The Float Play
Floating is a term you may or may not be familiar with. Floating is when you call a flop (or turn) bet with the intention of taking away the pot on a later street. Floating is done when you have a weak hand, it is not the same as slow playing. The entire premise of floating is that you can win a pot where you feel a player is likely bluffing without investing too much money.
When to Float the Flop
Generally speaking, floats on the flop are made when a player shows some aggression pre-flop and then follows it up with more aggression on the flop. The reason for this is the assumed increase in pot size as compared to a limped pot. There is a lot less reason to float someone when playing a limped pot, this is because there is not much money to be won. When playing a raised pot, however, there is more money in the pot and therefore more reason to fight for the pot.
Now you know that it is better to float in a hand that was raised pre-flop, but what types of flops should you float. The first thing you should consider when deciding whether or not to float a flop is the other player’s range. If you put the other player on any pocket pair and AQ+, it would not make sense to float on a flop of 6 4 9. The pocket pairs in his range far outweigh the over cards. This is coupled with the fact that they will still have equity with AQ and AK. Most times you will be facing a turn bet with this kind of flop. Once they make a turn bet you lose the opportunity to take it away at a low price. If the flop was T J 7, however, you can more effectively float. This flop puts out many over cards to their pocket pairs and also misses AQ and AK. Even if they lead the flop with a hand like 88, they will often check the turn after you call the flop.
When to Float the Turn
Floating the turn is much harder than it is to float the flop. It will cost you more money and there is a decreased likelihood of getting a fold out of your opponent once they have stuck around to the river. You should be facing an opponent who is capable of making a fold if you plan on floating the turn. You might have been wasting money by floating the flop against a calling station, but you are wasting much more when you float the turn against that same type of player. In addition to having an opponent who is capable of folding, you should also know exactly what types of cards you are going to bet on the river to scare them off. If there is only a few cards that will scare your opponent on the river, it does not make much sense to invest the money on the turn. Something that should be obvious but sometimes is not, is that you should not be floating when the other player has little to no money left after their turn bet. They will feel committed to call no matter what card comes on the river.
Things to remember
Remember that you should never float a calling station. This is the equivalent of throwing money away, you don’t want calls, you want folds. The other important thing to remember is to always have a plan. Once you decide to float you should know what turn or river cards you will be betting.