Imagine a gambling scenario like this: If you win, you win real money. If you lose, you lose … nothing at all. Sounds like paradise, right? Perhaps it even sounds too good to be true, but it’s not. It actually happens every day in online poker freerolls.
What Is a Poker Freeroll?
A poker freeroll is a poker tournament characterized by two very important features:
- The tournament buy-in is zero dollars and zero cents. In other words, it is free to join.
- The winners of the tournament receive real money prizes.
That is the essence of the freeroll poker tournament: free to enter, nothing to lose, real money to win. And it never hurts to remind yourself that yes, it might sound utopian, but it really exists right here in the real world.
Poker Freerolls: Online and Off
The poker freeroll is not a modern invention—it actually existed before the internet was even invented—but it has been updated and modified to adapt to modern technological advances. Today, you can find poker freerolls in online poker rooms as well as in traditional brick-and-mortar cardrooms and casinos.
With regard to brick-and-mortar freerolls, of course, you have to ask yourself: how free is this freeroll? True, the tournament itself is free, but there are transportation costs in getting to the casino and, if the casino is far from your home, there can be considerable food and lodging costs as well. So that’s something to think about.
Online poker freerolls, on the other hand, are genuinely free. The cost of transporting yourself from your bedroom to your living room: Free! The cost of grabbing a snack from your refrigerator: Free! The cost of sleeping in your own bed: Free! Yes, when you play poker online, a freeroll is really a free roll. In fact, an online poker freeroll is one of the few places on Earth where it is actually possible to really get something for nothing.
But Why Is It Called a “Freeroll”?
You might expect that a free poker tournament would be called a “freepoker” or a “freetournament.” So why is it called a “freeroll”? Well, the etymologists tell us that back in the 1950s, the hotels in Las Vegas would give every guest a free roll of nickels to get them started on the slot machines.
Over time, “free roll of nickels” became shortened to “free roll” and then to “freeroll,” as in “Welcome to XYZ Hotel and here is your room key and here is your freeroll.” And then, over even more time, the use of “freeroll” spread from free slot machines to other free casino games and, specifically, to free poker tournaments. And that is how language develops.
Freeroll Tournaments at Everygame Poker
Joining a freeroll is a great way to play poker online, and Everygame is a great site for online poker freerolls. Here is a look at some of the freeroll tournaments on offer at Everygame Poker:
$25 Daily Workhorse
Held twice a day, every weekday, Monday to Friday. Six prizes are awarded in every tournament:
- First Place: $11.25
- Second Place: $7.50
- Third Place: $6.25
- Fourth through Sixth Places: A free ticket to the $100 GTD Just One Dollar tournament
$50 Weekend Warrior
Held once a week, on Saturday evening. Eight prizes adding up to a total fifty-dollar prize pool are awarded in every tournament.
$1000 Depositor Freeroll
Held once a month, during the first week of the month, this $1000 Freeroll is an extra bonus for Everygame members who made a deposit during the previous month. Thus, if you make a deposit in January, you will be invited to participate in the February $1000 Depositor Freeroll, and so on.
The total prize pool is always $1000, but the exact distribution of prizes depends on the number of players. For example, if 500 players participate in the tournament, then 78 prizes will be awarded, as follows:
- 1st Place: $187.50
- 2nd Place: $130.00
- 3rd Place: $99.00
- 4th through 62nd Places: prizes gradually diminishing from $74.50 to $4.00
- 63rd through 78th Places: $3.50
Nothing to Lose, Real Money to Win
So come test your luck and your poker skills at an Everygame online poker freeroll. Remember, you have nothing to lose, and real money to win. Have fun, and good luck!