Freerolls

Freerolls sound like a good idea, dont they? Well the reality is vastly different. What happened to me was I joined one like many new players do. I figured a Scandinavian only freeroll wouldn't be a gargantuan undertaking and I'd have a good chance of finishing in the money. Well I did finish in the money, but it came with a 3-4 hour commitment I now regret. Had I not had some catching up to do with Lost, I'd probably have given up mid way and found something better to do with my time.

I found myself advancing in the tournament by mostly luck, I won a lot of head to head situations even when I shouldn't have had. I just didn't have the commitment in me to try to build reads on my opponents with the random nature of freerolls and constantly moving tables. Late at night, after multiple hours of playing, I finally made it through the bubble. Even with coming 26th out of about a thousand I had only gotten 2$ worth of bankroll and learnt nearly nothing.

My point is while freerolls seem like a good idea, they often do not help your game at all. At best you're going to end up with the top dogs and admittedly people will start paying attention to their game if they are nearing the money. Even with this in mind I think its very fortunate of one to ever reach that stage, because many people will force coin flip situations in the middle and early game with random cards. One can waste away hours, get a few pots and end up busting out without any profit both in money and worthy game experience. This is what makes a freerolls a premium waste of time.

I think the only situations where freerolls are profitable and fun are when testing out the software before putting down a deposit (some sites let you join freerolls without one), trying to prove a point with a challenge like some pro players do or if you can manage to find one pretty exclusive one with good prices and proportionally few opponents. Otherwise, stay away from these games.