The Negative Freeroll in Limit Hold'em

Everyone knows what a freeroll is. A typical example is a so called freeroll tournament. These are tournaments without an entry fee, but with real cash payouts. A freeroll is essentially a situation where you have nothing to lose, but can still win. A negative freeroll then is exactly the opposite, it's a situation where you can only lose, but never win. So, where does such a situation occur in Limit Hold'em?

This scenario typically occurs in a heads-up pot, when you are first to act. You have a decent hand like middle pair with a decent kicker and you suspect your opponent also has a pair, but you don't know what pair. If you check the action to him, he will likely bet top pair and check behind weaker pairs. So, if you check, you will lose one bet if he has a better hand while you win nothing if he has a worse hand. You are essentially giving your opponent a freeroll, he can bet if he has a good hand and check behind if he has a weak hand. This freeroll is negative for you, hence the term "negative freeroll"

The solution is to simply bet out, without knowing whether you have the best hand or not. This way, you lose one bet to a better hand. But you would lose that bet anyway, even if you check and call. Only now, you will win a bet in case you have the best hand, a bet you wouldn't have won if you had checked.

This situation occurs frequently when you are playing against loose-passive players, also knows as calling stations. Calling station usually calls down with any pair, in which case it is hard to know if you have the best hand or not when you have a medium strength hand, like second pair. If you are out of position against such a player with a medium strength hand, you should usually bet every street. You may lose if he accidentally has a better hand but you will win more in the long run by collecting calls from even worse hands.

Of course, if you have second pair and check the action to someone, and you know for certain that he will only bet top pair or better, then you can safely fold any hand worse than top pair. The problem is that even loose-passive players will bet more hands than that when you check to them. Especially if you checked and folded a couple of times in earlier hands. In that case, even loose-passive players will 'adjust' and start betting every hand when you check to them. By check-folding often, you are essentially conditioning them to bluff, which is never a good thing. You want you opponents to be predictable, so you know what their actions mean so can make good decisions.

An Example

Preflop: (10 players) Hero is MP(middle position) with 9h 9c
5 folds, you raise, 1 fold, Button calls, SB folds, BB calls.

Button here is a loose-passive player who calls down with any pair.

Flop: Kc 8d 2h (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bet, Button calls, BB folds.

Turn: 6h (2 players)
Hero bet, Button calls.

River: 3h (2 players)
Hero bet, Button calls.

By not betting the turn and river here, you would be giving your opponent a freeroll. You can easily lose here if your opponent has a king, but since he a calling station, he can easily have a seven, a deuce, a smaller pocket pair or maybe even ace high. If you check the action to him, he will probably bet if he has top pair and check behind if he has a worse hand. By betting yourself, you win money from worse hands (like A7 or 55) which you wouldn't win if you check. If you bet and he raises, then you have an easy fold. A passive opponent is not going to raise here without top pair at least. Against top pair, you have just 2 outs to improve (5% chance) so this would be a very easy fold.

Another example

Preflop: (10 players) Hero is BB with Jh 8d
7 folds, Button calls, SB folds, Hero checks.

Again, the opponent is a loose-passive player who calls down with any pair.

Flop: Qh 8c 5c (2 players)
Hero bets, Button calls.

Turn: 2s (2 players)
Hero bet, Button calls.

River: Kh (2 players)
Hero bet, Button calls.

Again, you could easily lose here if your opponent has a pair of queens, or a pair of eights with a better kicker. Still, you should bet every street to also collect bets in case you have the best hand. He will fold on the river if he was drawing to a flush but you will still collect a bet from a worse hand, maybe even from a hand like Ac 7c. Again, you have an easy fold if he raises.

Conclusion

While this strategy is good when you are facing one or perhaps two loose-passive players, it is less useful against tight and/or aggressive opponents.

Against aggressive opponents, you should frequently call down if you are raised, especially if the board contains many draws. Alternatively, you may want to check and call to induce bluffs from an aggressive opponent.

Against tight opponents, you have less chance to have the best hand. This is because a tight opponent will not call down down with a weak pair. If it's very likely you are behind, then you might be better of just checking and folding. On the other hand, if the board contains many draws and a tight opponent is calling you down, then you can be fairly sure he is drawing. In this case, you should still bet the turn but you may want to check and call the river to induce a bluff.