What Is A Fish In Poker?

1 minute

Last Updated: December 18, 2023

What Is A Fish In Poker

In poker, the term “fish” describes a player who is inexperienced, weak, and prone to making mistakes.

A fish or a whale is an easy target for more skilled players because they don’t understand poker strategy well and are likelier to make bad decisions.

As a poker player, you want as many fish as possible at your table because you can have a higher win rate and bb/100 by exploiting their mistakes. Remember, the only way to make money with poker consistently is to play against weaker players.

One of the best ways to put this into perspective is like this:

Even if you are the 6th best poker player in the world but are playing against the top 5, you will lose money. For this reason, you must implement game selection and play in games where there are multiple fish.

Poker Fish Example:

The action was folded to me on the BTN, I looked down at 4s 5d, a hand I would usually fold, but because the BB was a fish, I decided to raise.

In this situation, the narrator explains his thought process and how he decided to widen his range from the BTN because he wants to get involved in as many pots as possible with a player that he considers weaker than him.

By using the term fish, he is communicating to us that the BB player has many leaks in his game and that his superior game knowledge can make up for his weak hand and make this raise profitable in the long run.

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