5 strong lines from passive fish

Most amateur players you encounter at the poker table are passive fish.

For them, poker resembles playing a solitaire game. They enter nearly every hand, attempting to make a strong combination. If unsuccessful, some of them may fold on the early streets, while others would persist to the river, eager to see all the cards. Despite their differences, these players share a key trait: they seldom exhibit aggression unless they hold a strong hand.

In this article, we will explore five strong lines from passive fish. By recognizing when to fold your medium-strength hands upon encountering these plays, you can save a substantial amount of money in the long run.

Table of Contents:

- Limp-raise

- Squeeze

- Flop bet in a multi-way pot

- Turn check-raise

- Large river bet

Limp-raise

A common tactic among fish is to limp into many pots preflop with weak hands, aiming to see the flop at the lowest possible cost.

You’re likely aware that isolating limps from weaker players by raising is often highly profitable. Typically, they will call your raise only to fold to further aggression on the flop. However, if a weaker player counters your raise with a re-raise, exercise caution. This response generally signals a very strong hand.

We’ll delve deeper into the limp-raise range of these players using multi-player reports in Hand2Note 4.

This feature enables you to analyze gaming trends and identify patterns in the behavior of players with similar styles, allowing you to devise exploitative strategies against them.

For the report, I selected all passive fish with a high VPIP (over 40%) and a low PFR (under 10%), each having at least 100 hands in my database. Then I filtered for situations where they limped preflop:

As we can observe, the limping range of these players is very broad, precisely 48%. Now let’s proceed to the “Next Actions” report and examine the scenario when the fish opted for a limp-raise:

The report reveals a notably low frequency of just 2.6% for this specific action, indicating a shift to a much narrower range. By selecting the “Preflop Range” tab in the new report on the right, you can view the preflop matrix to identify the specific hands that were played using a limp-raise strategy.

The matrix, though inclusive of weaker hands such as J7s or T2s, predominantly features premium and strong hands, including pairs starting from TT and higher, as well as high cards like AJ and stronger.

Therefore, when a less skilled player takes this approach, you should avoid continuing with hands like KJ or QT, as these are often dominated and can lead to disadvantageous outcomes.

Squeeze

The Squeeze is another powerful tactic used by passive players preflop.

Typically, these players opt to just call with marginal and medium-strength hands. However, if they make a squeeze play following a preflop raise and a call, it’s usually a strong indicator that they’re holding a monster hand.

By using the appropriate filter from the quick filter list, I’ve selected the instances where passive fish employed a squeeze preflop:

The screenshot demonstrates a squeeze frequency of only 2.1%, suggesting an extremely narrow and robust range. Consequently, it’s not surprising to find that after executing a squeeze, these players never fold to a 4-bet.

Therefore, if a passive fish squeezes, it’s wise to refrain from both 4-bet bluffing and calling with marginal hands. Just fold them preflop right away. This way you’ll avoid costly confrontations where your hand is likely at a disadvantage.

Flop bet in a multi-way pot

When playing a pot heads-up against a fish, their bet on the flop doesn't necessarily indicate a strong hand. They may bet with hands that have somehow connected with the flop or have potential to improve. However, the dynamics change significantly in a multi-way pot.

If a passive fish bets into several opponents on the flop, it often signals they hold a strong made hand or a strong draw. In these situations, you should play very cautiously.

Let’s explore the correlation between the number of opponents in the pot and the strength of the fish’s betting range on the flop.

Using filters, I selected all situations where passive fish made a bet on the flop against a single opponent:

Let’s navigate to the “Hand Strength” tab to get detailed information about their betting range:

The chart indicates that in heads-up situations when they bet on the flop, weak hands make up a significant portion of their range, specifically 43%.

In Hand2Note 4, you can view reports side by side to analyze how your opponents’ trends shift based on various parameters.

I pinned the obtained report. Then, in the new report on the right, I adjusted the filter to set the condition that there must be at least three players in the pot on the flop:

When a passive fish bets on the flop against two or more opponents, the proportion of weak hands in their range drops to 33%. As the number of opponents in the pot increases, you can place more confidence in the strength of their bet.

Turn check-raise

A check-raise is a very strong line itself, which most low-limit players rarely use as a bluff. This is particularly true for passive fish, especially when they employ this tactic on later streets.

Let’s examine this scenario in the Hand2Note 4 reports:

I filtered all instances where passive fish applied a check-raise on the turn. It’s important to note that they only performed this action 6.6% of the time.

Additionally, the W%SD stat shows that after executing a check-raise on the turn, they won at showdown 62% of the time. This is a solid indicator. If you encounter such a line from a passive player, you should continue only with strong hands.

Large river bet

When a passive fish makes a bet on the river, the size of their bet often indicates the strength of their hand. They may make small bets with weak hands and bluffs, but their large bets most often signify a strong combination.

Let’s analyze this situation in the reports and identify the pattern between bet size and hand strength:

According to the report, passive fish make a bet on the river 45% of the time, which is quite frequent.

In the smart reports of Hand2Note 4, all the necessary information is always at your fingertips. Let’s refer to the “Bet Sizes” report and see what the different sizes of their river bets tell us:

We can discern that after a bet of 80% of the pot or more, passive fish win at showdown noticeably more often than after smaller bets. Hence, when faced with a large bet on the river from such an opponent, you have less reason to suppose they are bluffing.

Remember, when playing against passive fish, you primarily win money through your own aggression - either by value betting their weaker hands or by putting pressure on them with bluffs. However, when such a player shows aggression themselves, you should not try to bluff-catch. More often than not, the correct fold will save you money.

With Hand2Note 4, you can easily identify trends in your opponents’ play, better understand their ranges, and stop paying off their strong hands.