A Poker Freeroll is a term used to describe a tournament poker tournament with no entry fee.

A freeroll prize pool, instead of being an accumulation of the entry fees minus a fee for the ‘house’ (the way pay-to-play tournaments are typically constructed), is derived from a donation from the house, sponsorship fees, admission charged to spectators, broadcast rights fees, or any combination of these.

Sometimes a particular cardroom or casino (either traditional or online) will offer a freeroll tournament to frequent players. Invitation-only tournaments are frequently freerolls. Sometimes Freerolls are protected by Freeroll Passwords to restrict registration;

It is not unusual to pay to play in a freeroll feeder tournament that gives you a free entry to another tournament but it is debatable whether these second level tournaments can be called ‘freerolls’. This format is typical of poker freeroll tournaments both on the Internet and in the ‘bricks and mortar’ sites.
Finding Freerolls

For poker freerolls with large prizepools, see our Freerolls section in our Gambling Forum.