Fish, donk, sponsor… lots of words to say the same, a player with poor or no skills to play poker. Sometimes being a fish is good because you don’t realize you have been bad beaten and you don’t get too mad but on the long run being a fish will only report losses in your bankroll. If you are a fish you’d better not play poker or do it at very low levels where you can learn the basics about poker before betting big money. The following are some things that will tell if you are a fish or not.
Whenever you sit at an online poker table you must know one thing: There is always a fish at the table and it is very noticeable who it is. If after playing around 10 minutes at the table you still don’t know who the fish is, the answer is sad. YOU are the fish and you must leave the table immediately.
Take a look at your statistics. Most sites offer this as a feature, to know how many hands have you gone to the flop. A good player usually goes to the flop around 8-10% of the hands depending on his aggressiveness if your number is higher than 12% in a 10 player table the thing is starting to be crystal clear, you are the donk of the table.
Have you noticed that after you leave a table, some other players leave it as well? This is because you are a good sponsor and after you leave the table it is no longer profitable and they go elsewhere to look for another fish like you.
Take a look at the players on the table, are they usually the same? Do you feel like some players “stalk” you and go to the tables you are? This is because you are a profitable player and it is nice to play against you. Nobody follows a solid player from one table to another because even if it is a good challenge to play against someone skilled, the ultimate objective of poker is to make money.
But the best way to know if you are a fish or not, is looking at your bankroll. If it is smaller everyday and you have never withdrawn money from your poker account, is because you are losing and if you are losing money in a long period of time is because you are a fish. Even if you think you are not lucky, trust us… you are a fish. You may get unlucky in a hand or two, or having a bad luck streak but these doesn’t last forever and if you always lose money on the long run it is not the luck’s fault, it is completely yours.
