Term "FISH" in poker, what does it really mean?

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bredaman7

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Hi guys, in this thread I wanna discuss about "fish", what does it exactly mean?
If "fish" means someone who played with bad starting hand, then I saw some poker called "pros" also did such thing.
If fish means someone who got lucky while others have more percentage, then tell me poker player who never got lucky in his entire life.
when I played online poker, there are many words such "lol fish", but If term fish represents above meaning, then most of poker players are "fish"
tell me ur opinion!

Updated Feb 2018:

The definition of fish from our poker glossary is:

"A common (derogatory) term for bad players. By the same token, good players are sometimes called sharks, because they prey on the fish."

You can find other poker term definitions here:

Poker Glossary
 
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Jblocher1

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A fish is really just an all around crappy player. They play too Many hands, they sometimes don't recognize their awful plays they are luck dependent. They are directly contrastable from the term "shark" which if basically a good player who is skilled in the game. Fish suck at the pokerz
 
rytciaq

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Although in lower limits term fish is oftenly used as an insult to a player that won with a hand that had less win possibility pre-flop, which is false. Basically, fish is a bad player, like Jblocher1 said.
 
Staneff

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Fish is a person who is able to call any, holding any cards relying on luck or thinking his opponent makes a bluff. It is wrong to say that playing with low hand makes u a fish. Every hand in poker can be the winning one. But playing with 7 2 off suit with AK9 flop and calling other players` huge bets is more like a fish play. In most situations Fish = Donkey. Shark is a player who rely on fishes call his bets in every position. Usually sharks win against fishes, depends on how lucky a fish can be. :)
 
akaRobbo

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Everyone's correct. Fish are also always results orientated, and have no grasp of odds or probability. They also can't help folding preflop, especially when they have any money committed already. Perfect example today: 3 limpers, I raise 5xBB with KK, 2 folds, short stack fish calls. Flop has 2 clubs all undercards to my Kings. I bet 2/3 pot, call. Turn is Q clubs. I bet, he raises all in. I call. He shows 42 clubs and wins.
 
zarzar78

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Fish is player with a VPIP more than normal , he played more startings hands exemple 56s etc...


Fish is a food term in this way, that you can beat this payer and eat a portion of his stack, A big Fish means player with VPIP more than 50% , an appoinement easy to beat.

A fish player can be a good player post flop , so we have to make attention to his post flop style, but his VPIP is too high that he will not be able to make money playing poker

Good luck with fish players :)
 
wanderingthehall

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I've always though of a term "fish" in a fairly literal term. Basically, those players that are "fishing" for a hand. Playing too many hands and calling hoping to get lucky.
 
rifflemao

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It's possible to be a reasonably competent player at one level and a fish at the next, which is why brm is so important. If you are under-rolled and afraid of losing your stack, you are susceptible to fishiness if there is a solid player at the table- someone capable of 3-betting light and repping scarecards post-flop to push you off better hands etc.

Caught myself playing like that in cash games on Bovada and it helped cure me of bad brm. You have to be rolled well enough to comfortably play an aggressive game.
 
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fish

I'm pretty sure a fish is easy money...
 
doncaster

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I think DONK means a player who is an "ass"... a donkey.
I think FISH refers to a player who plays any cards and hits part of the flop...not top pair,but part of a straight or flush,and when opponent bets ,the fish will call.."fishing" or "chasing" the possibility of getting runner runner to win the hand.If the fish does catch he is referred to as FISH because he was fishing and caught the cards he needed.
We all do some fishing some of the time.
 
Martinez

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Good thing about being just an mtt tourney player is that the fish as explaind by previous post above and donks for that matter who are closely related to fish tend to wipe themselves out of the tournies roughly 1/2 to 2/3 rds of the way thru a tourney leaving only the sharks and other predators in the game to fight it out.
 
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The difference between pros and fish is that pros think about what they do, so if they make some weird play with a weaker hand, they will always be able to tell the reason why. Fish don't and are very luck dependant. They also are results oriented, can't say I'm not though... I thought that the term fishing meant that regs were fishing for the fishes stacks.

If suckouts and bad beats didn't exist, we wouldn't have fish in Poker. I had times where my opponents called me a fish for disobeying pot odds, hitting my hand and stacking them. Last hand was when villain made a pot bet with 8BB and I called with nut flush in position on a queen high board. Spade on the turn, he keeps barelling and I call. River is a blank and I'm holding the nuts, he bets the river, I raise and he stacks off himself. Shows QJ spades.

A donkey is someone who shoves with the worst hand like a flush or a straight draw and plays bad Poker. Also donk betting is leading into the previous street aggressor.
 
BadB420

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Fish means they play fishy! Not very good players! They depend on luck NOT SKILL! Thats why they get called fish because they play the game to be the luckiest not the best! A lot of great responses to this on here so im glad I am able to add my input! And what SwiftHax say's about a donkey is spot on! GJ!
 
XXPXXP

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A fish is someone who does not really know how to play poker well. Usually, the fish loses a big amount of money because he/she would call you with anything or was not able to play the hand well. Be careful because when the fish hits something, it is hard to make them fold. Sometimes, they would call you with anything. Fish can sometimes be easily outplayed. Fishes can easily be spotted after playing a few hands with them. Also, fishes would sometimes rely solely on luck and would not really care how he/she has played a hand in poker. There are different kinds of fishes out there. Once you spot them, you have to know how he/she plays because they usually have just one playing style. A fish is also weak when it comes to bluffing and you can also easily see the tells they are showing.[1]
Fish plays with strategy : Call, call, call. Fish never raises, unless he/she has A-A or K-K when he/she puts all in.

From Wiki

LOL
 
JustDestined

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You know what they say if you have to ask what a fish is....just kidding for me it was like some of the others have said, someone fishing for a hand playing a lot of marginal and less than marginal hands looking to hit the lottery.
 
darkassassin89

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Hmmmm What do I think a Fish is in poker... It is a player who is dropped into the shark tank of a poker table and get devoured by the bigger fish, sharks, constantly. Also they get hooked on the lines of calling off their stacks of chips just to see what their opponant had. They take bait that is laid out by other better players. Maybe we should start calling sharks fishers of men :)

Essentially they hook, line, and seal the fish in a bag :D
 
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i'd simply define a fish as a weak poker player.
 
ccocco

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fish called those players who do not consider anything and hoping that luck play them cards they need but go with 7.2o a poker player who does not fish takes into account several factors to bet, reraise etc, I that's part of the difference between a fish player and a poker player. have to study no other ... lol
 
FuerteDave

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Everyone's correct. Fish are also always results orientated, and have no grasp of odds or probability. They also can't help folding preflop, especially when they have any money committed already. Perfect example today: 3 limpers, I raise 5xBB with KK, 2 folds, short stack fish calls. Flop has 2 clubs all undercards to my Kings. I bet 2/3 pot, call. Turn is Q clubs. I bet, he raises all in. I call. He shows 42 clubs and wins.

Just out of curiosity what did you think he was coming over the top with on the turn after calling your flop bet?
 
Carl Trooper

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I've always though of a term "fish" in a fairly literal term. Basically, those players that are "fishing" for a hand. Playing too many hands and calling hoping to get lucky.

That is exactly what I think.

Fishing for hands. And the term Shark goes with it perfectly.
 
DarkRoster33

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Everyone gets mad losing AA to 2 7

or having best combination on table, while he goes all in with you having nothing and there it goes, on river the lucky super card that saves his life

having A in hand and A in table and that guy has KK and he gets third K on river, while it was 90% that you will win

That gets people mad, you know that guy won't win tournament or even get close to it, mostly you will see him lose while you are at the same table, but it hurts to lose money to that guy
 
rifflemao

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Everyone's correct. Fish are also always results orientated, and have no grasp of odds or probability. They also can't help folding preflop, especially when they have any money committed already. Perfect example today: 3 limpers, I raise 5xBB with KK, 2 folds, short stack fish calls. Flop has 2 clubs all undercards to my Kings. I bet 2/3 pot, call. Turn is Q clubs. I bet, he raises all in. I call. He shows 42 clubs and wins.

Let's use Equilab to play How fishy is it?

The best you can say is that he has around 30% pf equity against a tight raising range, and roughly 19% against KK...less than 2.5% more of an edge than 7c2c vs your hand.

It doesn't surprise me that he's shortstacked if he's calling large raises with suited trash to flop a flush draw roughly 11% of the time. He's probably better off shoving preflop based on the equity he has against your range, although he probably has no clue about that stuff anyway; he's just trying to flop a draw. Since he hit and won the hand, he will justify it as a good play in his mind. :congrats:

Regardless of whether he hit on the turn, it's never an easy fold for you if he was already short after calling the flop and turn. The pot is telling you to call.

Long term, it goes without saying that fish are good for the game.
 
Micro Maven

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"Fish" is whoever just called my river bluff

It can also be a loose and passive player
 
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