Floating is a play that is commonly used in a number of situations that will occur throughout the course of a poker session. The main reason to float is to pick up a pot at a later point in the hand by betting. The best time to float is when you are in position, and can either read weakness in your opponent or you can put your opponent on a hand with ease.
If you find these spots more frequently it means that you are playing position at a poker table correct, and you should utilize that position to float hands and win more pots.
When should I Float?
You should be floating your weak-tight opponents when in position and in control.
The best time to float is when you are playing against opponents who shut down after firing one bet at the pot. Most commonly this means that you should look for a weak-tight opponent who plays a smaller range of hands. When you can spot this opponent at a poker table, you can use it to your advantage by playing more pots with them. These opponents either shut down when they miss, or fire their whole stack at a pot when they get there. It will be very evident by the turn which of these two it is. Simply playing pots with these opponents will allow you to win a great deal of uncontested pots.
The other time to float in a hand, however, more complex, is strictly when your opponent is playing a pot out of position. Position is the most important and most overlooked aspect of a poker game. When you have position on your opponent, you should be able to win more hands then your opponent simply by floating a street and then betting the following street when checked to.
If you look at position mainly, you will understand why and when you can float and win hands without showing them down. If you can win pots without showing your hand, you will then gain wonder in your opponents, and can take control of a table. If you can take control of a table, this means you are floating in the correct spots.
What hands should I float with?
You should be floating with weak drawing hands and small pocket pairs.
 The best hands to float with are weak drawing hands, and small pocket pairs with a low unconnected board. The reason you almost never want to float with completely nothing is because then you are strictly bluffing as opposed to semi-bluffing.
When you float with a weak drawing hand, you are calling a bet almost certainly based on giving yourself the chance to bet on the following street. If you check instead of bet on the following street, you are showing that you are on a draw and you could wipe your whole float out of play. Also, you show too much weakness by checking, and your opponent can more accurately put you on a weaker hand.
Small pocket pairs are tricky hands to float with, and also hard to play after the flop. Big cards can come out, and you may not have a clue what your opponent is holding. The reason small pocket pairs should be floated with is because if you put in a raise on the flop, you can get played right back over the top and be forced to fold.
Small pocket pairs often times play more like a bluff than a made hand. If you do not make a set on the flop, often times you should just give up. Floating is the one instance that allows your small pair to look like a big hand, and you can take a pot away from stronger hands like middle pair, or force folds from over card hands like AK and AQ . Running a successful float should nearly every time mean that you are calling a bet on the flop to bluff the turn. Very rarely will there be another scenario where it makes sense to float with a small pair.
Take a look at how Phil Ivey successfully floated Patrick Antonius:
When to make advanced floating profitable
Another great scenario to float is when you are in position and staring at a very connected board. Often times, you can run a bluff on your opponent not based on your cards, but based on the cards that are presented on the board. This is the most risky float, but also one that you can get away with a good amount of the time to make it profitable.
The float play in this scenario will often mean that you are putting a bunch of chips in the pot, and it should convince your opponent that you have made your draw. When very connected cards come on the board, most good players will shut down if you call the flop bet. After your opponent shuts down, you can take a stab at the pot and get an instant fold almost every time.
Read other articles from our Advanced Poker Strategy section.
Posted by M.B |
