From Freeroller to successful buy in player

Brian Wills · Last edited by Brian Wills on Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:33 am; edited 1 time in total

The success of this forum & its concept is reliant upon making you a better player.

The membership here has an investment in all of you. If you have used our links to download a poker room then we as a membership would like to thank you.
The next step is to make you a better player, so that you can play at a good level & produce revenue (from the poker room rake) for the freeroll pot. So this responsibility to make you a better poker player belongs to the whole group

Have you ever wondered what it takes to make that transition?

Well in all honesty it just takes knowledge, a little nerve & practice.

All the knowledge you need is here at this forum & on my website. Spend an hour or two reading through this strategy forum, try to take it all in. Then read all of My Rules Of Poker at our main site here My Rules Of Poker . Then read it all again & maybe again, until it sinks in. Then ask any questions you may feel need to be answered. We will help you out

Play solid aggressive poker, start playing in low buy-in tourneys, then progress from there. Never play a tourney that you cant afford, treat your buy-in as spent money, you are paying for entertainment. This will allow you to hold your nerve & play with freedom, you should never ever play scared

Practice to improve your game, learn from your mistakes & lock the information away for the next tourney. Don't just play one tourney after another without learning something. Spend time watching late stages of tourneys & final tables, then use this information to analyse your own game.

& remember that there is a difference between freeroll poker & the real thing. Freeroll poker is generally just an all-in donk fest

For this reason we created the MLP Freeroll League. Players must try to play their best poker in these games, if not they will be excluded.
This gives you a great opportunity to play real poker for FREE. & maybe also help your bankroll along with some $prize money

Read more about our various leagues here APF League Information

Anyone else have anything to add to this

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skcuSegreM

harry_lime

Know-nuffin · Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 3:19 pm Post subject:

It is worth while checking out the My-rules-of-Poker resource page.

I may not have agreed with everything written there, but at least understood the angle and intention. If nothing else, it may save me money in time to come. Free advice is usually good.

It has added to my thinking about the game

, although I can't guarantee that I won't still make Donk calls, and 'river' you.

Personally, I found it a refreshing change to have free advice that didn't begin,

"Dear Know-nuffin, why don't you shove......"
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Know-nuffin.... "nurse, he's out of bed again"

cerberi · Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:41 pm Post subject:

ive won 14 tourneys so far my biggest being $5.50 buy in and for some reason i cant bring myself to enter bigger tourneys.
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"Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped."

stepgen · Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 3:23 pm Post subject:

AnteSocial · Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 10:05 pm Post subject:

My path to becoming a real money player started about 2 years ago with $4 freeroll winnings on AP, with that $4 I played $0.60 sng tournaments, grinding away with my puney little bankroll, I diciplined myself alot with that money. I'd get my roll up and up, then buy into larger tournaments just to go almost broke. Back to $0.60 sng's, my bankroll went up and down so much with me learning something new every day. I finally went completely bust after about a year and a half (which didnt cost me a cent). It was then that I was confident making my first deposit.

There is no reason to be ashamed of playing for pennies because in order to learn, chances are you are going to have to lose. I say this because a friend of mine who plays in my regular weekly home game, recently purchased a computer. In his first week of playing $50 sng's he is now $900 down. If he had only put his ego aside and played $0.50 tournaments he would, theoretically, be down only $9.

Brian, you are an inspiration and I thank you for your contribution to the online poker community.

Know-nuffin · Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 6:39 pm Post subject:

Well put AnteSocial, and fully agree with your learning path. Why lose your money if you can play with someone else's.

I see no shame in playing for pennies, or kudos in playing for thousands.

A well played and enjoyable game is as much fun as it needs to be. Any money for me is a bonus. I enjoyed the win in the Sept top ten, more for the well played game, than the $25 won.

Oh, and was chuffed to become a member of the, 'Heads up Harry Bashing Brigade'.

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Know-nuffin.... "nurse, he's out of bed again"

tricky94 · Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:52 am Post subject: input

great advice from all of you something i can really use in the future providing i can bring in some money

pepe · Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 1:52 pm Post subject:

i play poker for almost 2 years and in the beginning i play only freerolls

after my skill got better i play also some ring tables but smaller ones

now i play mostly buy-ins because there are more realistic and sit-n-go tournys

i hope i can win some big prizes in the near future like more then 300 $ to win a tourny

good luck to all

jsaw · Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 8:12 pm Post subject:

Like to hear all the success stories, I started playing for fun then realized what a freeroll was. The key to successful gambling online - is to never use your own money. I started on Prima and other sites and quickly learned my winnings were really not winnings. I read a postt by Charterboss who suggested never playing in a freeroll unless you had deposited on the site. This was sage advice. I built a bankroll at Poker.com (virtually no clearance requirement) and now only play on the 20 odd sites where I have deposited. The key again is not to use your own money, use others.

rambojr03 · Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:37 pm Post subject:

rambojr03 · Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:44 pm Post subject:

One other thing I forgot to mention. And it may very well be the most important thing I always do to ensure myself a profit at every site I play at.

If for example, I make a deposit of $50 at a new site, and play a few private tournaments or some low level ring games, my first objective above everything else is to build up my bankroll at that site enough to withdraw my initial deposit back out (in this case $50). I'll leave myself $20 or $30 to play with, and know that if worse case scenario I lose the $20 or $30, that I got my initial deposit back, and didn't lose any money overall. More times than not, however, I'll end up turning that $20 or $30 into hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Each time I get that $20 or $30 up to $75 or $100, I'll make another withdrawal (generally the minimum amount allowed- $10 at Poker.com for example or $25 at Wingows) and continue taking the same approach until I cash out again.

What may have started out as an initial $50 deposit at VP247 has turned into $500 or $1000 in two or three months time. Be disciplined with your money, and make sure to reward yourself for your efforts.

Arjonius · Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2007 6:35 pm Post subject:

katymaty · Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 6:42 pm Post subject:

Freerolls are totally different to money games, when I first started playing there used to be some great freerolls around with easy money to be earned.

Nowadays with the growing number of players the only freerolls worth playing are the ones that forums like this promote, where you can play against friendly (mostly) people with lower turnouts instead of some which have over 10,000 players where you play for hours for about 20cents if you are lucky.

When you eventually play money games only gamble with money you can afford to lose. Build a bankroll with freerolls and low buyins then play at a level that suits you.

Id say never enter a buyin thats over 5% of your bankroll sometimes lower that way unles you go on a really unlucky streak your bankroll should last, and if you are on a bad streak build it back up again with the freerolls and low buyins.

After all 99% of players will never make a living its just the pocket money and pays for the nappies lol

MisterJay2 · Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 4:41 am Post subject:

I must admit the strategy that all of you use in building your bankroll is very sound....myself I yo yo too much regarding my bankroll...I do well in freerolls or 2-5.00 buy ins fairly consistently..then I take a stab at a 20.00 w/rebuy tourny and back down I go...The 5% of bankroll theory I like as well..I appreciate you all posting so I can learn from your experiences and will implement them asap....Peace

Mad4Cards · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 12:01 am Post subject:

I played in the deepstack on .com a couple of weeks ago.... I hummed and hawed for 20 minutes and bought in with 2 minutes till registration closed so I couldn't chicken out. I could afford the buy-in of $109 but it was the most I'd ever paid for a tourney. I spent the first 10-15 minutes folding everything! Then I pulled myself together and started to play very tightly, after another 15 minutes I was still on pretty much my original stack and the blinds were climbing. I won a couple of hands and looked round the table.... they were playing tighter than I was! That's when my natural game kicked in and I forgot about the cost of playing it. I had a ball and finished second after getting donked heads up with AA. that one tournament taught me more than i'd learned in months and was the best $100 I ever spent even if I hadn't cashed. Fear is the thing that will lose you the most money.

Know-nuffin · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 8:59 pm Post subject:

Well played Mad'.

I haven't yet had the guts or the bankroll to buy into a $100 game, but I like to think when/if I do, I will see it as dead money, and the only way to revive it is to play my natural game....

well.... not quite my natural... I want to cut out all my donk calling and play a good game at least.

Well played on the 2nd place.

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Know-nuffin.... "nurse, he's out of bed again"

tomy2005 · Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 3:56 pm Post subject:

1 year ago was playing only freerols ad there is a miracle to resist 1 hour
now i play buyins and the biger the buyin is the beter the players.

NateTrib · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:57 pm Post subject:

Alright where do I begin. Like a lot of you, I found MLP because I saw a freeroll they were hosting at a poker site. Well I came here to get the password so I could play, but I wasn't a happy camper when I came to the site. What's this? You have to be a contributing member to play in your tourneys?

So I made 10 quick post and applied so I could have the password, but Harry politely explained that I need to give 10 "quality post" in order to be accepted. Before now I've pretty much been a freeroll whore, trying to play in every private freeroll I could get my hands on. But MLP persuaded me to start being a contributing member here. After I started posting I realized how great this poker forum is! I got hooked! I started becoming a contributing member and this is where I really started to realize that the strategy to poker is way more in depth that what it appears.

The very first thing I ever read on poker strategy was My Rules Of Poker by yours truly Brian Wills. This article really opened my eyes. I started posting in the strategy forum asking for advice. And I saw my game slowly improve. I have to give a shout out to harry_lime, who gave his great insight on every strategy thread I made, and also gave me a lot of tips through PM's.

So this is a big thank you to MLP! I know for a fact I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for this forum. You can make fun of me, but I've had dreams of winning some huge event, and giving a shout out to My-Local-Poker for beginning my poker journey! I came as a freeroller and stand here today with over 12k in profits in online poker and with dreams and aspirations to continue to learn and get better and hopefully some day make this beautiful game my career!

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It’s a Bird, It’s a Plain, It’s The Come Back Kid!

PoolDemon · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:08 am Post subject:

no ones going to "make fun of you" for posting that Nate, someday when your old enough, we'll toast a beer over the internet to your success

no matter what your into, a good forum always helps you get better, & here I see a lot of knowledgable posts that would help out anyones game, it's nice to see you apply all those freely given thoughts & turn into such a quality player...
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never do card tricks for the group you play poker with...

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Arjonius · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 11:38 pm Post subject:

I heartily second the sentiment behind Nate's post. When you find a good forum, you will get back more from it than you put in. The key is to find some that fit you, your personality and where you are with your game.

unclefester420 · Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 4:37 am Post subject:

i always seem to gettted the worst of freerolls, i raise from postin pocket aces dude reraeses all in 2 call as well as me, and they got like 25 j3 29 all off and 1 manages 2 sux out hard core...........its so frustrating to play freerolls and actually play some good poker only to be suxed out on by guy who called a preflop raise that was 4x bb with 62 and hit 62 flop.....how long do i have to be member before i am allowed to particapate in this freeroll league?

muratore · Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 6:01 am Post subject:

unclefester420 · Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 10:03 am Post subject:

unfortunatly i was layed off last week....by my own dmn brother in law...... moneys tight, new car like 2 months ago prolly gonna sell it, and he charges me rent for my room in his basement .....................................................................................................................................at least the aholes got wifi

Hrobakca · Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 2:00 pm Post subject:

Thats the biggest problem with freerolls everyone plays them and the play like asstrouts. Oh, to define a asstrout the combination of a Donkey and a Fish..

wooo · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:43 am Post subject:

I myself started with $0
Played a lot of freerolls
Won lots of money
Lost all of it
Had to over 4 times freerolling from $0
Then i read about bankroll management
I now only play 1% or less of my bankroll on any one buyin
I now mainly play $10 sngs and my bankroll is over $1600
Never have i made a deposit
After reading the above i hope i can cash out
Fingers crossed
What i have found is that bankroll management is very important if you want to win in the long run
Becos i only play 1% at a time i can have some rather big losing runs and figth my back to profit again
I strongely recomend it

Cabelera · Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 7:38 pm Post subject:

DangerMouse · Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 9:02 pm Post subject:

It`s true that 1% is very tight bankroll management. Then again varience is huge in MTTs especially if you`re playing against large fields.

It`s a figure I stuck to for a long time and I never came close to going broke. If you have a relatively small bankroll and don`t want to deposit it`s the figure I`d recommend to novice players. When you have more experience you can increase to 2-3% but only when you have a proven track record.
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