Overdoing the Float

"Floating" someone on the flop has come to mean calling in position with little or nothing, because you suspect your opponent is weak and you intend to steal the pot from him on the turn or river. I give credit to whoever first coined the term, because it is one of the few pieces of poker lingo that I actually like . (On the flip side of the coin, whoever started calling bad players "donkeys" or "donks" deserves to be donked upside the head). Indeed, calling in position almost feels like you are floating in midair above your opponent, waiting for him to show weakness before you strike.

But more important than the name is that I think the play has substantial merit. Hell, when I started my playing career, I thought I was a genius for having thought of this play. I wanted to grow a third arm to pat myself on the back. Mike Sexton even wrote a column talking about the greatness of Stu Ungar, and his primary example was how Ungar, by floating his opponents, would assert his dominance over the table. I thought I must be the next Stu Ungar, having thought of such a play and used it.

But here's the thing. When my big head returned to its normal size, I realized that if I had thought about and used this play, it was safe to assume that others were doing it, too. To Ungar's advantage, he was using this play in the early '80s, when it was still an "outside-the-box" concept, and he was probably one of the few players doing it. Because hardly anyone had considered using the float concept, they also were not prepared to counter it.

Furthermore, Ungar combined it with his uncanny ability to read his opponents. That was what made him great. Not only was he capable of anything, he also knew the right times to make the different plays in his arsenal. He could smell weakness better than anyone, and if he decided to make the "call-as-a-steal" play, you better believe that his opponent was going to be stolen from.

Nowadays, it's just not the same. I see far too many players (especially younger ones) taking a play that requires timing and finesse and attempting it indiscriminately. It drives me nuts. They are reducing a great play to one that could easily fall out of style, once it gets overused.

In case it's not obvious, here are just a few of the problems with these players who constantly overdo the float. If you're one of them, listen up:

1. They don't choose their situations correctly. The time to float someone is when you suspect he is weak. At the very least, you want your opponent to lack confidence in his hand, so that­ - if he is put to the test with a large bet or raise­ - he won't be capable of making a brave call.

Instead, I see players who are attempting the float regardless of the texture of the flop or, more importantly, the person making the bet. If the same person is consistently raising preflop and leading out on the flop, there is reason to suspect that he is getting out of line, and floating him might make sense. On the other hand, if the preflop raiser is someone whose hand selection is very tight, and he is raising from early position, doesn't he deserve credit for a big pair? Floating in this situation just doesn't make sense. Why even get involved?

Too often, it becomes a case of putting a player on the hand they hope he has, not the one he is most likely to have. The flop comes all low, and Mr. Tight leads out. They'll call, hoping that Mr. Tight has A-K. Or, they'll call, hoping that he has pocket queens and an ace or king will come on the turn and scare him out. There are too many things that have to go right, and the floater is typically risking too much money on the off chance that everything will fall his way. And I didn't even mention the times that the floater decides to incorrectly make a play at the pot on the turn, and when his bluff fails, he loses a substantial portion of his stack (if not his entire stack) on a hand that probably should have been dumped at any point along the way.

2. As with any poker play, if you do it too often, people will catch on. As I point out in The Book of Bluffs, the success of a bluff is inversely correlated to how often it is attempted. If you attempt a certain bluff only once in a while, your success rate will probably be high. If you do it constantly, your opponents will catch on, and your success rate will drop accordingly.

The same logic applies to floating. If players see that you are constantly calling on the flop, you eventually will have a sign on your head. People are going to realize that you can't have a hand every time, and they are going to play back at you. If you want to maintain a high success rate of floating, do it sparingly. And with the highly volatile risk/reward ratio associated with floating, a high success rate is critically important.

3. Once someone is pegged as a floater, it's pretty easy to counter him. With a strong hand, you could simply bet into him and then check-call him on the turn and/or river. Without a strong hand, you can get more creative. Bet the flop and then check-raise the turn. In fact, that is one of my favorite moves. The floater could show up with a real hand, but since he's going to bet regardless of his strength, you stand an excellent chance of catching him being out of line. More often than not, the check-raise wins you the pot right there, and given the action preceding your check-raise, the pots you win in those situations will usually be substantial.

I'm not saying that floating is a bad play. In fact, the reason I felt compelled to write this column is that I think using it properly can turn a good no-limit hold'em player into a great one. But when I see it overused, or executed poorly, or done too predictably, it just makes me sad.

Then again, when I'm playing against such a player, it also makes me money. I guess I'll just have to deal with the sadness.

Matt Lessinger is the author of The Book of Bluffs: How to Bluff and Win at Poker, available everywhere. You can find other articles of his at www.CardPlayer.com.