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Advice On Taking Notes

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  1. bobbydigital bobbydigital is offline

    Montreal
    Canada

    Posts: 57
    Joined: Jun 05

    Jul 10th, 2005 (7/10/2005 12:23pm)

    I've been reading up of th types of player notes that should be taken during play. I'm just not sure to what length I should be doing it.

    What types of notes do you typically take and how frequently? per tourney, hand?

    Actuall any notes advice will do.

    Thanks
    BD
  2. magicfingers magicfingers is offline

    Dallas, TX
    United States

    Posts: 388
    Joined: Feb 05

    Jul 10th, 2005 (7/10/2005 1:30pm) in reply to bobbydigital

    I am curious about this myself. I have attempted to take notes, but am lost as to what to put in them. Who is to say that what he/she does today will do the same the next time. Any help would be appreciated.
  3. rain_k rain_k is offline

    OR
    United States

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    Jul 10th, 2005 (7/10/2005 1:53pm) in reply to bobbydigital

    Your notes do not need to be lengthy. It will help if you come up with some standard abbreviations for what kinds of info. you are keeping track of.

    You need to keep whatever amount of notes will help you play when you are seated w/a particular player.

    I generally keep track of anything remarkable or deviates from an ABC game. Some players are noteworthy strong or weak. I keep track of what hands they raise with, if they sandbag or checkraise, will they fold their hand once they are in?, what hands they bet, what hands they draw with, do they bluff/semibluff?, are they overcautious/overaggressive?

    I also try to make a quick note on unremarkable players just so I know they sat with me. I want to know who might already have notes on my play.

    True, some players play very different on days -- I add that to my notes. It is usually enough to start out noting players that are either very strong or very weak. That gives you a place to begin and decide from there how detailed you want to be.
  4. DP388 DP388 is offline

    Posts: 337
    Joined: May 05

    Jul 10th, 2005 (7/10/2005 2:31pm) in reply to bobbydigital

    I take notes about almost anything I think is helpful, but the information that has helped me make decisions are mostly about betting patterns:

    1. Do they vary their pre-flop raises & in what position? Examples:
    4x raise with AA and KK (does not slow play)
    3x raise with AQs UTG
    2x raise with JJ and TT in EP

    2. How do they bet pre and post-flop with hands like AK (i.e. 4x pre-flop, but only 1/2 the pot if they miss)

    3. How do they handle draws? Semi-bluff? Minimum bet? Do they call pot-sized bets?

    4. Do they play A & K with low kickers (limp or to a raise)?

    5. In what situations will they call/fold aggressive bets (i.e. scare cards)?

    6. Do they call-off all their chips in bad situations (i.e. Top pair with a flush showing)

    7. In what situations do they go all-in?

    I'll also put big notes at the top like: DON'T BLUFF - CALLING STATION or LAG - CAN TRAP

    Hope that helps.
  5. magicfingers magicfingers is offline

    Dallas, TX
    United States

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    Jul 10th, 2005 (7/10/2005 2:31pm) in reply to rain_k

    Thanks for the tips rain.
  6. Wein Wein is offline Sunday Millionaire

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    Jul 10th, 2005 (7/10/2005 4:58pm) in reply to DP388

    I don't know who you are, Dp388, but that was very solid advice. I do exactly the same thing
     
  7. willis09r willis09r is offline

    Cincinnati, OH
    United States

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    Jul 10th, 2005 (7/10/2005 5:09pm) in reply to Wein

    Yeah so who is DP388 so we can put notes on him now. lol
  8. DP388 DP388 is offline

    Posts: 337
    Joined: May 05

    Jul 11th, 2005 (7/11/2005 12:59am) in reply to willis09r

    LOL

    I recently came across P5s. Been posting at Card Player.com for about a year.
  9. TiggerBets TiggerBets is offline

    Moreno Valley, CA
    United States

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    Jul 11th, 2005 (7/11/2005 6:10pm) in reply to DP388

    So on these notes that you take, do you use pen and paper or do you have a word processing program up and running?

    Also, do you only do the notetaking on SnG's and Cash Games versus MTT's? I would think with the MTT's you would only want to follow people who tend to make the money everytime, but I would think your list would be HUGE if you followed every MTT that you played in.
  10. magicfingers magicfingers is offline

    Dallas, TX
    United States

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    Jul 11th, 2005 (7/11/2005 7:20pm) in reply to TiggerBets

    Almost all the pokersites have a feature where you can store notes on their site. You have access to the notes whenever that certain person happens to be at your table. The notes will stay there until you have deleted them out. You can take notes in all games in any form.
  11. freerolling freerolling is offline

    Ashburn, VA
    United States

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    Jul 11th, 2005 (7/11/2005 9:33pm) in reply to magicfingers

    Just to add...I'm not the greatest or most consistent note taker, but I've noticed that your online notes are usually resident on the machine that you're playing on when you take the notes. So if you travel and use a friend's machine, your notes will not be available (party and stars at least).
  12. Gringo Gringo is offline

    San Antonio, TX
    United States

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    Jul 12th, 2005 (7/12/2005 7:22pm) in reply to DP388

    I think UB spoils you with buddy and note taking... i use a lot and similarly to the thought process that DP388 uses.

    For tourneys i try to put a "T" just to distinguish from cash game players' notes.

    Somtimes i will detail a type of hand they called my reraise with (especially if it stands out like a K9 etc.)

    Just first impressions of a player ...i might put nothing or simply say 5-10 NL ....and no other notes. Or in short term use "A or A- , B, and follow with a " ?" until i can get more info on them. Or if they play in very large games i might note the size of game (even if i am not in it) and if they are dropping down in size at a lower level is also good to know.

    Sometimes i ll make a remark that a player at my NL table plays like a limit player. I see that a lot.
  13. WEC WEC is offline helps keep track of scammers in the Transfer Thread

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    Jul 13th, 2005 (7/13/2005 3:12am) in reply to Gringo

    I extensively use NOTES on all players I encounter--

    My system is relatively easy and userfriendly. I put everyone into cagtegories that I have shaped im my mind and then put them in their respective note boxes.

    If you are Johnny Bax I tend to remember players like that without notes.

    If you are a good player in my estimation I just put "good player". But I find most of my notes say (in ascending order of bad play)-- "idiot CS" "Super Idiot CS" "Supreme Super Idiot CS" "Dumbfk" "Supreme Dumbfk" "Worst Player on this Site"
  14. da_bill da_bill is offline

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    Jul 13th, 2005 (7/13/2005 3:29pm) in reply to bobbydigital

    initially I used the "poker animal" shorthand, (can't remember who coined the term - hellmuth?) anyway the animals are; mouse, elephant, jackal, lion, eagle

    they pretty much speak for themselves, but mouse is meak/weak doesn't raise a lot and is fairly easy to scare away. elephant is calling station, jackal is active/bluffer, lion is solid and eagle is basically a pro who will adapt styles. This gives you a general idea on how to play against them, and I think it is somewhat helpful, but of late I've started just typing in everything interesting about a player that I notice. (knowing what hands they limp with and what hands they raise with preflop is very helpful)

    all the categories of things mentioned in earlier posts are great; I love the idea of noting which players are unremarkable too.. I'm going to start doing that. Thanks for the tip Rain- previously I just hadn't written anything....
  15. hitMySet hitMySet is offline

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    Jul 14th, 2005 (7/14/2005 2:45pm) in reply to bobbydigital

    I try to categorize the players into loose or tight, passive or aggressive...and then ill add notes on strange plays or slowplays
  16. soccer mom 2 soccer mom 2 is offline

    Huntington Beach, CA
    United States

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    Jul 14th, 2005 (7/14/2005 3:19pm) in reply to hitMySet

    i sorta cheat-- i watch most of the major final tables and simply red dot the guys that make it-- it basicaaly gives me a heads up that if they are making final tables in the big events no fancy steals..;-) i use to make notes on players but if i wrote "weak" or "will go to the rvr w/ak no matter what board is" it gets me in trouble if time goes by and they got allot better....
  17. BlufforNuts BlufforNuts is offline

    Chilliwack
    Canada

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    Jul 17th, 2005 (7/17/2005 2:06pm) in reply to bobbydigital

    In MTT, I generally note a bluff or more importantly if they call me on a bluff. Too many player imo draw too strong of a n inference based on limited information. One more than one occassion, I have had someone who "catches" me in a bluff only to steal a big stack later when I have a powerful hand that they don't back off of.

    If someone has "caught me" in a bluff, I want to know that. I also tend to note players that are loose and aggressive and wait for an opportunity to seize them.

    I also note players that tend to steal blinds or conversely will fold to raises when they are in the blinds.

    IMO, a lot of players do not change up their style all that often. btw this works both ways. I deliberately switch up style of play. This is a basic axiom, but I find a lot of players have one style and stick 2 it.
  18. da_bill da_bill is offline

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    Jul 18th, 2005 (7/18/2005 3:15pm) in reply to soccer mom 2

    good point soccer_mom; I should start dating my notes as I enter them.

    thanks for the tip!
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