Floating

Floating – callling with bad cards in order to bluff later – is classed as an advanced move in poker but in reality, it isn’t particularly difficult to learn or pull off. All it takes is timing, a little bravery, and an understanding of how your opponents are playing. You are aiming to exploit continuation bets and weakness, by using position. The following factors, however, must always be taken into account.

POSITION

You should always aim to have position on any player you try and float. It’s not impossible to float out of position but it gets much riskier and more expensive. You either have to fire blind or check- raise on the turn, or wait until the river to fire, after your opponent hopefully shows weakness on the turn. Both choices are extremely risky. Firing blind on the turn can leave you in trouble and waiting for the river gives ample opportunity for your opponent to make a hand.

YOUR CARDS

There’s not much point in looking down at 9?-3? pre-flop and deciding to attempt a float play. It can be done, but why choose junk to play with rather than cards with a real chance of making the best hand. The decision to float only comes when you miss the flop, otherwise you would be calling or raising for value. Your primary goal is to connect with the flop with decent cards. You shouldn’t normally be aiming to float anyone from the moment the cards are dealt.

BOARD TEXTURE

There are good flops to float and bad ones. Let’s say you call pre-flop with A?-5? and the flop comes down Q?-10?-9?. Floating here is not wise as there is a big chance that your opponent has connected with this flop. A flop of 4?-6?-K? means it is less likely that your opponent connected, so you can float here much more safely. The second flop also gives us more outs, which could turn our hand into a very well disguised monster. Ace-high flops are also good for floating as it’s very difficult for an opponent to continue without at least top pair.

OPPONENTS’ PLAYING STYLE

The way our opponents play is a major factor when making any decision in poker but becomes especially important when attempting to float. The following are things we can look at but must be used in conjunction with each other to provide an overall picture about a player’s tendencies.

C-betting frequency: Choosing an opponent with a high c-betting average is probably the most important factor in deciding whether or not to float. If they c-bet over 75% of flops you know that they have missed the flop a large amount of the time. If a player seems weaker and is not c-betting as often (less than 50%) you can assume that when they do bet the flop they have connected a lot of the time.

Pre-flop raising: We are generally looking for somebody that is opening moderately tightly pre-flop as hand- reading can be much easier post-flop if your opponent is only raising with a narrow range. If we float somebody who has a much wider opening range, we have many more hands to consider that may check-call on later streets.

Aggression: We want to be floating players that have average aggression. Too high and we could be lining ourselves up to be fired at again on the turn and river, and too low, we could be check-called. We have to identify players who are willing to give up a pot on the turn after feeling resistance. We don’t want passive players who will often check-call the turn with strong draws or top-pair type hands.

Calling stations/Fish: These guys don’t think about the finer details of the game and play in a very standard fashion. Never try to float these guys as all too often they will call you down with bottom-pair and leave you staring blankly at the screen with your mouth agape.

Bet sizing: Look for patterns. There are players, for example, who will bet half the pot when they flop a strong hand, bet full pot when they flop top pair on a Jack-high board, and bet three quarters of pot when they c-bet after missing the flop.

WHAT IF YOU GET CALLED?

There will be times when your turn bet gets called, but this doesn’t automatically mean that you have lost the hand. You have to weigh up each scenario and choose the best action based on the information available. What is he check-calling with? Is it a very drawy board? Is this player likely to be check-calling top pair? Would he check-call less than top-pair? Is he calling a strong river bet with a marginal hand?

Here are two hand examples from a $ 2/$ 4 no-limit hold’em, six-max cash game. Assume that everyone has between $ 200 and $ 500 stacks.

Player A is tight-aggressive. You have been playing tight poker to this stage. Player A raises to $  14 from under the gun plus one. You call from the cut-off with J?-Q?. Everyone else folds. The flop is K?-9?-7?. Player A bets $ 22 into $ 34 and you call. The turn is the 5?. Player A checks.

In this example, player A’s check is the sign of weakness we’ve been hoping for. He would realistically need a very narrow range of hands to continue. Pocket pairs and flush-draws are unlikely to continue as you make it expensive with your turn bet. Sets and top-pair, top-kicker hands are a possibility but you would expect player A to be betting for value on every street.

The other possibility would be top-pair with a decent kicker. A hand where your opponent may check the turn to keep the pot manageable. This would become more evident if your turn bet was called. So we can now know with some certainty that player A can usually only call or raise a bet on the turn with A-K, K-Q, K-J, and the rest of the time he has nothing, or a draw that has become expensive to chase, or he is trapping. I would bet $ 54 into $ 78 and expect to see a fold. Bet enough to tell player A that you mean business.

We don’t always fail if our turn bet is called. Sometimes we can earn even more in this situation but our read must be very good or we risk losing a substantial pot. Let’s look at an example where player B raises fairly regularly from any position and plays loose-aggressive.

Player B raises to $ 12 from under the gun plus one. You call from the button with A?-Q?. Everyone else folds. The flop is 3?-J?-8?. Player B bets $24 into $30 and you call. Player B checks the 7? turn. You bet $ 52 into $ 78. Player B calls. You have come up against resistance when you try to bluff. The pot is $ 182 and you need to consider your opponent’s range. You know he is very aggressive and would normally bet every street for value with top-pair, good kicker or a set, especially as the board becomes more drawy. His check on the turn is usually a sign of weakness but his call tells us that he’s not completely dead.

We expect player B to have second pair, a pocket pair or a draw. He could of course also be trapping with a made straight. The turn is a good card for us as it gives us the opportunity to represent the straight as well as any strong Jack, over-pair or set. We also still have two over-cards to hit.

Player B checks the 3? river. You now have a decision to make. Player B may have a Jack but is more likely to have a lesser pair or a missed draw. Is player B likely to call here with a marginal hand? Can he call a big bet with top-pair, bad kicker? Would he have put in a stopper bet on the river with a weakish Jack? I would bet $ 130.

SUMMARY

Be selective and pick your spots when floating. Don’t float too often as alert players will soon realise and exploit you. Floating is a situation dependant on evaluating every piece of information about the hand and your opponent. Try floating just once in a while but make sure it is done on your terms and when the chances of success are at their highest.