Freerolling: Tip #3 – Sit Happens Part II – Playing Against Sitters

This is intended to be a series of tips (and observations) on playing freerolls based on my experiences in Project Freeroll. Not everyone will agree with all the tips and observations I have on playing freerolls. Please keep in mind that these are my observations and methods and as such this is more the way I play freerolls than the way everyone should play freerolls. Also please keep in mind that this comes from the perspective of dedicatedly playing freerolls over a long period of time and not from the perspective of playing a small group of freerolls.

The following deals with Full Tilt Poker and the specifics of the Full Tilt Poker software and rules. Not everything will apply to other Poker Rooms.

Tip #3 – Sit Happens Part II – Playing Against Sitters

Now that you have your sitters identified (covered in tip #2), you have to deal with the situations that will present themselves at the table in a freeroll when there are sitters at your table.

One key is to periodical check your information and make sure it is still correct. It is not at all uncommon for a sitter to show up at the table and start playing or for a player to grab some chips and then sit out.

There are two key aspects with the way the Full Tilt software deals with sitters that will affect your play against them.

The first aspect of the way the Full Tilt software deals with sitters is that the software will only force a sitter to fold their hand if they would have to contribute more chips to the pot. Any sitter not in the big blind will be folded. A sitter in the big blind will only be folded if the pot is raised. This of course means that if there are only sitters left to act once it is your turn to act, you should raise the pot and win the blinds and antes.

The second aspect is that the software affords any player (including sitters) all in protection. The software will play out the hand treating the sitter as all-in when their last chips are going in the pot.

Now, how do you deal with sitters? Well actually, that part is easy. You steal their blinds. The challenge is actually in dealing with the active players at your table and how they will adjust their play due to the sitters at the table.

I am a firm believer in the KISS method of poker player. K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid.

Applying that to this situation simply means – play your game as you would play it at any other time only making the basic adjustments.

If there are a limited number of active players at the table and they seem to be willing to avoid confrontation and simply steal the blinds and antes of the sitters, this my preferred way to build a chip stack.

If the other players don’t seem to want to blind out the sitters, I simply play poker and adjust for the number of players at the table. If there are 4 sitters, that then means there are 5 active players. I break out my 5-handed game the same way I would if I were in the final 5 in a SNG or the final 5 at the final table. This means you will open up your starting hand requirement and play more hands. This also means that you will deal with a maniac player in the same manner you would always deal with a maniac player; wait for the right hand and then try to bust them.

Now this means that you may be taking some risks earlier in tournaments that you would if there weren’t sitters present. But, this also means you’ll be building a chip stack earlier in the tournament than if there weren’t sitters present.

And I really do try to keep it that simple.

1) Stay aware of sitters
2) Be sure not to fold to sitters
3) Adjust to the number of active players at your table

I hope that helps some folks deal with the sitter “problem.”