05 Jan 2026 Beginner This material is for beginner players exploit fish table selection As soon as you sit down at a poker table, you should immediately start evaluating how each of your opponents plays. The more information you have, the better decisions you will make against them. You can collect information even when you are not involved in a hand. Simply watching the table already gives you valuable reads. But what kind of information can you use when you have just sat down and have no history yet? In this case, there are several basic signals that can help you form a rough first impression of your opponents: Look at the stack sizes of each player Read their screen names (nicknames). This is not perfect, but still useful Pay attention to players who do not wait for the big blind Identify players who limp and then call a raise — this is one of the strongest indicators Stack Size In cash games, stack size alone already tells you a lot. Most cash games have a maximum buy-in of 100bb. Strong and experienced players usually keep their stacks at 100bb or more. Personally, I am more cautious when playing against players with 100bb+ stacks, at least at first. Why do good players always rebuy to the maximum? Because if you believe you have an edge, you want to be able to win as much money as possible in profitable spots. For example, if I sit with 80bb and a very weak player has 100bb, I am effectively missing out on 20bb of potential profit. Because of this, players with stacks below 100 BB are often fish. Recreational players feel comfortable letting their stack shrink. Good players constantly rebuy to maximize their long-term profit. Important note: “Big stack = strong player” is not always true. A weak player may simply be running hot. However, “small stack = weak player” is much more reliable. Player Nicknames Player nicknames can sometimes give hints about their skill level and mindset. Many solid players use poker-related nicknames (ex. GTOcrusher, EVmaster, 3betManiac). This often means that these players are at least familiar with basic poker concepts such as GTO, expected value (EV), ranges, and aggression. While a nickname alone does not prove skill, it usually suggests a higher level of poker awareness compared to purely random or childish names. In general, reasonable-looking names tend to belong to more serious players, while silly names often belong to recreational ones. Players Who Do Not Wait for the Big Blind In cash games, you are not dealt cards until you post the big blind. You can post it early, but doing so is usually a mistake that hurts your win rate in the long run. Posting the blind out of turn often puts you into hands in bad positions and with weak ranges. Over time, these small disadvantages add up and turn into a noticeable negative impact on your overall win rate. If you see a player who sits down and immediately posts the big blind, this often shows impatience and poor discipline. Such behavior usually indicates a weaker player who does not think much about long-term strategy. Limp-Call Players One of the strongest early indicators of a weak player is limp-calling. If a player limps preflop and then calls a raise, this usually means they do not understand the imortance of aggression, hand strength, and initiative. If a hand is strong enough to call a raise, it is usually strong enough to raise instead. When someone limps, they usually have a marginal hand or are slowplaying. If they then call a raise, it almost always means a marginal hand. Strong hands usually re-raise. Calling raises with weak hands just to “see a flop” is a clear sign of a losing strategy. Even when such a player sometimes has a monster, the way they play it is very passive. Good players do not play strong hands this way. You can safely tag these players as recreational. The only partial exception is small pocket pairs used for set mining, but even this is not ideal play from good players. Conclusion None of these signals are 100% accurate. You may sometimes see a player with a silly nickname, a short stack, and impatient behavior who turns out to be strong. These tips are not meant to replace real hand history or HUD statistics. They simply help you build a rough first impression when you have no other information available. Used correctly, this information allows you to adjust faster and choose better lines against unknown opponents.
