Generally speaking, there are two main types of poker player who play online. These are sharks, those who are clued up and take poker gaming very seriously, and fish, who are fun players that don’t take things as seriously and don’t have the same poker knowledge.
For a poker site to be successful, they need to attract fish to the site. There is no need to attract sharks to the site, because if the fish are there, then the sharks will follow. What this essentially means is that if the site can attract a lot of low-quality players, the better players will join in to win their money from them.
Therefore, attracting fish is the most important element of running a successful poker site, get this right, and the stream of players joining in should be very strong. But how do sites do this, what do they offer to ensure that a regular number of fish are actively playing on the site?
What Attracts Fish to Poker Site?
Regardless of the type of player, you are and what you are looking for, the good news is that poker sites have historically shown that they know what to do when it comes to attracting fish. There are many different aspects of their service and other things they do which make them appealing to fish and here are some of the biggest ways in which they do that.
Types of Poker Available
The first part to look at is what types of poker are available. For example, if much of the poker is aimed at bigger players who take things seriously, such as tournaments with larger buy-ins, then of course, this is not going to appeal to fish.
One side of poker that does really appeal to fish players is fast-paced poker, which you may know fast-fold poker, but is called many other names depending on the site you are playing on. This fast-paced style of play is ideal for those who don’t think a lot, but instead want instant action. If you think about this, those looking for instant action and not too much thinking will more than likely be fish players.
While the types of player you come across will be determined by the rooms you play in, the overall offering on the site will play a big part in determining the types of players who are playing.
Attract Smaller Players With HUD Ban & Anonymous Tables
If a site shows that it is on the side of smaller fish players than that is going to attract a lot of fish players. There are two ways to do this, and with both ways, sites are effectively doing a little bit to protect fish from sharks by the way that they run their poker site.
The banning of HUDs is important, while another way to work around this is to make all tables anonymous. These are two features that will attract fish and make it harder for sharks to prey on them and eventually win their money.
HUDs are used by players to work out the playing style of others and what they are likely to do in games. These are used by sharks to work out who the fish are and then target them. On an open site, where these are allowed, fish will feel like they are at a disadvantage because they know that players on the site can use HUDs to find them.
If these are banned, the site gives out an impression that they care about fish players, want to attract them to the site, and ultimately want their business and for them to stick around.
As a fish, you want as much on your side as possible while you are playing, and it is the things we have mentioned above that attracts fish and gives them a chance to succeed.
Is There a Pattern to Show Where Fish are Usually Found?
We’ve just spoken about what sites are trying to do to attract fish, but what about where fish are usually found, if you are a shark and looking for them, or if you want to play with a lot of fish.
Poker Sites Combined with Sportsbooks and Casinos
Sites that are combined and offer more than just poker are the first place where you will find a lot of fish players. This is because these players often want to do something else, and play poker as an additional interest, so they don’t want to sign up to a site that solely offers poker, instead they will use a combined site.
This means that either casinos or sportsbooks that also offer poker gaming will be of big interest to fish players. They can play here, either with an account they already have, or they can sign up and know that they can use one account for all of their gambling needs, rather than signing up for a sportsbook and poker site separately and having two accounts for their gaming.
New Sites
Another place to find a lot of fish is on a site that is new. This may be a site like the ones we’ve just mentioned, where you combine poker gaming with other things, or it could be a site that is solely dedicated to poker gaming.
New sites like to make a big splash and often attract a lot of players based on that. This could be thanks to a big advertising push at the start, or a huge new customer offer to attract new players to the site. Both of these are the kind of things that attract the attention of fish, and for that reason, you will see a number of fish on the site playing.
Everything that surrounds new sites is good for smaller players and those who don’t take their gaming as seriously as some do. It is for this reason that you will find a lot of fish on new sites because they want to sign up with them and see what all the fuss is about.
Low Deposit Limits & Table Limits
The makeup of sites will determine which one players choose to play with. When you are searching where to play, you will look at the rooms which are available to you and determine if they suit your style.
A site that has a lot of tables with low limits, and also offers low deposit limits, is naturally going to appeal to smaller players. They will see this and see that even though they are a small staking player, they have a lot of choice for them, and this ultimately means that fish will be on that site.
Compare that to a site that has higher deposit limits and a lot of tables with higher limits, and this is where you are going to find bigger players, less likely to be fish. Sites that offer small limits, so that everyone can get involved, are not going to rule out some players like the sites do with higher limits.
If you are a fish yourself and looking to play with others, or you are a shark that wants to find fish, then these are the types of site that you will find them.