Floating
Play Poker » Floating
To start, the best situations and biggest pots you can win without a showdown in a poker game will occur when you are playing pots in position. If a player chooses to play a pot out of position this is putting you at a huge advantage throughout any given hand during a session. When a player in the small blind or big blind chooses to call a raise before the flop this is the ideal time for you to utilize the float play. What the float play will be is calling your opponents bet on the flop or turn with plans to take the pot away on the next street. It occurs on the flop more times than not because if your opponent decides to bet the flop out of position, they are most likely showing weakness that their hand isn’t strong enough to check and then raise, or check and call. Floating will occur on the flop a great deal of the time more than the turn because if you are floating a flop the reason is to take the pot away on the turn by betting.
When you see a flop heads up, and in position against only one other player you are giving your chance a great chance to win the pot. Using the float will help gauge where you are in any given poker hand. If a player bets the flop and proceeds to check the turn they are almost certainly giving up on the pot and assuming that you have them beat. Even if you haven’t connected with the board at all floating a flop will allow you more than one way to win a pot. If the player who is out of position decides to bet the flop and bet the turn you can take a more advanced route and float two streets, but this is up to you. If you have a great read on your opponent that they have only top pair with a weaker kicker or are playing with a deep stack of chips, these are times you can float twice. If your opponent is playing overly aggressive you can win bigger sized pots by floating two streets. Almost all or a great portion of the time after firing twice at a pot your opponent will give up on the river if they are bluffing. This is a spot with a high risk and high reward and should only be done under certain circumstances.
There are also some other ways to float which beginners tend to do wrong a great deal of the time when they play poker online at the online poker sites. If you were the person playing out of position and made top pair or middle pair on a flop and were to check and then call a flop bet this is also known as a float. This way will gain you almost no information though about your opponents hand range. The only way this can become profitable is if you somehow catch an awkward two pair or make trips, otherwise you will have no clue where you are in a hand. If your opponent continues to fire at the pot you will become stuck in a bigger pot then you would have originally wanted. The key to utilizing the float play should be to gain as much information as possible. If you float, and play hands out of position, this can lead to very unprofitable plays, hands, and overall sessions.
After you have gained enough knowledge about the hand use that information to either win the pot on the following street or to fold your hand on the next street. The best way to utilize a float is to stick to playing hands in position. If you play hands in position you will be able to gauge what your opponent has much better and will be able to either win the pot without a showdown or win the pot by making a big hand.
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