FreeRoll Tournament vs Online Cash Play

[ChipSnake]

Hi Everyone, As this is my first post on rakeback, greetings to all of you. I just want to express my opinions about what appears to be a difference in the random number gererators between freeroll tourney play and online cash games.
Firstly, in tournament play there seems to be an unusually high frequency of straights, flushes and boats during play. Secondly, the frequent shifting from table to table as the tourney player count shrinks throws off the chance for the patient player to wait at the same seat for the opportunity for good down cards to eventually show up. And lastly, the intial numbers of donkey all-in players that lose quickly and are railed throw off the natural progression of the cards.
Firstly, in cash games without a doubt the frequency of straits, flushes and boat don't appear nearly as often. And one might think this is because fewer players will stay in long enough to see the river. My thought is that in freeroll tourneys the frequency of flops with three community cards of the same suit is so much higher than in cash games. The same goes for boats where the flop yields a set for the tourney player who only needs to fill up the boat. And as for straight I can't believe the number of straights I've flopped during tournament play only to have that seem to never happen in cash games. Secondly, the normal play in a cash game seem to favor the player who is patient for the cards, but that's, in my opinion, soley contigent on whether or not there are a lot of in and out players who too will mess up the natural flow or the cards. And lastly, there is the argument that because it's real money involved there won't be as many donks going into hands with junk but I beg to differ. I have had so many bad beats by players who do just that. It has made me very leary of playing on-line where I can't observe tells from the other players. The only thing I can base my decisions to raise,call or fold are strictly limited to the betting patterns of the other on-line players. And lastly, I heard Greg Raymor say in an interview " a player should be folding about 90% of his dealt hands". That being the rule of thumb I have practiced at on-line cash games has eaten me alive by being blinded out waiting for those so called good hands to appear. And then when they do and I bet I get no action. So a Catch22 situation occurs. I'm compelled to play junk cards frequently or am thought of as a tight player. And I still end up losing more than winning as the rakes and calls eat up my bank. Ultimately my dislike for on-liine play is increasing the more I play. There is one thing to be said in favor of on-line play and that is convenience and cheap entertainment.
Just so you're aware I've been playing since 2002 and I still consider myself a beginner player at poker. The feeling of being intimidated has passed and now I liike to think of my game as having progressed to the level of being a strategist while trying to make good decisions.
To summarize these thoughts I just want to say that without a doubt I don't have a lot of faith in the random number generators used by all the on-line websites as they compare to a shuffled deck of cards.

[MikeKnows]

I have played online poker mostly freerolls at Pokerstars.com and Fulltiltpoker.com and cashed out $50 to date when I should have left it in to build a bigger bankroll . Now I find I will not be playing for a while as the computer I was using had problems with getting a virus or bug that froze the computer up . I was informed by my daughter that it was because the computer had picked up something from one of the poker sites . Fulltiltpoker.com has been mentioned now by 4 or 5 repair companies in my area that they have repaired a lot of computers that had the fulltilt.com program on the computer in question. I had another computer that had problems with freezing up or getting kicked off the site and I got instructions from fulltiltpoker.com tech support on doing a scan of some type and sending them the results. They reviewed the results and told me I needed to get an update of my Active-X file or program .
So in closing this reply ask the website tech support for help if you are having problems and they might be able to help you as they did me . Also don't open emails you don't know who sent it to you. Have an up to date anti-virus program . Windows has a free spyware/malware program called Defender that is supposed to be good but I do not have experience with it .
AVG was a free antivirus program but they are charging if I am not mistaken. See you on the felt in the furture!!

[dew12109]

Firstly, I have FTP, Nordica, Stars, BoDog, and UB on my computer right now, and I do not have viruses. In the past, FTP would cause my AVG to pop up and warn me of a potential problem, but that has gone away since updates have occurred. Next, AVG is still free with the private use only version. If you upgrade to pro or internet security it costs.

To the OP, I'm not sure that I have witnessed what you have. However, I have witnessed people being forced to go all in with drawing hands a lot more in tournament than in cash games due to the nature of the beast. I have seen statistically near the same % of crazy hands in live poker as I have in online poker.
Have you tracked the % of hands you play in cash games? You can't just wait around for AA or KK and only play those hands and still be profitable.
Take a look at this chart Poker Hand Rankings for Texas Hold'em See all the +EV hands? To complicate matters, take a look at this chart http://www.tightpoker.com/hands/ev_position.html
I'm not suggesting you go crazy or anything, but how high of quality of hands are you requiring to enter a pot and from what positions? You don't have to have a premium hand to win a pot.

[wenzec420]

I have never had any problems with any online clients yet. I have observed in my 3 and half years of online play that people online tend to play more loose and play crappier cards then in live play. Its a different story when your reaching in your pocket actually pulling out your cash to buy into a tournament or cash tables where as online its just a click and its real easy to click away and not care. People online tend to try and bluff more until you bust them holding those rag cards and the whole table sees the crap they are playing lol.Everyone has a different opinion but I see more crap being called online and people moving all in on draws more then I see in live play. I can say that I will never depsoit online just because I am a firm beleiver in supporting my local economy and local casinos before I ship my money overseas to some dude I never seen before lol. I play online mainly for practice for the live play I do on weekends. I would rather see my opponents and ther reactions to flops etc. Peoples body movements can tell alot about someones hand. GoodLuck on the felt everyone.

[pokerdog283]

I enjoy both however, when funds get low frerolling is a great help. I enjoy playing freerolls as they pass the time while I am doing work from home!!

[BUILDMO]

A freeroll is definetly a luck draw.
Earn the money and use this to continue the dream.
I like the saying "no deposit required"
Keep on grinding

[indyice]

Just the other day I was playing a .05/.10 table at FTP. I was BB w/ AQ off suit and, after others limp in or fold, I raise to .60 (this was a 6 seat table.) I get one caller and the flop is KJ10 w/ one club (I have no clubs.) I check and he checks (my mistake.) Turn brings 7 and I bet the pot (roughly about $2.00) and he quickly calls. River brings 6 and he checks....I mover all while thinking he may have hit and he did....he had K5. The point is, I flopped a str8 and he hit a flush and this was a cash table, so, just trying to show that this kind of stuff happens there as well.

Take care all!!