Are fish good or bad?

[ThTomM]

Fish are bad because they enter the hand and stay in the hand with bad to terrible hands. If you have tons of fish at your table, I would suggest becoming 'the rock' in which you play tight-aggressive. this way can earn you some serious bucks. One way to start looking for fish(fishing) is to sort ring games by the % of players seeing the flop. This statistic will help you out greatly.

 

[ihavea4]

fish are good to play with, but you also have to understand that they will win a few hands once in a while. or sometimes more often. most of the time though, if you play tight, solid poker, you will win big because they don't know how to fold.

 

[cuffslurp]

if not for fish the game would be so dry and boring..... no blow ups only correct calls commmon we need fish they are our bank roll builders.....

Fish might be profitable, but they sure aren't fun. They cramp your style, forcing you to play like a rock. You can't mix it up a little, because they won't learn. You can't play tight at first, and then loosen up, hoping to pull off a few bluffs. Basically, you win because you're patient enough to wait until you're favored by lady luck, and you actually flop a good hand or draw.

 

[potman1250]

be prepared to take some bad beats with the fish and keep your patience. in the long run the better player should win....should.

 

[ihavea4]

ok so i just got knocked out of a big tournament by a stupid fish after two awful beats, and i want to change what i said a little. yes, fish can be profitable, but you also need a little luck. just because you have them dominated at the flop doesn't mean they won't suck out and make bottom pair to your overcards. i guess they're harder to play against than i thought before, and plus they have us going on tilt on their side...

 

[OzExorcist]

ok so i just got knocked out of a big tournament by a stupid fish after two awful beats, and i want to change what i said a little. yes, fish can be profitable, but you also need a little luck. just because you have them dominated at the flop doesn't mean they won't suck out and make bottom pair to your overcards. i guess they're harder to play against than i thought before, and plus they have us going on tilt on their side...

This is exactly what Zach was saying above about variance. Getting your money in as a 60:40 favourite means that you will lose 40% of the time, and you will have swings in your results.

But if you've got a skill advantage over the fish, then in the medium to long term you'll take their money and you'll win a lot more than if you were playing against skilled players, or if there were some skilled players at the table to go with the fish.

 

[Kenzie 96]

Good fish :joyman: , wouldn't that be one of them there oxymorons?

 

[WurlyQ]

When people refer to "fish" are they strictly referring to ultra aggressive maniacs? I think there are a variety of fish that you can take advantage of:

Maniacs: If you have said "fish" covered, give them bad odds to draws and otherwise just play normal straightforward poker (no bluffing, no slow playing though c-bets are fine). If they have you covered, you're probably going to have to revert to playing very tight and if they get lucky, hey, this is poker we're talking about.

Weak tight players: Steal, steal, steal! You need to be able to identify these people and you need the ability to lay down good hands but once you can do this, your bubble play gets a whole lot better.

 

[Theblueduce]

For the most part, if it were not for the fish we would not not be here.

 

[left52side]

I agree somewhat.
I dont want to make a raise with a good starting hand and get called by 6 people at the table.
So in that aspect i want a couple decent players at my table,so that my aces or kings wont get out drawn by 5-8 other people calling ridiculous raises.

 

[Monoxide]

I agree somewhat.
I dont want to make a raise with a good starting hand and get called by 6 people at the table.
So in that aspect i want a couple decent players at my table,so that my aces or kings wont get out drawn by 5-8 other people calling ridiculous raises.

...


....

I mean, why not just raise a ridiculous amount (to you) that the fish would be less likely to call, at least you wont get 6 callers?

If you raise to $20 with AA and get 6 callers = bad, but if you raise to $40 and get 3 callers = good. Do you see why this is?

 

[zachvac]

AG posted something awhile ago about how basically the schooling effect doesn't actually exist. We make money when opponents make mistakes. The more mistakes the better. Obviously it requires adjusting, but the more fish the better if you like money.

 

[puppyfeet]

Think of fish this way:

You have a business (bigger bankroll) that you want to start, but you need investors (fish) to give you money. As your business becomes profitable, every once in a while you give the investors a return on their money (bad beats), but the majority of the profits (winnings) you get to keep for yourself! Sometimes you might hit a downturn in business (variance) or want to do an expansion in your business plan (move up to higher stakes), so you can go look for more of the investors (fish) to help you build the necessary capital to continue on.

 

[bob_tiger]

Think of fish this way:

You have a business (bigger bankroll) that you want to start, but you need investors (fish) to give you money. As your business becomes profitable, every once in a while you give the investors a return on their money (bad beats), but the majority of the profits (winnings) you get to keep for yourself! Sometimes you might hit a downturn in business (variance) or want to do an expansion in your business plan (move up to higher stakes), so you can go look for more of the investors (fish) to help you build the necessary capital to continue on.

haha *Claps* Nicely said

 

[kevkojak]

They are GOOOD! lol. Everyone is gonna take a bad beat from them now and again, and course we'll walk into them holding AA from time to time because they play them the same way as 5 6 suited! lol. But in the long run they are just way too loose in their hand selection and will gamble with all sorts! Give me bottom pair against a fishie dropping all in on every turned gutshot draw they see ANYDAY!!! yum yum yum

 

[STOPSNITCHING6]

in my opinion we need these bad players/new players called "fish" cause if we didnt have them at our tables we would all expeirence bad beats all the time and it would be boring and not as profitting. so when you sit at a table look for the loose players and try and get into as many pots with them as possible as this will be good for your bankroll!!!!!

 

[orangepeeleo]

you should see the omaha fish they dont even know what their hand is so even if you do get a read it may be what the fish thinks he has not actually does have.

that is soooooo true, low stakes omaha is THE most frustrating thing to do in your spare time, some of the players there are absolute cash machines, which is good when ur hand holds up or u flop a monster with loads of redraws but when they suck out on you they suck out bad

 

[MadJack]

fishing it can be really good for example on flop with bilateral srt8 and flush draw =) in other cases I try to play very accurately and to answer only small rates

 

[woody19]

fish

some times i fish but its not a good thing tends to get u into trouble
i usaly only fish in small money games in big games i dnt but its good
to play agenst fishes coz u make ure money off them lol

 

[hotwings18]

fish are the people that build our bankrolls.... the perfect table is all fish because even though they will suck out on you from time to time they are really just calling stations that overvalue top pair

 

[Metrogn0me]

a major problem I have with playing with fish is when they make their drawing hands on the river. It's so frustrating when you've say flopped top set, pot it all the way only to have the flush hit them on the river with half your stack invested. All of a sudden they shove over the top and you just know they've made their 50bb draw!! frustrating laydown but i suppose it has to be done :/

 

[wachinpntdry]

When people refer to "fish" are they strictly referring to ultra aggressive maniacs?........

at least to me fish are clueless, weak players....or just any player thats easy to take money from

ultra aggressive maniacs = donk.... also can be very easy to take money from....but can hurt you with a good kick,.....

main difference between the two is the fish is clueless, whereas the donk knows he's playing like an idiot, but does it anyhow for the thrill of the suckout in a big pot

 

[PokerVic]

I've never understood why poker players wouldn't want to be seated at a table full of fish.

I mean, I've switched to playing the $0.01/$0.02 NL tables to rebuild BR (and confidence), the stake which it's fair to assume has the most fish, and I'm currently grinding at a completely unsustainable (and fantastic) winrate.

Players who refuse to fold allow you to maximize your profit for big hands. This pays for a lot of limping with suited connectors or pocket pairs. When I'm swimming with a school of fish, I only need one move: The Value Bet. Every bet should be for value when your opponents will call with almost anything.

Whatever you do, just don't try to bluff them.

 

[stephenjr6]

well i find it a bad thing because they end up catching it and i loose on tht dam river. but i guess most people see it as they will play anything till the end and you will get their chips

 

[bruisertx]

If you can be patient and tight you will eventually get the nuts and make a nice payday. Also the aggressive fish will knock out a player or two and you can treat him like an ATM ;>)