Floaters Beware

The concept of floating refers to the act of calling a bet in position with the intention of taking the pot away on a later street. More often that not, floaters will have complete air or a very marginal hand and attempt to leverage their position on either the turn or the river. Floaters who are extremely adept at understanding hand ranges and board texture will be a thorn in your side on the felt, especially when they have position on you. They will be be able to take down pots the second they smell weakness weakness. Furthermore, they are able to take down these pots relatively cheaply since most of the time they will be utilizing position as their primary weapon.

Below is an example of where I was able to sniff out a floater - and get the villain to fold out what was likely the best hand. Prefop and flop plays are pretty much ABC poker - but the turn is the perfect card for me to check back and react to my opp. When he bets, he is repping a deuce (an unlikely holding) or a FD. I chose to CR in this spot in an effort to rep a K...its VERY unlikely for my opp to hold one here bc most K's he plays...he would be 3b'ing me PF. Also, I suspected I might be getting floated on this flop since the board was SOOOO incredibly dry, personally I think its a great flop to float in position with 89, 33-77. Thankfully for me, I got a fold - SHIP THE CHEDDAAA!