My Fishing Trip

Everyone has their own definition of a fish. Mine is one with little poker smarts. They will call with any two cards and it’s almost impossible to get them out of a pot. Do I like fish? Yes, they help fill my bank account. How many fish would I like at a table? 1-2. Last year, I was in Las Vegas and I went to the New Orleans and sat down at a 4-8 Limit table. After a few orbits of the puck, I was starting to label the people at the table and the only label I was coming up with was “Fish”. I was the only one folding preflop and there were never any preflop raises. I finally come under the gun with AA and raise. They all called. I look up to see the dealer smiling and trying not to laugh. I won’t go through the hand because I got beat by 7-4 off suit and it was ugly. I tried to encourage others to play better but that fell on deaf ears. I followed the book and played extremely tight and after rebuying twice, I decided that sitting at a table with 9 fish is unhealthy. I was not playing poker but bingo. Yes, I could minimize my loss but not my gain. I could never know I was ahead in any hand unless I had the nuts. People would fold but it was very common to see 5 or more people at showdown. I finally left the table and went to the poker manager and asked if there were any games here with poker players. He sat me at a 10-20 game and the players were skilled. When I would win a pot, there were no monster pots from bad players but at least now, people would fold.

One fish great, two fish good. A table full of fish – Bingo. There will be sceptics who will say “I could have beaten that table” and to you I say “Too much of a good thing is bad for you. “