Why are poor poker players called fish?

Because they “flop” around?

My fishing buddy called this evening. He wants to go to our favorite river and hunt the elusive Steelhead Trout. I say elusive because the rule of thumb is 40 hours of fishing = 1 fish. They’re in there. You can see them. Getting them onto the hook is entirely another thing. Landing them is no picnic either. Pound-for-pound, Steelies fight like no other fish, making 50 yard, spool-squealing runs and 5-foot jumps. Funny thing is, when we lose one, we’re still tickled pink that we had a go at it. I’ll take the camera.

I’ve been playing at Stars the last few nights. The first couple nights I had minor swings and ended even. Last night I picked up Kings in the Big Blind with five limpers and bet it up 11 X BB. UTG called. In that this guy was to my left, I had been watching him and was so far unimpressed. Actually, just nonplussed, as he didn’t stand out in any way. Long story short, since I didn’t put him on Aces, I lost it all to a set of 4s on the flop.

“Ballsy,” I wrote.

“ty”

And then for the next hour I watched him call down everything, only to fold on the river. None of it came back my way. Finally, I typed: “Figures that the fish would get lucky against me and then donk it all off. Yeah, I know. I overplayed my big pocket pair.

I managed to get 10% of my loss back and headed for Poker Academy where I could chat with friends and pour a scotch. It’s tempting not to play for money. But then again, translate a hand like the one below into cash, and I’d be quite happy. Courage, my dear friend. You just might get your second pair on the river.

Poker Academy Online #41,146,179
No Limit Texas Holdem ($2/$4 NL)
Table Granite
August 03, 2008 - 00:29:33 (PDT)

1} bastin $400.00 Ad As
2) Le Poissard $357.00 ?? ??
3) ManOnFire $927.10 ?? ??
5) patounet90 $367.00 ?? ??
6) sbstar * $559.40 ?? ??
7) Aristophanes $396.90 ?? ??
8) hommell $319.20 Kc Jc
9) SilverHands (sitting out)

Aristophanes posts small blind $2
hommell posts big blind $4
bastin raises $16
Le Poissard folds
ManOnFire folds
patounet90 folds
sbstar folds
Aristophanes folds
hommell calls $16

FLOP: 3d 4s Kh
hommell checks
bastin bets $42
hommell calls $42

TURN: 3d 4s Kh 3h
hommell checks
bastin bets $126
hommell calls $126

RIVER: 3d 4s Kh 3h Js
hommell bets $131.20 (all-in)
bastin calls $131.20
hommell shows Kc Jc
bastin shows Ad As

bastin wins $637.40 with Two Pair, Aces and Threes
$3 raked.

Too bad I don’t have a good hand to post in which I am in it with Le Poissard.