There are plenty of anonymous sites out there that don’t use screen names and instead use randomized numbers for the players at your table. This prevents long-term tracking of your opponents.

You may have heard of (or play on) sites like Ignition or Bovada. Without trackable screen names, playing on anonymous sites is a lot like LIVE poker where you don’t have a ton of info on your opponents. That is… unless you’re paying attention!

There are 3 podcasts episodes below that will help you exploit your anonymous poker opponents with what little information you have about them.

Fishing on Anonymous Poker Sites

Listen to the first episode as you follow along below: Fishing on Anonymous Poker Sites

Here’s what you need to do…

Go fishing with any playable hand. 98s, A5s, 44, A9o, KT. If your fishy opponents can play worse hands, then do what you can to isolate the weakest players at the table. Especially when you have position against them.

How do you know they’re weak?

They limp or call a ton preflop, they’ve shown down weak hands, they give up easily on flops or turns, or they’re a calling station who can’t fold any pair or draw.

Now stop the podcast, take action to begin your education, then return to learn more about this smart strategy.

Step 1: Find the Fish

Fish Definition: a weak level 1 player (mostly only thinks about their cards and the board), often recreational, who plays too many hands. Mostly passive, but some Fish are very aggressive (nicknamed Maniacs or Donks).

Preflop Actions that Indicate a Fish (super prevalent on anonymous sites):

• Any limping at all.
• Calling too frequently “This guy’s always calling!”
• Overcalling and overlimping.
• Raising then calling every 3bet, basically they can’t find a fold after putting chips in the pot.
• Defending blinds with ATC or “it’s soooooted!”
• VPIP > 25%, a huge gap between VPIP and PFR and Maniacs have PFR > 25.

Post-flop Actions that Indicate a Fish:

• Calling station who overpays with any draw.
• Folds too easily on flop or turn (super honest).
• Can’t fold a pair and call down 3 streets with TPWK.
• They showdown some weak pair that logically should’ve folded if they’d only thought about what their opponent’s bets meant on that board.

Step 2: Isolate the Fish

Isolate Definition: get the target player to yourself on the flop.

How do you isolate a player?

• Raise after they limp. Make it a size big enough to discourage other callers and hopefully get the weak limper or the weakest player at the table to call you. If they overlimp, raise even bigger than normal to isolate them. If everyone folds, so be it. You just earned 3.5bb’s or more without having to see the flop or show your hand.
  • My current sizing: 5 or 6bb+1 per limper. If they fold and you iso-raised with AA…

“Never frown when you take it down!”

• Raise when the Fish is in the blinds with anything playable. You have 98s, A5s, 44, A9o, KT (basically anything you want to go post-flop against the Fish with) and you raise big enough to discourage all but him to call.
• 3bet after they open-raise. If you call, you could elicit more calls or 3bets. 3bet instead to get the Fish all to yourself.
• 3bet squeeze after they overcall. They called someone’s raise, showing weakness. Now you 3bet with a hand you don’t mind seeing the flop with in hopes the everyone else folds and the Fish calls. Or they all fold and you smile big at the lovely pot you just took down.

Step 3: Exploit the Fish

There are so many ways to exploit players depending on their tendencies, range, position, the board, stack size, history with you, etc.

So, I’m going to give you two mindset tips for when you see the flop against the weakest players at the table. These mindset tips are all about understanding your opponent then making plays that take advantage of their post-flop tendencies.

#1: Get Value While the Gettin’s Good

This is my #1 tip for anyone playing against Fish.

You’re isolating them for a reason: You want to earn their chips!!!

It’s a huge mistake to slowplay great hands against Fishy players.

They’ll often call with any pair or any draw especially on the flop. Checking here with a TP hand is normally a huge mistake. If you can reason through their range and you believe they can call your TP, your set, your 2p hand with something worse, you owe it to yourself and to me to value bet this player.

As long as they can call you with worse, YOU MUST BET.

Check out this Fish exploiting video:

#2: You Ain’t Bluffing if They Ain’t Folding

Have you ever said, or heard someone say in frustration, “They never fold!”

That is a great thing… it’s the BEST THING. That means these players will give you value, so like #1 above, get value while the gettin’s good.

But that also means, DO NOT BLUFF IF THEY AIN’T FOLDING. If they ain’t folding, you’re throwing chips away.

Now you might say, “Sky, they’re not folding on the flop but I’m sure they’re folding to a double-barrel on the turn.” And I’d agree with you. Make the flop bet but you must also make the turn bet. If their tendency is to fold the turn, but you bet the flop then check the turn, you done made a horrible mistake.

The idea is that you must know what street they’re honest on and bet on that street. And if they’re never honest and they’re a calling station on every street? Only bet for value and bet 2/3 pot or more. Like I said, “Get value while the gettin’s good.”

This applies preflop as well. If they raise and NEVER fold to 3bets, don’t 3bet bluff them unless they also fold a ton on the flop. Instead, 3bet for value bigger than normal and get crazy good value out of your best preflop hands, then play post-flop against this mega-Fish.

6 Reasons to Switch Tables on Anonymous Poker Sites

Listen to this podcast episode as you follow along below: 6 Reasons to Switch Tables

Here’s what you need to do…

Play a session right now and switch tables as necessary. So, if you’re feeling frustrated or things aren’t going well on your anonymous table, or you don’t even know who to target, just switch! Anonymous sites make it so easy to switch that it’s no longer a hassle to find a new table. Make poker easier on yourself and harder on your opponents by finding the right tables to play on.

Now stop the podcast, take action to begin your education, then return to learn more about this smart strategy.

Switching Tables on Anonymous Sites

It's awesome that anonymous poker sites make table switching super easy. They do this to remove barriers of entry to recreational players and to convince them that playing on their site makes them safe from sharks like me and you.

Well, they are absolutely wrong! Easy table switching has an unintended side effect of helping us sharks find great tables to play at.

The goal behind switching tables is to make poker difficult for others… NOT allow them to make it difficult for you.

On Ignition Poker, switching tables is as simple as closing your current table, hitting two buttons in the lobby and BAM!… new table to exploit.

Here are the 6 reasons to Switch Tables:

1. Find the Fish

Here's what you're looking for:

• 6max: 2+ Fish at your table
• Full Ring: 4+ Fish at your table

How do you know you've got fish in your pond? Lots of short stacks, limping, calling and blind defending. Not a lot of 3bets or 3bet squeezes.

Also, lots of post-flop folding or calling and little or no raising. And terrible showdown hands.

The less TAG’s and LAG’s on your table, the more Fish you get!

2. Avoid LAG’s on Your Left

LAG’s, or loose-aggressive players, love to use aggression against you.

They make poker tough.

You want to make poker difficult for others… NOT allow them to make it difficult for you.

Leave the table if you've got LAG's to your direct left.

So you're looking for tables where you can…

3. Be the Exploiter

YOU want to be the one turning the screws to THEM.

It’s okay if competent TAG’s and LAG’s are on your table, as long as they’re on your right. That way you can be the using position against them and making their lives difficult with aggressive plays.

What kind of aggressive plays?

• 3betting and 3bet squeezing
• Calling preflop in order to bet when they check
• Raising cbet bluffs, especially when the board doesn’t hit their range
• Cbetting from IP

4. Keep Cool and Chive On

Switching tables allows you to avoid stress and frustration, so you're more likely to play in your A-game.

And, when you’re the one putting the screws to your opponent, you feel in control.

Your sessions will be so much more fun, maybe even relaxing, and profitable.

5. Book a Win

Sometimes you’re in a downswing and it feels like everything is against you. You’ve just lost 10 sessions in a row and your bankroll is down to 33 buy-ins from 45 buy-ins.

Poker can be painful.

Booking a win can often help to improve your mental state which may help you turn the downswing around.

So, if you’re up to 240bb’s, there’s no shame in switching tables and booking a 140bb win. You’re on an anonymous site so your opponent might get pissed that you left, but they can’t do anything about it. They can’t get revenge in a future session against player 4-b55785t5009s2.

It’s not like you see in movies where everyone says you gotta stay and give them the chance to win it back. No sir! On anonymous poker you can come and go as you please and they can’t hold it against you.

6. Start Fresh

Maybe you lost a few big hands and the anger’s building and you’re headed toward tiltsville. You can simply leave the table and sit at another one. This will allow you to mentally try and start fresh.

“I’m at brand new table and I can play my normal game. Those past losses have nothing to do with this new table and these new players.”

It’s like moving to a new city and going to a new high school. You can start over and be whoever you want to be and they’re none the wiser.

Pop Quiz, Hotshot

It’s your first hand at a 6-max cash game and you don’t know any of the players. This can be a hand on an anonymous site, on PokerStars, in your local cardroom… it doesn’t matter. You’re dealt QTo in the BB. The first 3 players limp into the pot. The BTN folds and the SB makes a small raise to just 3bb’s. Action’s on you, what do you do?

Your options with QTo facing 3 limpers and a tiny raise are to Fold, Call or 3bet? What’s the best play? If you 3bet, what size will you make it?

The answer is to 3bet to 12bb’s or more. Do you want to know why?

In the new Anonymous Poker Exploits Course (get it below), I tell you exactly why 3betting is better than calling or folding.

This course will teach you how to exploit your anonymous and unknown poker opponents with the little information you have on them. And the great thing is, the strategies you learn in this course will work on any site and in any game, online or LIVE.

Why I DO NOT Recommend Fast Fold Poker on Anonymous Sites

Listen to this podcast episode as you follow along below: DO NOT Play Fast Fold Anonymous Poker

Fast Fold on anonymous sites is antithetical to everything I believe about playing poker great poker and I’m going to discuss all the reasons why.

Here’s what you need to do…

I want you to see for yourself why you SHOULD NOT play fast fold on anonymous poker sites. Play a quick 5-minute anonymous site fast fold session. I play on Ignition and it’s called Zone Poker there. Pay attention to the noticeable lack of information in these games, and all you’re really doing is playing your cards, your position and the board. Notice how hard it is to exploit your opponents when you know next to nothing about them.

Now stop the podcast, take action to begin your education, then return to learn more about this smart strategy.

Stack Size Doesn’t Indicate Anything

• 30bb’s usually indicates a fish.
• Topping off at 100bb’s every time is a reg.
• Large stacks might be willing to gamble it up.

In fast fold… who knows what their stack means! The 35bb player might be a winning TAG who just lost 120bb’s in the prior hand. He just hasn’t topped off yet so you caught him with a 35bb Fishy stack. But if you play against him this way, it’ll probably lead to some mistakes.

You Don’t Know Player Types

Is your opponent a TAG, LAG, Fish, Nit or a Manic? Who knows?! It’s not even like LIVE poker where you can at least see their age and sex and get some clues

You Never See Prior Hands

The BTN just overcalled your EP open-raise. What does this mean? Well, he surely   wants to see the flop. But, does he normally call a lot and this is just another broadway or suited hand or pair or Ace-rag he calls with? Or is he a tight caller who only gets into multiway pots with small pairs and suited connectors? Or is he a super Fish who loves slowplaying big hands like KK and AA. You don’t know because you’ve never seen this player make a preflop nor any post-flop play in the past.

Sucks, huh?

You Never See Showdown

Showdown is such a great source of information but right now in this hand, you’ve never seen any of your opponents showdown a hand. And the next hand? You’ve never seen them showdown anything either.

You Can’t Take Notes on Players

Don’t Know if you’ve ever played with them before. You might’ve played the last 17 hands against this same player and now you’ve got AA and he called you from the BB. How do you play him? What are his tendencies? What if the board comes A92? How about 678 all hearts and you don’t have a heart!

No Idea of Mental State or Table Image

For all you know, this 100bb player can be riding high because he just won 2 hands to take him from 28bb’s to 100bb’s. Maybe he just lost 150bb’s in the prior hand and he’s angry and tilting.

Only One Source of Information: Their Preflop Action

• Villain open-raised in the CO. Maybe a “standard” 20% range, maybe just 5%, maybe he’s a maniac at 40%.
• UTG Villain limps in. Sure, he’s probably a Fish. But, you have K7s. Should you iso-raise to bluff him? What if he hates folding after limping? What if he hates folding flops and turns, that means you’ll need to barrel bluff him with your K7s.
• You raised with AQs in the CO and the BTN 3bet you to 8bb’s. What does this mean? Is he bluffing you? Is he capable of bluffing you? Are they super tight and only 3bets with KK+? You have no idea!! Should you call with AQs, 4bet or fold? Who knows!

It’s Sooooo Hard to Bluff!

When you know next to nothing about your opponents, it’s hard to:

• 3bet bluff
• Cbet bluff
• Check-raise bluff
• Donk bluff
• Double or triple-barrel bluff

Sure, you can always just make these bluffs and hope they’ll fold, but that’s not really winning poker, is it? That’s more like hopeful, bingo poker.

Ignition Zone Poker

Can’t even fold and stay to watch the action and learn from how they play.

Can’t even replay hands. Once you fold, the action isn’t recorded, the replayer stops there.

Can’t tag hands with PokerTracker 4 nor do any hands get recorded. So you can’t learn from your database of hands.

All learning about population tendencies must come from off-the-felt work within your database of hands that you need to download 24 hours after each and every session. Studying these hands isn’t even easy.

So, how can you win in Fast Fold Anonymous games?

I bet that only 1-2% of Fast Fold Anonymous players earn money in the long run. This is just a way to suck rake out of recreational players who want the thrill of playing tons of hands in a short amount of time.

I think the only real winners are the poker sites.

Now, you might be able to become a winner if you’re willing to put in a ton of study time off-the-felt to learn population tendencies. But that’s the only way you can learn these things. You can’t learn them from playing because when you fold, you’re sent to a new table. And, no hands are being sent to your database.

Anonymous Poker Top Recommendations

Get up to a $3,000 welcome bonus and support the show by joining through the relevant link based on your location:

• Ignition Poker (US Only)
• Ignition Poker (AUS Only)
• Bovada Poker (US Only)
• Bodog Canada (excluding Quebec)
• Bodog Latam (Accepted in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela)

If your anonymous site allows for PokerTracker 4, you must get it ASAP! (all the sites above allow for it) This is going to build a database of hands that you can learn from and ultimately improve your skills and your player exploits. If you get it through the above link, send me your purchase confirmation to sky@smartpokerstudy.com and I'll send you my Smart HUD for PT4 in thanks for your support.

And get the necessary hand converter so you can use the PokerTracker 4 HUD as you play. I use the Ignition Converter.