Every day, on every poker server, it is the same: Thousands of people register hourly for any type of freeroll that they can find. You see them: 10,000 person freerolls that pay $50 between top 20 places or such. Sometimes, they get “lucky” and find 2000 person freerolls that may pay $100 between top 30. People play for hours on end trying to earn a couple pennies.
Some of these players “get smart” (or so they think) and find private freerolls, which usually split $50 over the top 10, and only have approximately 200 players. And I use only very loosely.
So, by spending 3-4 hours, you can walk away with a whopping…$12. Let us break that down, and compare it with regular jobs.
$12 over 4 hours IF YOU WIN. That is a maximum profit of $3/hour. And that is only if you win. Now, 2nd place is often approximately half of first, giving you a massive $6, or $1.50/hour, for you will play the exact amount of time as the winner. 3rd and 4th is so miniscule that we will not even discuss it.
This is not saying that playing freerolls is bad. I have known people that have taken this $12 of freeroll winnings over $800. How, you ask? BY PLAYING BUYINS.
By risking an amount as minimal as $1, you play for an exponentially larger sum of money. You will be playing against the same amount of people, for the same amount of time, for more money. If everyone pays $1, and there are the same 200 players, which is a $200 prize pool, which lasts approximately 3-4 hours max. So, by risking just $1 (of freeroll winnings even) you get a chance at 4x the original prize pool.
There are two special areas of buyins that make playing them even better. These would be tournaments with guaranteed prize pools and tournaments with money added.
Guaranteed pools- Poker servers will guarantee a large sum of money to attract more players. However, rather often, the number of players needed to make the site come out even doesn’t arrive. So, for a $1 buyin, $300 guaranteed, 300 people are needed. If the assumed 200 people play, that is an extra $100 to the pool, free. So, for that dollar, you are getting 6x the original prize pool.
Now, the most profitable buyin of all: Money added tournaments. These are put up by various forums (chipsahoy.net has numerous, visit the freeroll section (I am sure you already have) for more information) in which money is added to the prize pool. So, $3 buyin, which MAY attract 20 people, will have $85 dollars in the pool, and there are only 20 people to play through to get about $40 dollars. Forums hold these to get increased membership. I personally found a $2 buyin with $50 added, AND ONLY 6 PEOPLE REGISTERED. That paid me $42 for my win, with only $2 at risk.
Recap of what has been said: Freerolls are fine in their own right, but the real money is to be found in buyins. If you do earn $ in freerolls, don’t sit on it, waiting for another to be found. Hop right in a guaranteed prize pool or money added tournament and get to earning the real money.
