Free Online Poker Tips - Stuff to Know

Free online poker can come in a variety of forms: play money tables, different types of freerolls, free poker bankrolls.

Playing for free these days doesn’t mean you have to be stuck on the play money tables. Regardless of that though, let’s see what benefits play-money tables can provide you as far as learning goes, and whether they have any sort of value in them at all. As a training tool, play money tables are valuable for utter beginners, those who never really had anything to do with any form of online poker. Play money tables can teach these guys how to use the interface, as well as the rules and basic mechanics of the game. As a more advanced learning tool though, play money action fails miserably. It is not going to teach you a single thing strategy-wise, and instead of making it clear for you what this game is all about, it only confuses you. Do not spend any more time than absolutely necessary on play money tables, not only are they not going to provide any advanced guidance, they’re going to make your subsequent development as a poker player more difficult.
 
Is there any financial value in them? In 99,9% of the cases there is none whatsoever. That’s just one more reason for you to move on to real money as soon as you can. You need to know however, that some online poker rooms will give you FPPs (frequent player points) for play-money action (usually about 1FPP/hour of play). These FPPs are just like real money, they can be used to purchase merchandize from the site in question, they can be used for buy-ins and they can even be cashed out. In this respect, play money action does provide some financial benefits, but nothing to write home about.

Freerolls are an altogether different matter. Freerolls are usually large-scale MTTs with hundreds and thousands of players taking part in them, which do not require any sort of buy-ins. Some freerolls require passwords, tickets, or special invitations, but there are freerolls which are completely free, and anyone with an account at the poker room offering them (it doesn’t even have to be a real money account), can access them. Even though the competition present at such freerolls will be overwhelming most of the time, and thus will take away a lot of the value, for a good MTT player, these tourneys will still provide a good source of bankroll-building cash. In a recent experiment at a renowned online poker room, professional player Chris Ferguson proved that it was entirely possible to start a bankroll playing freerolls, and to eventually build it up taking part in paid online events. 
 
Another way to enjoy free online poker for real money is offered by the free bankrolls some sites give their new players. While these bankrolls are not much more than $10-50, which you won’t even be able to cash out until you’ve fulfilled the rake requirements, they still provide a great and cost free start for a skilled poker player. Take the money given to you, and start playing in small-buy-in STTs.

STTs have several advantages over MTTs and thus they provide much more value for a player getting by on a very limited bankroll. Forget the cash tables until you have at least multiplied your initial stack ten-fold. MTTs will suck your bankroll dry, because they take rake on every single hand played. In a STT, you only pay a tournament entry fee, which is a set amount of money (usually about 10% of the buy-in), regardless of how many hands it’ll take you to make money in them.
 
Free bankroll accounts usually come without the benefits of a sturdy rakeback deal, so you’ll have to live with the fact that you’re exposed on that level. Cashing out and moving to a different poker room on a different rakeback account is always an option though. Always make sure you take advantage of edges like rakeback and good sign-up bonuses. Poker is after all, a game of small edges put to work time and time again.