There are a myriad of ways to find the fish and most of them involve the observation of table play. I mean if you want to know if a player is any good, then just watch them play right? But poker is a whizz-bang-wallop of a game and it moves along quicker than Road Runner on roller skates. So what other ways are there for quickly identifying a fish?
One old school method is to derive a fish value from the players screen name or avatar. You might not be able to see the person, but you will be surprised how often your perception of their looks is accurate based on just screen name and avatar selection alone, and here are some examples.
If a player has an avatar of a professional poker player, who is not one of the world’s mega stars like you see at WSOP 2012, then it is very likely that they know that player in some form or other. It is not always going to be true, but more often than not this player will be half decent, given that they are having regular dialogue with a professional poker player.
On the flipside to the professional player avatar, keep your eye out for avatars of babies as these are often the sign of a middle aged married recreational player. People playing a Betfair Poker Freeroll need to remember this.
On the screen name front anybody with some reference to a sports team such as ManUtd5 is generally a fish and, strangely, players with screen names such as Crazymadbarstward are generally rocks.
Have some fun and test out the theory for yourself.