Freerollin'

I rarely play in freerolls. It's just too hard to finish in the money with so many people playing and only a couple dozen cashing.

But that's how this whole journey started, isn't it? I only played in the PKR freeroll to do some research about the site so I could write about it. And now I'm trying to start with nothing and end up with the entry fee for the World Series of Poker.

So in the spirit of this project, I’ve decided to see just what I can do if I devote myself to freerolls to build an online poker bankroll. To make things interesting, I will be playing in as many freerolls as I can for seven days a week.

The first step in this process was figuring out what types of freerolls are out there. Some poker rooms require a deposit in order to play. Others allow anyone to participate, regardless of whether they've made a deposit or not. I decided to only play at sites where they allow anyone to play.

Surprisingly, there are several very good options for players who want to take a shot at cashing without making a deposit.

Full Tilt: Offers nine daily freerolls with a $100 prize pool. The top 27 players earn at least $2, with the winner taking home $15. Most are No Limit Hold'em, but they also offer Razz, Pot Limit Omaha and H.O.R.S.E. Field is capped at 1,800 players.

Poker.com: Offers a freeroll with a $50 prize pool every two hours. The top 10 players win cash, with the winner taking home $15. The site offers the best Hold'em variety, with No Limit, Pot Limit and Shorthanded tournaments along with two Pot Limit Omaha tournaments. Field capped at 1,500 players. Poker.com also offers sit-n-go freerolls with its Fun Step promotion. Players who win the third Fun Step win $1.

Absolute Poker: Far and away the best variety of freerolls with over a dozen $50 prize-pool tournaments. The top 18 players win money with the winner claiming $10. Absolute Poker offers freeroll tournaments in Limit and No Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, Seven Card Stud and Stud Hi/Lo. Two of these tournaments offer rebuys and add-ons, but the entry fee is free.

e-Poker USA: Offers six $10 prize pool duplicate poker freerolls daily (more information on duplicate poker). e-Poker USA also offers four daily freerolls qualifiers to a weekly $350 prize pool tournament.

I plan on playing as many of these tournaments as I can. If I win money in these tournaments, I’ll use that money to play in cash games. And I'll continue to try to build the bankroll from freeroll winnings as well.

The official over/under in the office for my weeklong adventure is $10.

Come on back for updates. I'm keeping a running log of my results.