The Fish List.

[Aequitas58]

I read an article AND a post earlier today and it got me thinking: playing "good" poker (ie: making correct decisions) can be profitable, but table selection is also another way to maximize the money you make while at the tables.

Along w/ table selection, lots of winning players advocate keeping a list of FISH. These are players you purposefully seek out (before you sit down), so that if they are playing, you want to be playing with them.

The simplest way to find a fish is to run into him. Most likely, it'll be at a cash ring game and he'll be making HORRIBLE, terrible decisions. Some fish make bad plays. Some fish have a huge disregard for money. Sometimes, you'll run into someone who likes to raise every street w/ no pair.

It happens.

Maybe together, we can put together some kind of LIST so that we know who to target. Now, some people like to keep "their" fish to themselves, but maybe we can share the wealth.

I'll start. Try to keep the formatting the same, so it makes it easy to read - please? LOL.

hipsurgery08
Limit: $1/2, $2/4, $3/6 LHE
Site: Party + Skins
Description: I ran into this fish playing 6Max $1/2 on Party. This guy is more of a maniac than a fish, because he raises EVERY hand pre-flop. If you raise before him, he will ALWAYS threebet. It's amazing. He will either be betting or raising every street until the river, when he'll often check. I have seen him get lucky and make flushes, but I've also seen him cap every street w/ K2o w/ an Ace high flush. I followed him for about an hour, until he got VERY lucky at a $3/6 hand. Look for this guy, but be prepared for swings. Uber-maniac.

HTROSS
Limit: $.5/1 NL
Site: Party + Skins
Description: I saw this guy make one of the stupidest moves I have ever seen, and he instantly went on my buddylist. He got involved with a player in a very big hand. I don't remember the hand exactly, but basically, all the money got in on the turn. HTROSS flips something strange like Q5o. No flush draw, no straight draw... shit, this guy didn't even have a pair. I didn't understand. He didn't "make a move," by bluffing all in... rather, he CALLED an all-in with absolutely nothing. LOL.

Maybe we can start a FISH list. Anyone else interested in sharing?

[Talking Poker]

Here's the reason why I don't keep a personal fish list, nor do I think keeping a group list is worthwhile:

Because nearly everyone I play with is a fish! I used to keep player notes for the bad players, but eventually realized there were so many of them that it was a better idea to mark the GOOD players.

Seriously, I commend you for the idea, but if we were to all list all the fish we ran in to just TODAY, if we each played for just ONE HOUR, the list would be massive and thus useless. No one is going to spend the time it takes to add that many players to a buddy list, when all the need to do is fire up a table with a high average pot or a high FS% (if available) and the'll get action nearly as good.

In addition, a lot of people (myself excluded) seem to hate playing with bad players who make bad calls for some reason, so they would have no interest in this list either.

And lastly, if we limited this to the really, really, really bad players (say, 90% VPIP and up and those who call with 9 high and lower), while that may be a useful list, we all know those guy won't be around in a week anyway, so the list would quickly outdate itself.

As I said though, I applaud the idea. I just don't think the reward is worth the effort. If other disagree, by all means, post away! If nothing else, it will be an entertaining read.

P.S.
stormswa
Limit: Any
Site: Any

[SirFWALGMan]

I agree with TP, but what the hell..

mblanks
Limit: 25/NL
Site: Party
Description: Plays alot of weak hands. Gives you alot of money and does not want any back in return. Here are the hands he lost money on: 76s (ok, not so bad), 73o, 62s.. see a pattern here? Plays weak floosh draws and tries to suckout.

[GeoffM]

Guys, wait until tomorrow, I will try and find an O8 site (I know, not much interest), but this dude posted it publicly.

[humpty99]

How long will it be before someone who posts here inadvertantly ends up on this list?

[PShabi]

It already happened.

[eejit101]

LMAO, but a serious one. I fish in freebies, but in cash games i prefer playing good players more, you know more what they have as you are one, if you get my meaning.

[sjay2k]

This is illogical. In the long run, you make money from your opponents' mistakes. Worse players = more mistakes = much more profit. The occasional baffling suckout does not change this.

[Aequitas58]

Right right, it's better to sit at a table full of "good" players. Idiot.

[eejit101]

reading back, that was fucking stupid, i take it all back.

[Gordogg]

I disagree with TP on this one. I think there's a fishiness scale. All fish aren't equal. There are fish that bluff too much, fish that call down with any two cards, and fish that bet all in pre flop repeatedly, etc... The descriptions Aeq and Fwalg gave to go along with the names makes it that much easier to know what kind of fish you are dealing with. Like somebody else mentioned, why wouldn't you want to p lay with a table full of fish? Implicit collusion is an argument, but mistakes is where you profit most right? Although the way I've been running lately, I might need to add my name to the fish list.

rocheleau8-partypoker fish-25nl 6max usually

Funny thing is I personally know this guy. He's an aquaintance of mine from Alaska. The really funny thing is he doesn't know it's me when I'm playing against him. I've never played live poker with this guy, but my cousin has. He told me how effin horrible this guy is at poker, so naturally I was delighted when I ran across his name on Party. When I noticed he's from the same town I was, I knew it was him because his screen name is his last name, not the most common name in the world. Anyhow, this guy calls down with any two cards and either folds or calls on the river, no raising. Classic calling station. Gotta love it.

[nflchad]

Poker Tracker stats of the "worst" players 100 hands minimum, 90% min VP$IP
1. fairoaksbalz
Game: .50-1 full
Total hands: 167
VP$IP:94.7
PF Raise: 16%
WTSD: 48.45%
W$ASD: 37.18%

2.mikepotts
Game: NL/PL $25
Total hands: 190
VP$IP:90.5
PF Raise: 8.42%
WTSD: 32.7%
W$ASD: 40%

3.serpigno
Game: PL %25
Total hands: 183
VP$IP:92.9
PF Raise: 21.9%
WTSD: 32.75%
W$ASD: 44.64%

[SirFWALGMan]

It was pretty dumb. However you do have a bit of a point. I make it VERY hard to read someone if they suck so bad that your $10 flop bet in 25/NL is cold called by him. Does he have the flush draw? A Monster hand? Who the fuck knows. I think this is why the pro players have trouble sometimes at the WSOP with the amatures.

[Reel Deal]

I think the real reason you want to say away from these uber-fish is you know darn well they'll just lay "the most horrid bad beat ever" on you.

[Talking Poker]

For what it's worth, there are times when I prefer to play with good players too, namely in big tourneys. I typed up a big explanation, but it's really OT, so I'm going to start a new thread.

In limit cash games though, I'll play with the fish all day long.

P.S. Those guys nflchad listed... WOW. If this list really is going to happen, I think it should be like that - based on concrete data, not just short term opinions about opponents.

[PShabi]

this guy has a Vpip of 73% through 250 hands.

Never raised once.

Passive post-flop.

Last seen at BetonBet 3/6 short.

"RSpain"

[Aequitas58]

I personally think you're too quick to say it's a bad idea. Are the majority of players fish? Probably yes... there are some of us on this board who take poker seriously - I know I do. I'll be the first to say that if we got a comprehensive fish list together, I'd seek them out! Why not?

As someone said, all fish are not created equal. The purpose of this thread isn't to put up mediocre names... I'm talking BAD players. The worse kind. Maniacs, TERRIBLE calling stations, etc.

I'm not worried or scared of playing against a calling station because he might suckout on me on the river. That situation will happen w/ your GOOD player who pegs me as a LAG and calls down with AQ, only to hit his A on the river and kill my Jacks.

Adding to that: I'm not even worried about playing at a table FULL of fish. God damn, where do I sign up!? LOL.

I think it's a good idea.

[Aequitas58]

It'll happen, but don't let that stop you. The fish WILL get lucky 1-5, 1-6 times... that is much better than dealing w/ a good player who wants to fight you for what's in the middle.

[Aequitas58]

I'm assuming Party? LOL.

[Reel Deal]

Sorry Lou, I guess my sarcasm didn't hit it's mark.

[Aequitas58]

LOL. Gotcha.

[PShabi]

Keeping in the spirit of Lou's AWESOME thread, I've got something cool to share.

I just found this and had to fuck around a bit, but it works great.

If you use PokerTracker, you can use the prefs tab in the stats section to select criteria for your favorite fish. It creates a "fishlist" for you right there. Following the steps I found below. You can easily take that list and have it imported into your Party buddy list in a few seconds.

Do this:

--------First thing you have to do is create a file that contains the screennames of all of the people you want to add to your buddy list.

You can create this list from Pokertracker. Here's how:
1. On the preferences tab select the criteria you want to use to identify your fishy buddies. I simply check the "Use player filter" box and select the Fish icon from the "Player Icon" drop-down list. (save)
2. On the Summary tab click the little blue P button (Print) above the list of players.
3. On the "Print - Player Performance Summary" dialog click "Export"
4. Make sure the only box checked is "Player | player_name"
5. Select file type "Comma Separated"
6. Uncheck the "Include Headers" box
7. Enter a filename to export (Example: fish.csv)
8. Click the "Export" button

Voila, file created.

Now you need to take the following code and copy/paste it into word. Then click "save as" and save it with a .vsb file extension. You should save it in the same file as the fish.csv file you just created. Anyway, here's the code:

msgbox "If the Party Poker Buddy List is opened, close it now."msgbox "Now click ""My Account - > Buddy List"" in Party Poker. Then click OK."Const ForReading = 1Const ForWriting = 2Dim objFSDim objFledim countDim strCurrentLinecount = 0Set objFS = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")Set objFle = objFS.OpenTextFile(InputBox("enter file name to import"), ForReading, True)Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")While Not objFle.AtEndOfStream count = count + 1 strCurrentLine = objFle.ReadLine while not wshshell.AppActivate("Buddy List") wscript.sleep 10 wend wshshell.SendKeys "{ENTER}" while not wshshell.AppActivate("Buddy ID") wscript.sleep 10 wend wshshell.SendKeys strCurrentLine & "{ENTER}" while (not wshshell.AppActivate("PokerNow.com")) _ and (not wshshell.AppActivate("MultiPoker.com")) _ and (not wshshell.AppActivate("PartyPoker.com")) _ and (not wshshell.AppActivate("IntertopsPoker")) _ and (not wshshell.AppActivate("Coral Eurobet Poker")) _ and (not wshshell.AppActivate("EmpirePoker")) wscript.sleep 10 wend wshshell.sendkeys "{ENTER}"Wendmsgbox "Finished importing " & count & " names into the buddy list"



Now, you need to run that .vsb file. When prompted, input fish.csv and it will buzz through import and all those names for you in seconds.

Good stuff.

[PShabi]

And just because I'm a nice guy (plus, this thread makes my scrotum tingle) I've decided to share my list from Party 3/6 short. Just got back to Party so it's not much, but these are can't miss fishies!!!

hijackster
cougarjoe
qu2370
BigFoye
kevindoda
iceman66
ydzzz
no1jr
wtkings
dennis5562
biggestbird8
Cjones8555
tiogaphats
smooth_man
ycercom
jimeboy
KEVIN631
iggy6
jlapoker
devildog_35

Enjoy, people enjoy.