In poker, a fish is someone who makes egregious mistakes that lead to consistent losses in cash games and tournaments. These mistakes can include calling too many hands, betting too much or small for their hand strength, and never knowing when to fold. If you’re looking to become a more profitable player, then you’ll need to learn to identify and exploit the fish in your game.
In this article, we’ll outline eight common mistakes that most beginner players make in poker and explain how you can use these errors to your advantage. By eliminating these mistakes from your own game, you’ll be much more likely to be a fish-eating shark in the long run.
What Is a Fish in Poker?
In a poker context, the term “fish” refers to someone who plays the game poorly and loses money as a result. These people are generally recreational players who play for fun rather than for a living. The term is often used in a derogatory way, and some care should be taken when using it at the table to avoid upsetting your opponents.
While all poker players make mistakes from time to time, the difference between a fish and a good player is that the fish’s mistakes are more consistent and larger in magnitude. This is what sets them apart from a good player, who will make mistakes but will generally limit how large of a mistake they will make and pay off the resulting amount in later streets.
One of the biggest mistakes a fish will make is overestimating their implied odds. This means that they will call too many preflop raises with weak hands or even a pair of napkins, hoping to hit their flush or straight draws. While you shouldn’t call every single draw, experienced players will know the situations where it is better to lay down their cards and let you win the pot.
Fish also tend to overvalue their flops, often calling with marginal hands when they could have easily folded preflop. This is often the result of an unfamiliarity with the flop dynamics of the game, or simply not understanding how to extract value from a weak flop. Regardless of the reason, this is another easy mistake to exploit and it’s worth learning to recognize when to play the flop and when to pass it.
A fish will also rarely 3- or 4-bet bluff preflop. While this is a solid strategy at higher stakes, in the low to mid-stakes, it is very difficult to profit from this action. Fish also tend to be passive on the turn, often folding to a c-bet when they are behind.
A fish will be very easy to bluff against. Their weak, all-in bets will attract calls from all sorts of players and their flop bluffs will usually fail. This is why it is so important to understand positional awareness and how to adjust your strategy according to where you are at the table.