What does Freeroll mean in poker?

A freeroll has two meanings in gambling. Most commonly it is a poker tournament with no entry fee but real money or prizes to be won, used by sites as a recruitment tool to let new players win without depositing. In a cash-game context, a freeroll is a situation where one all-in player cannot lose — they already hold at least a tie for the best hand, with a redraw to win outright — while the other still has chips at risk. Worked example: a site runs a £100 freeroll with 1,000 entrants and no buy-in. It is pure value in that nothing is staked, but the field is huge and the prize spread thin, so each entrant's expected share is only about £0.10 before any skill edge. The cash-game sense is different: you and an opponent both make the same nut straight on the turn, but you also hold two cards to a flush. You can only win or chop — never lose — so you are freerolling for the flush. Freerolls matter because the tournament kind offers genuinely risk-free upside, while the cash kind is a position of total safety with added upside. The common mistake is pouring hours into low-value freerolls whose expected return barely justifies the time, or loosely calling any cheap tournament a freeroll. See also All-In, Equity and Bankroll.