Free Roll problems and Chance?!?!?!?!?

This weekend is the first annual Canadian Poker Expo and looks to be a great event. Many companies have made the trip including Full Tilt, BetFair, and Everest. Shodown will have a booth there as well. There are two MONSTER free rolls with great prizes! There is a heads up event that will give away a trip to Las Vegas to play in next years WSOP in a small NL event and another tournament with great prizes and package's similar.

Now this would be awesome to win, but free rolls are so hard to win, why? Well there are many reasons. Brreak them down like this: Player experience, Pride, Time, and Field.

Player experience:

Free rolls attract many players who never have been to a casino or even played the game. Very difficult to play against someone who doesn't know there hand or it's very easy if your running well. But reads and respect is out the window in most cases.

Pride:

This is the most important factor of all. People will play looser and will not care as much in the earlier parts of a tourney. They say " I busted, but it was a free roll, so who cares!" and don't take a hit to their pride by busting out of the tourney early. No one wants to lose a tournament that they payed money to go in, so busting in a free roll doesn't affect their self confidence or pride, so they may play much better with no risk, or much worse and care free.

Time:

Players may have to be somewhere and have not planned on going deep. So they may play reckless to try to get rid of their chips or to get a large enough stack that they can justify playing for a while.

Field:

Field size can ware on a players mind if they have nothing invested and they know only a couple players will take something home. They may again play reckless and want to go quick. Tons of action!

So the question you must ask yourself is: Is this Freeroll worth the let down?

Well that is something only you can answer. So dig deep and play your best and always be wary of how someone is acting at the table. Ask questions, probe their focus and play accordingly.

Hope to see everyone at the Expo and in the free rolls. Look for Shodown Regional Team members and friends wearing SHODOWN in the tournaments!

SHODOWN