Negative Freeroll
Negative Freeroll is a term used mainly in no-limit or pot-limit games and refers to a particular situation where a player, say A, acting first, checks, but is forced to call by another player’s, say B, final bet. This situation occurs when the player A is contemplating going all-in with a weaker hand but decides to check. At such a point, if player B, who already has a stronger hand and is a sure-shot winner, makes the bet which player A calls by going all-in, then player A is said to make a negative freeroll.
A negative freeroll is considered a bad move in poker and leads to a loss of money, usually the entire stack that a player has.
If player A has already made up her/his mind to go all-in in a particular round, and has weaker cards than player B, then it is inevitable that if player B bets and player A calls, that player a will lose all her/his money. However, if player B has a weaker hand, then player A needs to make the all-in bet as a check will allow the weaker player, i.e. player B, to simply check herself/himself.
In a game of Texas Hold’em, let us assume that on the river, the pot is worth $800. Both players, A and B, have $200 remaining in their stack with the board showing 4-6-9-T-Q. If player A has a hand 4-6 whereas player B has a hand T-Q, then player A definitely has the weaker hand although s/he might still be considering an all-in bet due to the two-pairs.
Player B will almost certainly bet to take the win however, it is up to player A to avoid making a negative freeroll bet. But pot odds and a strong hand might make it inevitable for player A to make the call despite holding a lesser hand. In such a case, if A decides to go all-in, then it won’t help her/him as player B will follow suit and then take the pot. However, if A decides to check and pass the betting baton onto B, even then B might place an all-in bet, forcing A to go all-in, and then beat A.
Therefore, player A ends up making a negative freeroll by checking, or betting, on a hand that is weaker than the opponent’s hand, although in itself, it may be otherwise strong enough to be a winning hand in other circumstances.
Negative freeroll is quite a common occurrence in amateur games but making a negative freeroll in a serious tournament is considered foolhardy.
Forrige begrep: Multi-way pot, Neste begrep: No-limit
