For those of you who haven't heard of the expression before, a "fish" in poker is someone who isn't deemed to be very good at the game. They're players who have never heard of things like pot odds, and even if they had they probably wouldn't worry about them.
These kind of players can be a great source of income to the more experienced types of poker players (often referred to as 'sharks') as they often make some very basic errors and cough up a lot of chips in doing so. However, playing against fish isn't always as easy as it sounds. Once you start playing against them on a regular basis, you'll discover a very strange thing: the better you play, the less successful you'll be.
We'll look into why this is over the course of the following strategy, but for the moment just bear in mind that if you're playing poker against a fish, then you have to keep it simple. So how do we keep it simple? Well, having been a successful player at some of the internet's fishiest poker sites, allow me to suggest the following strategies which have been crucial to me in terms of doubling my stack quickly.
Firstly, have confidence in yourself. If you've been playing poker for a while, you're probably naturally aware of players who continue to limp into pots and then just call any raises. It smells of slow play, which usually means that you're being led into a trap by an opponent who is trying to get the most out of his monster hand. In normal poker games, you'd be advised to check and possibly fold if your opponent put in a big raise... but not when you're playing against fish.
You see, simply calling every hand is a very typical way for a fish to play. New players are focused purely on the cards they're holding in their hand and can't help wondering what the next card will bring. They're seduced by the idea that the next card might give them a hand (even if it's a terrible hand), so they can't bring themselves to just throw their cards away.
Therefore, they'll risk as fewer chips as necessary in order to view the next card... and the one after that... and the one after that. It's really not uncommon to find fish calling you all the way down to the river and then turning over nothing more than a low pair, if that.
When you come across these sort of players, the correct way to play is to value bet your strong hands as much as possible. Even if you're holding a mediocre pair, I'd suggest betting strongly (as long as the flop doesn't look dangerous) on each street if necessary. Have confidence in your hand, and don't feel yourself being put off by players who are continually calling you. It's perfectly normal at this level of the game.
We touched on the idea of playing your hands aggressively in the previous point, but it's so important that it deserves a heading of its own: if you have a decent hand, then bet out on it. Playing against fish requires you to be patient, so it may well be that you've folded a lot of hands before you get dealt something decent. When that happens, make sure that they pay off.
Don't start limping into the pot in the hope that you'll encourage more people to throw chips into the middle of the table. Fish don't need a second invitation to see a flop, so if they're going to see some cards, make sure they pay for the privilege.
As I've mentioned above, make sure that you stay focused. It's very common for fish to call your bets all the way down to the river. Most of the time, they won't have anything of note and you'll be happily pulling their chips towards your side of the table. However, the law of averages says that if a player continues to go all the way down to the river, he is going to hit the card that he's looking for once in a while, and you're going to be hit for a bad beat.
When this happens, you need to remain focused. Nobody likes suffering a bad beat, but it's imperative that you remind yourself that your opponent has just got lucky. Remember that this is actually the way you want him to be playing as you'll easily come out on top over a long period of play.
To encourage him to keep playing in this manner, you may actually want to go the full hog and congratulate him on the way that he played the hand (with your tongue firmly in your cheek of course!) and tell him that you had no idea he was holding such a monster.
It's understandable if you can't quite bring yourself to do this, in which case just keep quiet and smile. On no account should you start criticising him for what he's done. As soon as you start laughing at him, or berating him for his actions, you start to affect his game. Remember, you want him to keep playing in this way and intimidating him will usually cause him to play a lot tighter in the future which will things much harder for you to win your chips back.
Finally, forget about bluffing! We spoke at the top of the page about keeping things simple... and nothing underlines this point more than bluffing. As much as I love the feeling of bluffing an opponent out of a huge pot, you just can't do this while you're playing against fish.
The principal reason for this is because your opponents aren't going to be smart enough to realise what you're doing. Remember, they're primarily focusing on what they have in their hand and what the next card might be... they're not worried about what you're doing or the cards you may have.
If you start trying to bluff a hand, then you're going to be called more often than not. When this happens, you start to chase the pot and end up putting more chips at risk than necessary as you start to try the pot. If you're thinking about trying to bluff a fish out of a pot, then think again. Remember, keep it simple. If you've got a good hand, then bet it strongly. If you haven't, then fold it.
