The Yeti Theorem + Floating

The Yeti Theorem

This theory was created by a long-time 2+2 poster. It stats: A player who 3-bets on a dry, paired board is [almost] always bluffing.

A perfect example of this is: Say you're on the BB with 99 and its folded to the button who raises it up. You call and the flop is 6h 2d 2s. You check, your opponent bets, and then you check raise him. Now if your opponent re-raises you, this is where the Yeti Theorem comes into play.

If your opponent had a 2 or 66, they would not 3 bet on this flop. Instead, they would be more apt to just calling your reraise in hopes of profiting on the later streets.

Floating

Floating is calling a bet on the flop showing a dry board with the intent of taking it down on the river.

An example is: You're UTG with 78s. Its folded to a player in LP who raises it up and you call. The flop is Kh 5s 10d. You check and your opponent bets. You should call because its very unlikely the board has improved your opponents hand. You hope the turn goes check/check, then you will do about a 1/2 pot bluff bet to try and take it down. If your opponent bets on the turn, you simply let your hand go.

Floating is good against opponents who like C-bet on the flop. Also, with a call on the flop, there is a good chance of you seeing 2 cards for cheap to improve your hand.

The only thing recommended is trying to steal the pot on the flop with a check raise because you open yourself up to an even bigger re-steal.

The Yeti Theorem + Floating

Interesting enough, both topics can be used in similar situations.

Say you're in EP with 66 and an opponent raises it up. You call and the flop comes 7h 4s 4d. you check and your opponent bets. You should try check raising in this situation because: Its very unlikely your opponents hand improved, you have a chance of taking it down, and if your opponent 3 bets it-the Yeti Theorem comes into play.

The Yeti Theorem and Floating works more often then not because most hands need to be improved. the odds of unpaired hands vs paired hands is 16:1, so there is little fear of running into bigger pairs in most situations.

Can this be applied to limit? Let's say you have the same hand as scenario 1. You c/r and he reraises. Do you cap here? Do you call? Seems to me like it wouldn't transfer very well since you have very little fold equity in this spot and opponent's hand can improve for cheaper than in NL (in NL you just push and pray).


Very good post, BTW.

I would love to be a yeti

the yeti theorem is almost never applicable at low limits.

Always interesting stuff, philthy.

I'm with joose; I rarely seen 3 bets on boards at $10/$25 NL period unless the third is a push, and it's either a made hand of some sort or a big draw.


Thanks for clarifying the term "floating" for me too; although I c-bet 75%, and then fire a second bullet probably 75% of that time, and a third pretty often too. I don't mind representing an overpair with my missed AK if I think that's what it takes.