Typically these are clearly defined in the datasheet for the chip along with the value of the pull-up or pull-down internal resistor but it's not for the ESP8266. The problem with not adding external resistors is that if the internal resistors are very weak than noise could induce a false change in level and reset or disable the chip.
When a chip first boots it is common for them to read the state of pins and based on that state it will change how it boots. After the chip boots the pins can then be used as standard GPIO pins. The "problem" I see with the ESP8266 is that to come out of deep sleep it issues a reset so the state of the pins will be read again so if your application is using that pin for something and has changed the state of the pin you'll have problems booting.
Maybe in the future the deep sleep command will change and this won't be true, I don't believe it is on other devices but I've never played too much with deep sleep on chips.