How to Avoid Looking Like a Fish: 7 Costly Poker Mistakes

15 Sep 2025

Beginner

This material is for beginner players

Every poker table has them — the players who practically broadcast their inexperience before the first orbit is done. They don’t need to say a word; their actions scream “easy money”. If you want to climb the stakes, you need to do two things: stop making these mistakes yourself + learn to recognize them in others so you can exploit them. And here are seven of the most common “fish moves” that give away a weak player every time. Let's start!

It’s no secret: most of your profits at the tables come from weaker players. As someone with over a decade of professional experience, I’ll be blunt — the bulk of my winnings have been taken from recreational players. So, let’s break down the seven clear signs that instantly expose a fish at the table. Once you can spot these mistakes, you’ll know exactly who to target.

This is one of the most common tells of a weak, recreational player. They don’t treat the game seriously — they just play for fun. Example: You call preflop with  , a beautifully suited connector worth playing in most spots. The flop comes:   . You’ve flopped a flush draw, needing any of the nine remaining hearts to complete a monster hand. Your opponent bets. 

Now, as I’ve explained many times, raising draws often gives you two ways to win:

• You can take the pot down immediately;
• Or you can hit your draw and scoop a big pot.

But I never recommend doing the same thing 100% of the time. Poker is about mixing frequencies. So in this case, you just call. The turn brings the . Your opponent checks — a clear sign of weakness. That’s when you fire a strong bet to apply pressure. A disciplined player might fold, but a fishy one? They call.

The river lands the . You’ve hit your flush and almost certainly have the best hand. But suddenly, the recreational player leads out with a bet. This is classic “paying off draws” behavior: weak players will call down with obvious drawing hands and then stab at the river, ignoring how transparent their line is.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter what your opponent has when you river the flush — you’re always raising big. They tank and eventually call with  . And here’s the lesson: never pay off big raises on the river when the most obvious draw gets there. The top pair is not good in this spot. Folding is the only correct play. Recreational players can’t let go of these hands, and that’s why they lose. You’re better than that.

All right, let's move on to number two, donk bets. The term donk bet goes way back in poker history. “Donk” stands for donkey — a not-so-flattering way to describe weak players. 

Example: You raise preflop with   and the flop comes:   . Your opponent suddenly leads into you. What are they trying to represent here:

• If they have trips (a seven), most amateurs would slow-play — so a bet doesn’t make sense;
• If they have just a four, that’s a weak holding to fire with.

More often than not, they’re betting with nothing — just “to see where they’re at”. Most amateur players would slow play that hand. So here you call with your Ace-high, which is still the best possible no-pair hand. On the turn, a  falls. They check. That's a weakness, and this is your chance. You fire a strong bet, and they fold. Easy pot.

To be fair, donk bets aren’t always bad. Advanced players will occasionally lead into the preflop raiser as part of a balanced strategy. But for amateurs, this move is overused with weak hands, and it bleeds chips fast. 

It is okay to mix in some donk bets into your game. You absolutely should lead into the preflop razor from time to time. But this should be a small part of your range. If you are routinely doing this with crappy hands like amateurs do a large portion of the time, you are simply bleeding chips at the poker table.

This is a classic sign of an amateur poker player. And I’m talking specifically about hands like   and  . We refer to these as trap hands in poker. I'm going to give you an example right now of why that's the case. 

So you raise it up with  , and one of our fishy friends decides to 3-bet. A 3-bet, of course, is just another term for a re-raise. You make the call — after all, AQ is a premium hand. The flop comes   . Boom — we’ve hit the top pair, top kicker on this board. The villain makes a bet, and we just call. By the way, in this spot we’re about an 85% favorite.

A lot of players will be tempted to raise here. But remember: they already re-raised us before the flop. That deserves some credit. The pot is also starting to get bloated, so exercising a bit of pot control is usually the smart play. Let's just exercise some pot control right now.

The turn is the . The villain bets again, and we call. It’s a harmless card, nothing to worry about. Against a recreational player, we’re never folding. The river comes the . The villain fires one more bet. At this point, you need to ask yourself: If you aren’t calling with AQ here, why did you call preflop in the first place? So we make the call. 

The villain flips over   — and they are behind the entire way. This is exactly why you don’t 3-bet with trap hands like QJ or KJ. Against strong hands like AQ, you’re completely dominated, and when you flop the top pair, you end up losing big.

This is the number one reason why people lose at poker. All of the following hands are pure junk, and you should be folding them preflop every time:

And honestly — it doesn’t even matter if they’re suited. These hands are pure trash. They are long term losing hands. And the biggest reason why so many amateurs struggle to win at the poker table is because they routinely play trashy hands like this. Over time, they bleed chips and wonder why their win rate never improves.

Let's move on to number five now, which is never folding pocket aces. So guys, this is another classic amateur mistake. Example hand: You call preflop with  , and the flop comes:   . The villain makes a bet. Now, with a draw here, I will often raise — giving myself multiple ways to win the pot. But in this spot, we just call.

The turn brings the . Boom — we’ve hit the nut straight, the literal best possible hand. Even better, if the villain happens to have a 3, they also have a straight — but ours is higher. This is a dream situation, so I make a big raise on the turn. You never want to slow-play the nuts against recreational players. They call.

The river comes the . Villain checks. This is a clear value spot — bet the pot. They go into the tank and finally call, flipping over pocket aces … only to see the bad news: they were drawing dead on the turn. Never make this mistake.

When somebody makes a big raise on the turn or river, they usually have: a straight, two pair, or another hand that crushes your one pair. If you don’t learn to fold in these spots, you’re just paying off strong players. And that’s exactly what fish do. Once again, you’re better than that.

Limping big hands is another classic mistake made by our fishy friends. Let’s say you’re in the big blind and notice four limpers in front of you. Limping in poker means just calling the big blind instead of raising. I highly suggest you avoid this, because it announces weakness to the table. You give someone the opportunity to raise and take control of the pot — and that’s not how we win in poker.

Now, you look down at the   — not a great hand. You decide to check. The flop comes:   . I’m all about fast playing at the table, but notice we’re in the big blind, which means we act first. Checking here makes sense because with four other players in the pot, one of them is likely to bet. That sets up a check-raise, allowing us to trap the maximum amount of money in the middle — exactly what you want when hitting three of a kind on the flop.

One amateur player makes a bet, three fold, and the action comes back to you. What should you do? Raise it big. The player calls. What could they possibly have on this eight-deuce board? Not much. With three of a kind, there’s nothing to worry about.

The turn comes: . You bet the pot — no reason to mess around. Checking here would be a huge mistake, as it keeps the pot artificially small. You want to charge them the maximum, so you bet. They call.

The river comes: . Once again, bet the pot. Don’t overthink it. Our amateur friend tanks and finally calls with two black kings —  . So this is a textbook example of why you never limp big hands. Let me tell you that this is not a bad beat. A lot of people get that twisted. This is just a bad play that can cost you big over time.

A value bet in poker is when you bet with strong confidence that you have the best hand. Good poker players almost never miss value bets, and this is a common mistake among amateurs. Let’s say you hold   — a strong hand I recommend playing in nearly all situations. Skip ahead to the river: the board has     .

An amateur player checks to you here. What should you do? In many situations, you should bet. But notice the complexity:

• The flush draw completed on the river;
• There are possible two-pair hands and straights.

You hold the middle pair with an okay kicker, which means many one-pair hands are ahead of you. For example: Any queen gives them the top pair, or a ten with a stronger kicker — like ace-ten or king-ten — beats you.

Given this, the player decides to check behind. They reveal the  . This is a clear blunder: missing a value bet. If they had bet, we would have called. Always make your value bets on the river, especially with the top pair. Never check behind, even when the flush completes. Thanks for being today with us, we wish you best of luck at the online poker tables!

If you want to stop making the common mistakes we’ve discussed today, structured poker training is the key. Playing trash hands, refusing to fold even strong pairs like pocket aces, limping big hands, or missing value bets may seem small at the moment — but over the long distance, they cost you chips and control of the table. 

At Getcoach.poker, you can learn exactly that. Their lessons show real in-game examples and break down the right moves step by step. You’ll see how to fold hands that cost you, raise at the right moment, and extract maximum value from your strong hands. You’ll also learn how to read boards, recognize your opponents’ mistakes, and play aggressively when it counts — turning situations that might seem risky into profitable plays. Here you’ll find out many interesting things:

• Poker coaching section.
• Poker courses.
• Poker school.
• Poker articles.
• Poker videos.
• Poker calculators.

The best part is that it’s all practical. You’re not memorizing charts or theory — you’re learning how to think at the table, just like the pros. Every lesson helps you play more confidently, avoid predictable mistakes, and gradually turn your game around. So if you’re ready to stop giving chips away and start playing smart poker, visit our platform and get started. With the right guidance, every hand can be an opportunity, and every table can be a place where you win — not just play.