Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 8, 2026

Negative freeroll

Negative freeroll is a colloquialism when the only two outcomes of a situation are neutral, or negative; contrasted with a freeroll, where the only two outcomes are neutral or positive.

Last revised
Jul 8, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
145 w
Citations
3
Source
Wikipedia ↗

Negative freeroll is a colloquialism when the only two outcomes of a situation are neutral, or negative; contrasted with a freeroll, where the only two outcomes are neutral or positive.1

The phrase is most commonly used in poker, when a player places an all-in wager on a hand that can only either tie or lose.2 A negative freeroll is relatively common in low stakes amateur play, but in higher stakes play, it is considered a serious blunder to allow a negative freeroll on the final round of betting due to the amount of risk involved.3

References

References

  1. Vinson, Wayne (2007-07-30). "Gambling Wisdom: Freerolls". CardSharp. Retrieved 2026-07-03.
  2. Harrington, Dan; Robertie, Bill (2006). Harrington on Hold'em: Expert Strategy for No-Limit Tournaments, Volume III: The Workbook. Two Plus Two Publishing. pp. 41–56. ISBN 1-880685-36-1.
  3. Chantler, Gareth (2015-10-22). "Obsessed With Your "All-in EV"? It's a Negative Freeroll". PokerNews. Retrieved 2026-07-03.