Defense against floating

[sarbox68]

So it seemed tonight that just above every AK, AQ, AJ, KQ I PFR'd missed the flop. (okay, so that' s an exaggeration.... but at least 70%...) After a little while, I got the sense I was just being floated on my c-bets and then either raised hard on the Turn (if I double-barrelled) and then I'd have to fold... or bet into hard if I checked and I'd have to fold. Would have been a different story if the Flop or T hit, but that just wasn't happening...

What's the best defense against this besides 1) stop c-betting misses or 2) changing tables?j

[Jibalob]

Assuming this is against thinking players I would try the following -

Try to get a PFR or two in with some suited connectors or med/low pocket pairs and make sure your opps see them. This will (hopefully) prevent villain's "theres no high cards so he's missed the flop" thought process which seems to be the common factor in these hands from what you've posted above. The down side to this is that you may start getting 3-bet more often pre-flop.

[bigspenda73]

You really should do two things at your level:

1. Cbet less
2. When you do hit cbet harder

Pick the right boards to cbet on, I'll let you figure out which are the right ones, but when you do hit, make sure you build a big pot and punish them for either floating or just being calling stations.

[Warpe]

Have you changed your c-bet size as we advised you to do earlier? If not, you're gonna get floated a ton.

[sarbox68]

Yup... I'm c-betting 3/4 to PSB depending on board texture. More likely to PSB it if FD or SD... 3/4 if single broadway or dry board. And it is working much better. I've been golden the last dozen or so sessions, 'cause I've been hitting a reasonable % of flops and turns to punish people for floating and keep respect for my cbets alive.

Problem last night was had 400+ hand spell of not hitting ANYTHING. Best advice sounds like I should have dialed back my c-betting dramatically w/ OCs... that would have saved me some dough... and kinda waited out the downswing. Then used that altered image to pound the holy hell out of them when I started connecting on the flop again...

Oh... and I'm offended you think I wouldn't follow the advice I get here... How else do you think I've been able to make my roll go up??

[bigspenda73]

I'll tell this to you as politely as I can b/c it took me a while to figure it out. 400 hands mean nothing!! I play 400 hands/hr and there are guys on here who double that amount.

Let's look at the long run, I mean, I don't even play many hands, maybe 10k hands a month, which isn't much. But that's 120,000 hands in a year, what's 400 hands in reference to that? Not a whole lot, you're going to have variance, even at the lower stakes, it's just going to happen.

It's OK if you have a stretch of 400 hands where you aren't hitting flops and you are not making money. What's not OK is beating your head against the wall and continually cbetting into calling stations and players who like to float you. Make sure you are choosing the correct boards to cbet on and certainly do not shy away from cbetting when you connect (i.e.-do not slowplay ever against calling stations and floaters, you're playing into their hands).

[djzcko]

How do you know you they were floating? Could have been a run of cards where they hit a set or had an overpair every time and since they knew you would double barrel, they played them slow. I do the same thing--if I see villain cbetting agressively and double barelling I'll wait for a good spot to raise them on the turn or even wait until the river if I have a strong enough hand. Your style invites that kind of play and so I doubt they were floating...so the better question might be to ask how you became so predicatable that they took advantage of you. You gotta mix it up more...

[sarbox68]

What, you mean my "do the same thing over and over but expect different results" style of poker isn't optimal?

Point taken... I have the tendency, in part 'cause a lot of this is new to me to anchor around "Hey, this is the right thing to do" ... "the correct strategy" and then do that pretty much unvaryingly. Tho' I know there's a time and place for that thought process, I've got to move "not being predictable" up the list of priorities right alongside starting hands, position and aggressiveness...

Plus I like to think he was floating 'cause if I'm not getting any hands, why the hell should he????