When To FLOAT [Poker STRATEGY] 

Facing 4bets

Really specific idea/question but I feel like its a complex topic to discuss and would be interesting to hear a video on : How do you play in the middle stages of a tournament vs a variety of stack sizes preflop. Let me give you an example: You have 60BBs in the CO and action folds to you. BTN, SB and BB are playing 25, 40 and 16 BBs, respectively. What is your strategy? I find it very difficult to justify just selected the 60BBs RFI chart and being happy with myself. I feel like the frequency of 3 bet jams is somewhat increased on the BB player vs normal, and i also feel like if I alternatively select the 15BBs or 25BBs chart (rather than my 60BBs) it isn't quite right either. Can you comment on how to play in these situations and provide a few examples? I would be happy to provide hand histories at these spots if it helps. Here is an example hand I just went through and I don't know how to play. I have 50BBS UTG with ATo. I raise 2BBs. Goes around to CO. They 3 bet jam for 10.5BBs. How do I play this scenario? If you prefer to answer this in a range format (like the homework) than with ATo that works too. I find this scenario very difficult to navigate and hard to use charts to get good info on it.

This might sound weird but most of these videos seem self evident to me as a player.. if you sort of already naturally follow the general principles what would be the area you would focus on that would have the most impact if you can continue to tweak it. Where can marginal improvement have the most impact I’d guess knowing betting charts and ranges which are the most fluid aspects..

Player body language and how.to recognize it

Don't tell him that, he'll assume you just got lucky. I'm sure it's a little of both though

the average pro folds 80% of the time

Absolutely. Dont assume you "know" the opponents hand. Play their range.

If you follow JL , you will know that good players will often not be checking good draws or strong hands but they will be check some decent hands that can call 2 - 3 streets as protection.

No one will fold, and they are all correctly calling. You should raise larger, to roughly the size of the pot.

@@PokerCoaching So what am I to do then - just call? (assuming i decide not to raise to roughly pot). If someone raises after me, it makes sense to re-raise for value at that point? Or still to call a raise with AKs or AKo etc?

It's less likely a player has an ace when one is on the board. Plus your king high is the highest high non paired hand, so you beat their busted draws if they have suited connectors etc.

Marginal made hand so it’s not really considered floating

9s on Q62 is a pretty strong hand too depending on the preflop action

disregard - misread. i see now the top line is the board. (half listening) great content!

observation on players and GTO mix with Exploit , you can study more and apply it...

I think the answer is the number of hands you have played. I have played THOUSANDS of hands on line. Its more game than poker cause there is no money involved. WITHOUT A DOUBT, it is NOT live poker because people go ALL IN over and over again, and they over bet as their only strategy. However, because i have play THOUSANDS of hands, I have intuitively learned some of the things this guy teaches. This FLOAT is an example. I do this but did not KNOW that it was a “thing”. And because I have to CHECK all the time, I now understand the ending of that EPIC poker movie “ROUNDERS” where KGB says, “CHECK CHECK CHECK all night…PAY THE MAN HIS MONEY”. I have lulled many players into over betting into my nut, not out of skill but PATIENCE. I will NOT call and over bet. I will NOT go all in recklessly and it has paid me well. Full disclosure…I am PERFECTLY clear that WHEN I enter the real world with real money on the table, I HAVE to have a good size bank because it will be DAY ONE!!! I WILL be the mark… AT FIRST!! I am FULLY aware that is when the REAL learning begins, but I am prepared because I have seen all the possibilities over and over. Money does change the EVERYthing but I can’t wait!!!

Keep watching more of JL's content eg Weekly Poker Hand. Answer the question he asks and compare your answers with his. If you do this a lot, you'll get better at understanding how to play effectively .

I thought the exact same thing as you! I honestly thought, I'll never have the skill to be able to calculate combos, hand read, and act appropriately. I am not there yet, but I am gradually getting better, and the only way is to get the volume in. I work FT, and play poker 15-30 hours per week and am improving steadily.

U just regarded

I don't think you are using 'float' accurately. Floating need not be only in position.

Well this is just wrong. When you are calling the flop with the intention of bluffing on a later street, you are floating the flop. You could float the flop, float the turn, and c/r river and it'd still be a float, because the float is the decision at the previous street.

Floating is when you make a call in the flop/turn, without having any real hand. No matter if you are In or Out of position. The point of this move, is give us a chance to win the pot in later streets. We could do this by improving our hand, or forcing the opponent to fold the best hand 👌