In the first part of this article we looked at the players we are likely to face in free rolls, in the second we will examine the tournament stage by stage.  
Early
With the large fields free rolls often attract it can quite daunting to look over a vast sea of players and attempt to navigate your way to the other side. Beating 1,000 players appears far too difficult a task to achieve, so let’s set ourselves something more achievable. let’s try to make it to the last 100 with average chips and take it from there. To decide our first goal we must ascertain the total number of chips in play by either looking at the tournament lobby or by multiplying the number of competitor’s by the starting chip count (1,000 runner X 2,000 chips = 200,000 chips in play). Then we need to decide what percentage of the field we have to beat. In this case we wish to reach the last 100 of a 1,000 runner tournaments we divide our two target (100 runners divided by 1,000 entrants = 10%). Now we have to divide the number of chips in play by 10% (200,000 – 10 + 20,000). So our target is 20,000 approximately the same number of chips we would have to accumulate to win a sit and go, and we win those all the time.  

Middle
We have reached our target chip count of 20,000 and now only 100 players stand in our way. Now our strategy needs to be carefully tailored to the tournament payout structure. Playing the bubble well will be the difference between reaching the end game with a good healthy stack and clinging on for dear life. It is a popular misconception that because of the sometimes relatively small size of the minor places in free rolls correct bubble pressuring tactics will not work. If anything this is the complete opposite, because of the some times huge fields and the large amount of time this causes to be invested a number of players will cling on desperately and there blinds will be ripe for plunder. Be very aware of the players who are trying to pressure the weak around the bubble and play back whenever the opportunity arises. Re-stealing from aggressive players is extremely important to give yourself a shot at the big prize.  

Final Table
Congratulations making the final table of any tournament with this number of participants will always be an accomplishment, but let’s be sure of our goals here. We need to know the exact final table payments structure and set ourselves realistic targets. These targets will always be linked to the chip stack we arrive at the table with. If we arrive short stacked and all the money is in the last three places we will need to play a very aggressive game. If the payout structure is flatter we can concentrate on advancing one place at a time. Either way you have free rolled your way to some free cash so don’t play scared and enjoy your final table experience.

Kevin Stevens is Article Editor for UKpokerinfo and content writer for UKpokernews