey Devil

At first I thought that was funny but your dead right, just hope I get the chance to put all the practice into action someday.

aodh3

To be honest I couldnt agree with Kev more. I haven't had the chance to play with the new chips just yet but the last free roll i had in the fitz was enough to put me off the sunday game comptley. Sitting a table with people openly bitching at each other and then complaining when the go all in with K5 and lose, then of course buying in and starting all over again on the next hand is enough to make you lose you faith in humanity and the god of poker.

Taking out the "winning the ticket aspect" of the free roll i think the business league is a much better proposition for a bit of craic where fair enough the standard of play may not be great ( please take the author as an example of that) but at least there is less agro and the grumpy old man syndrom.

BigDragon

I think freerolls definately have their place. It is excellent experience for new players and experienced players alike. I think that there are many stages in the education of a poker player. When you have gained a bit of knowledge about the value of starting hands and probabilty after the flop etc then the freeroll can feel like a crapshoot.

However the Saturday freeroll last week was very strong and felt more like a Friday 50/50 game. I get the feeling that as your knowledge increases you can learn to play and beat the crapshoot play. The WSOP comparison by Musician is actually something Ive not thought about before but I think is good. Then again Ive never played in it so.....

The chips are a non-point as far as I'm concerned. As long as I have more that you I really don't care if their made of chocolate.

Lafortezza

The last few times I've played the freeroll I've found myself close to losing my temper once or twice.
Don't know if there's ever been a punch up in a fitz tournament, but if there was going to be one I'd say it'd happen in the freeroll.

aodh3

yeah the last game i was at one person was looking through all the mucked cards when he was out of the game. He was called on it and asked to stop by one other player which was then followed by " ive been playing poker for more years than you've been alive" and what not. Turned a friendly if not utterly crap game of poker, sour

Marq

Ah would ye all stop complaining. Eazy money.

mewso

Marq wrote:

Ah would ye all stop complaining. Eazy money.

Well we can't count on you playing every week.

DeVore

*zing!*



DeV.

DapperGent

Nice one.

Marq

musician wrote:

Well we can't count on you playing every week.

Ahem. King Nine.

Davey Devil

I'm well fired for tonights 'roll now, who wants a fight???

As for Aod's comment about the Business League being better well I couldn't disagree more. Personally that has to be the most boring poker I have ever played. Why don't they just all turn their hands over and go call,call,call,check,check,check and let the cards decide because in reality that is how it is played out. It's not uncommon for it to go 10 mins without anyone saying a word. I've seen more life in a cemetery.

aodh3

I undestand Dirkey's comments the tables can be banter-less but sure it doesnt take much to get some level of chat going at the table and sure isnt the playing of the game the real reason we are all there? ( well its the reason my team are there dont think we could be farther from the top.)

Dub13

Anybody play both the Business League and the freerolls...?if so which do you think is a better standard...?

DeVore

jesus that would be hard to say. I think the BL is worse as the freeroll also has a good number of decentish players looking for a ticket to the big one. That said, what I witnessed last night was astounding. Its the only time I've gotten up and left without a rebuy and prior to the freezeout in any tournie I've ever played. If I want to gamble skilllessly I'll play Roulette! Besides I wanted to go for a pint

BTW, they are only using the cheap chips on the night of the big tournie. Last night it was the usual chips for the FR.


DeV.

bohsman

that damn pint :mad: had about 500 chips left marq was heading for a pint so I went all in blind, rivered a flush with J4s went all in blind again and won again, limped in the next hand on the blind flop comes JJ7 theres a bet into me I call he goes all in on the turn I call he has AJ ive KJ rivers a 7 to split it, then I lost a few hands still on the blind before going all in for 1000 and getting 3 callers turns out ive got AQ with 2aces on the board.
Too late for a pint at that stage I decide to play it properly, get moved to table1 and get AQ on the BB theres a raise to 300 and 4 callers so I go all in only to be called by A2s all in for 2000 of course he hits his 2 and im down to 2k so I went all in on the blind with KJs get 2 callers and come 3rd to K10s and A5o who hits a 5 high flush for the main pot and the 10 comes for the side pot

Dub13

I am heading in for the freeroll on Sunday (mite make the Saturday one aswell).Has anybody ever won a ticket and got paid...?if so does it happen often...?

DeVore

Davey Devil has for sure, I think someone else has here...

DeV.

bohsman

I have I was winning a ticket a month while I played it seriously and I came 7th in the big one a while back got fa for it but still it can be done

biteme

Dub13 wrote:

I am heading in for the freeroll on Sunday (mite make the Saturday one aswell).Has anybody ever won a ticket and got paid...?if so does it happen often...?

i've won a ticket and came third in it too, it's possible

the 270 is a great game and really worth playing, even if it's just for the experience of playing at a higher level

Hitman Actual

I don't play the weekly thursday freeroll, just the satellites before the 250... Out of the seven times I've played the 250, only had to pay in three times... and had results of 1, 10, 12, 15 (and the rest middle field finishes), so, yeah, I love the freebie games!

Dub13

Whats does the winner of the 250 get...?

Hitman Actual

Dub13 wrote:

Whats does the winner of the 250 get...?

Depends on the numbers, plus there's usually a lot of deals done at the final table. But ignoring the deal-making, I reckon the winner would get >9K, second >7k, etc, etc,

JuliusFranco

groovy!

how many places get paid at the big un?

accensi0n

around the top 18

Marq

Last month, with 119 runners, top eighteen were paid, and first was a new whopping street great jack dolan banana [snip] 11,000 euros.

MadsL

After the standard of play I saw at the 50/50 last Friday, I'm defo back to the freerolls (especially the Sat afternoon one) for some decent poker. The 50/50 table I was on was absolutely nuts - five way all-ins (including two callers with 'monster' T9o and 65o!!)

Lafortezza

MadsL wrote:

After the standard of play I saw at the 50/50 last Friday, I'm defo back to the freerolls (especially the Sat afternoon one) for some decent poker. The 50/50 table I was on was absolutely nuts - five way all-ins (including two callers with 'monster' T9o and 65o!!)

The €50+€50 friday tournament is still waaaay better than the freerolls for the standard of play. I doubt the T9o and 65o players went on to win any reasonable amount of money in the end. The freerolls have players of every standard playing and most would be of the "less experienced" variety

As Davey said its the best way of getting a cheap ticket into the 250 game.

Hitman Actual

MadsL wrote:

After the standard of play I saw at the 50/50 last Friday, I'm defo back to the freerolls (especially the Sat afternoon one) for some decent poker. The 50/50 table I was on was absolutely nuts - five way all-ins (including two callers with 'monster' T9o and 65o!!)

I'm fairly sure I was at that table, and to be honest the madness was just a freak occurance. The guy to my left was drunk (he smelled a bit like Copper Faced Jacks in the day-time) and he was raising/calling with anything... he said he wanted to get knocked out. But I think he was a bonus to the table, he was an easy target for a double-up (unfortunately when I isolated him with AK against A3, he hits his bloody 3 to all but end my night). Irene and another guy got two big double-ups against him after that.

But one thing I didn't like about Rummy was that he over-celebrated everytime he knocked someone out, like when he made a crazy call with 82s and hit runner-runner 82 to knock out 3 three players. Getting knocked out is bad enough, but you don't need someone cheering in your ear...

The T9o call was made by a normally solid Fitz regular who said he just wanted to go home, and in fairness he was getting 3/1 in a situation where he was no worse than a 2/1 dog.

Anyone know who won this tournament?