Five Signs of Fish Everyone Needs To Know

Limping Into the Pot

According to Nathan, the most obvious — yet often overlooked — sign of being a fish is the habit of limping into the pot when raising is clearly more profitable:

Imagine yourself in a $1/2 cash game, on the Button with J 8 , and three people before you just limped — calling the big blind of $2. The right move here is to make a well-sized raise of $20 or whatever fits better. The logic is simple: others’ limps give you free money from the best position in poker — so why ruin it by limping yourself? Only fish think a limp is a good way to see a flop and “hit something” cheaper.

Note: This sign doesn’t always apply to high-level professionals — especially Daniel Negreanu, who insists that “limping is pimping” and uses it as part of his personal strategy and playing style.

Donk Betting

Nathan is certain that donk bets — when an out-of-position player bets into the aggressor from the previous street — still expose fish in 99% of small-stakes cases.

Let’s say you raise A K preflop and get called. The flop comes 9 4 4 — and your opponent leads into you with a bet.

The main question is: what are they possibly representing on this board with that line? The simple answer — nothing reasonable:

“There’s nothing going on on this board. There are no straight draws. No flush draws. So what should you do, guys? Just make the call. We have the nut no-pair hand — that’s what AK is here. If they have any other unpaired hand — AJ, KJ, Q8, 67 — we beat them all. In fact, we’re a massive favorite against most of their range.”

Fish at small stakes rarely think in terms of ranges. They often act based on their own hand, how well it hit the board, or what hand they think the opponent has. It’s always about individual hands, not ranges. In this case, the fish might be scared you have a 9 and try to scare you with a donk bet — without thinking through what to do if they’re called:

“Even if they have a pair — say, a 9 — which is a small part of their range, remember: we’re always looking at ranges in poker. That’s the entire spectrum of hands someone might have. Even then, we’ve still got two strong overcards. Three remaining Aces. Three Kings. All of which almost certainly give us the best hand. This is a classic call spot.”

Sandbagging a Big Hand

Sandbagging, another word for slowplaying, means betting weakly and playing passively to disguise a strong hand.

Fish love it for different reasons. Some are afraid to scare off opponents and want maximum value. Others enjoy “trapping” players with deception. Some just want to see the opponent’s reaction and bathe in the emotional payoff.

Nathan calls sandbagging his “personal all-time favorite” fishy move — especially the old-school “pop you on the river” version.

Imagine you raise with 8 8 and get called. Flop: K 5 5 . Turn: 7 — you bet both streets and get called again. On the river — 3 — you check, and boom: they fire a huge bet.

“This is a classic sign of a big hand. This is the kind of player who just called us preflop with something like pocket Kings — which hit a Full House on the flop — or AK, or pocket Aces, and they’re going to slowplay it all the way because they saw Phil Hellmuth do that once in a million-dollar cash game.”

If you’re not a fish — don’t fall for it:

“There’s no reason this player should’ve been calling all the way. They’re sandbagging a monster most of the time. Also remember: most fishy players are passive. They’re just going to check behind with pocket 44. If they’re making a big bet here, they’ve got the nuts. So don’t fall for it.”

That said, with enough skill and awareness of your stakes’ meta, you can bluff with this line against good players. Just don’t overdo it — regulars will catch on fast and exploit you back.

Chasing Every Draw

Fish often can’t resist chasing draws — even when the price isn’t right. It’s like sandbagging in spirit, but the motivation and board context are different.

Say you raise A 4 preflop and get called. Same again on a flop of 7 8 Q and turn A . Then the river is 2 — you check, and your opponent bets big.

The sequence is familiar: you’re active, opponent’s passive — then aggressive on the river. But this time, it’s a draw-heavy board.

“The flop here is not what we’re looking for. We have nothing — just Ace-high. But your opponent is going to miss the flop two-thirds of the time. So betting is profitable. And they call.”

“This board is nothing like the previous one with K55 rainbow. Here we’ve got two diamonds, straight draw potential, flush draw potential. Even 96 has an open-ended straight draw — and fish play that hand too.”

The turn improves your hand with top pair. Against a recreational player, Nathan recommends keeping the pressure on:

“I’m not super concerned here. There were so many draws on the flop, and what do we know about fish? They chase every single draw. They never give up.”

On the river — a total brick — you check, and they bet big. In Nathan’s view, this is the perfect time to let them bluff:

“I like checking here because it opens the door for fishy players to bluff their missed draw — which they’ll do a lot. Just call them down. No point in raising. On the 2% chance they actually hit something like pocket Aces or AQ, we’re just getting snapped off.”

Tilting Like Crazy

Before you ask, “But everyone tilts — even poker gods like Phil Hellmuth or Daniel Negreanu!” — remember: the devil’s in the details.

The key difference between professionals and fish, amateurs, or recreational players is how often frustration affects their decision-making. Pros tilt, sure — but they usually keep it in check. Fish don’t.

Also, be aware: someone might be playing several tables, so the tilt could stem from action you haven’t seen.

Nathan explains how it often goes:

“Two bad beats in a row — and the fish is losing their mind. They’re raising every hand. Tilting is just frustration after getting unlucky, and that happens to everyone. But recreational players often get their ego involved — and that’s when they start playing badly.”

So how do you play against a tilted fish?

Let’s say they raise, and you call with A 10 . You call every street: flop A 8 2 , turn 4 , river K .

“Versus a tilted fish, I’ll call wide preflop hoping to hit a pair and use this strategy. We hit top pair. They bet — we just call. No raising. Let them hang themselves. They’re likely bluffing a lot of the time. And we don’t even have the best kicker — we lose to AK, AQ, AJ. So just call.”

“Turn: same story. Never fold, never raise. They don’t have much most of the time. If they do, it’s that rare 2%. Call again.”

“River: they bet again. Normally I’d consider folding here — they’ve shown a lot of strength. But this is a fish on tilt. So I call. Let them flip over 54, 78, pocket 66 — whatever nonsense they decided to triple barrel.”