General Strategy for Online No-Limit Texas Hold 'em Freeroll Tournaments: Surviving to the Top Ten or Whatever You're Aiming For

By far, No-Limit Texas Hold-em Tournaments seem to be the most popular freeroll games available on various online poker sites. The obvious advantage to playing one of these games is that you don't have to fork over money to win money. The hard part is there are usually thousands of others competing against you. But, if you play smart, you have a good chance of getting a portion of that loot!

First of all: If you don't have any money to buy more chips, I would advise against joining a tournament with 're-buys or add-ons', which allow you to buy more chips if you run out, or more during the first break. If you don't plan on using these, you may be at a disadvantage against players that do.

Now, if you're familiar with regular table games of Hold 'em, you should know that tournaments (particularly freeroll tournaments) are a little different. Although having the most chips is still a good objective, you need to mainly ensure your survival till the end of the tournament, generally till you're in the pay tables. What this means is: You will generally want to hold back at the beginning of the tournament. That means lots of folding. Online freeroll players can be very reckless, especially at the beginning of a tournament, and theres no telling if they have nothing or aces, so its best to wait for them to die off. An aggressive freeroller will call your bluff at the beginning of a tournament.

Generally, really depending on the tournament, things level out by the first break, or definitely by the time you start paying antes, assuming the blind levels go up regularly. You should be able to bet more, but try to make sure you have something. The key is surviving, making back the chips to pay on the blinds, and waiting for the aggressive players to die off.

One last note: If the gambling site/program allows it, try and keep an eye on the average number of chips players have, and try and not to fall too far below that. While you want to be cautious, you do want to stay competitive.

Hopefully this helps improve your game!