Perhaps one of the most disturbing trends in poker in recent years even on free online poker sites is the increasing number of so-called “good players” that regularly criticize those who play poorly. Chasing away “fish” makes little sense for anyone who wishes to win money playing poker. The surest way to win money is to play against inferior opponents who don’t realize that they’re poor players. That’s why people say that you shouldn’t “tap the fish tank” or “tap the aquarium.”

You want to people to gamble. You even want fish to get lucky a few times so that they’ll keep gambling. That is why you should try to treat fish with respect. You want them to enjoy themselves and have a good time.

Applauding or praising a poor move may encourage an opponent to continuingly make the same mistakes. However, this may be outside of a players moral standing and would be considered a hustle or “setting the fishes bait”.

You don’t have to set bait to keep the fish nibbling and putting money down. By simply ensuring there is a good feeling at the free online poker tables you will help bring down the opposing players self guard and they will gradually let free and play adventurous. While your opponent is having a good time playing carefree you can continue to play conservative poker and watch your money pile up.

No one likes being disrespected and the chances are if you’re obnoxious or impolite, your fish will find another bowl to swim in (table to play at) and inevitably take their purse with them. By pushing this opponent away you will have potentially pushed away money you could have won from their blunders.

Take a moment to think about if all players were decent? Poker would be one hard game to win at or more to the point make any money from.

The main goal of playing good poker is to make as many correct decisions as you can, while forcing your opponents to make as many incorrect decisions as you can. It’s much easier to encourage bad players to make bad decisions, so you shouldn’t scare them away. In the long run, you’ll profit from their bad plays.

Another reason why you shouldn’t berate fishy player at the table or in your online chat box is because you don’t want them to improve. If they feel embarrassed with how bad they play, they may actually take the time and effort to improve their play. In other words, you’re encouraging bad players to become good players. Once they’re good, they’ll be tougher to beat. You won’t be getting their money quite as easily anymore. Why would you want to make it any harder to earn a buck in poker?

It’s hard enough to win at poker nowadays with all the information that’s available to improve your game. There are a lot of decent players out there. The games simply aren’t as soft as they were when I started playing online seven years ago.

I continue to play free online poker where there’s still plenty of cash available to win- but you will never catch me “tapping the fish tank”!!