Poker negative freeroll
In no limit and pot limit poker games when a player weighs the option of going all-in, and acting first decides to check but for reason of pot odds and his strength of hand, he is forced to call his opponent’s final wager. If the other player has a strong hand, calling his bet will mean the first player will lose all his money. On the other hand if the first player has the stronger hand, then betting would mean the opponent has to put his money in the pot whereas checking will only be responded by the other also by checking. Such a situation is known as negative freeroll. While this situation comes into play often in low stake games where the players are amateurs, in games played for high stakes only a thoroughly inexperienced player will make the mistake of doing a negative freeroll in the final betting round.
An illustration from a game situation can explain the concept of negative freeroll better. Now in a no limit Texas hold ‘em game, during one-to-one play the pot size is $4000 and both players have left $1000 to make their bets and the river round of play is in progress. The board contains the 5, 6 and 9 cards of spades and a 9 and a queen card of clubs. If the player who has chance of first action has the 6 and 9 of diamonds as his hole cards and wants to avoid negative freeroll, he has to make a bet although he stands to lose if his opponent’s hole cards are either 7 and 8 of spades; or a queen pair; or the 9 of hearts and a queen card. The hand which is stronger will invariably bet and the opponent will be forced to call it whereas the lesser hand, if it acted first, would have checked rather than called. Moreover, with only $1000 to bet in a $4000 pot, skilled players won’t be influenced by an opponent, checking as part of bluffing play.
