One of the main strengths online poker has over casino-room poker is that you can take notes on your opponent. You have no reason to make the same mistake twice against someone. The best part about this — is that most people are oblivious to the note taking system, and their systems are quickly noticed and forever recorded in your notes! This offers you the significant advantage in play.
There are three main ways to take notes, click the links below to read about each way and choose the one that fits you best.
Of course there are other ways to take notes these are just suggestions on how most players take notes. Any combination of the systems below works as well!
1. Random Note Taking
2. Systematic Note Taking
3. Tournament Note Taking
4. Alternative Note Taking
5. Party Poker/Empire Poker Note Taking Special
After you take the notes it’s always a good idea to consult them before every call especially in a show-down situation.
HINT: Your Note File’s are stored in your poker clients main directory usually under notes .txt or similar text file. SHARE & COMPARE your note’s with your friends by e-mailing them this text file!
Random Note Taking:
Random Note Taking is just what it claims to be, Random. There is no real system to it other than you write whatever you want about your opponent’s play.
Usually you start with a short something about the player himself then a note about a hand that pretty much sum’s up the way they play.
Example ::
Players Notes for : POKERMONEY69
Loose Player, Consistently Bets the Dealer Button. Played KK with ace on the board to the river after multiple raises.
Check/Raised with low pair made trips on the river. Plays under hands to the end.
Advantages are: Simple, Effective and Fast.
Disadvantages are: Not Detailed, Lacking Enough Information to make a solid call.
Situations to Use are: Players you only see every once in awhile, players you see more often you would want more detailed notes.
Systematic Note Taking:
Systematic Note Taking is almost the exact opposite of Random. You want every note you make to be extremely detailed and meaningful. Although your System might differ from below its a good base to start from. One key to the system is abbreviation, by simplifying the system you allow it to move faster and be more effective.
Start by noting basic information about the player such as their position (s=seat) then name the hand (flush draw, etc.), and then use this system to note their actions:
(NOTE: ONLY use the abbreviation when doing it, the real name is only for your reference so you know what it means):
Real Name:
Abbreviation:
Pre-Flop PF
Flop FP
Turn TRN
River RVR
Post-Flop PF
These simple abbreviations are going to serve several purposes. Mainly recording information about Betting Strengths and Play. Using a program such as POKER OFFICE will make recording this information much easier.
After recording this information make a small summary about the hand that sums it up. So you can refer to it for quick reference.
Example ::
Players Notes for : CheckRaZor911
S8/ 2PAIR: Ad,Kh,3s,2h,9d
* PF-BET
* FP-CHK
* TRN-CHK/RZ
* RV-BET/RZ
* PF-WON 2PAIR As/2s
Summary: Bet a bad hand preflop, Checked Flop. Made his hand on turn and check/Raised once and bet continually till end.
This example uses basic card text labeling. IE) Ad = Ace of Diamonds.
Advantages are: Good for Systematic Players, Extremely Effective when used correctly and fast.
Disadvantages are: More Information to Comprehend, Sometimes the more information the worse for random players, Might slow your game down.
Situations to Use are: Players you only see often and are seemingly predictable or make calls with some prediction.
Tournament Note Taking:
Poker Tournament Note Taking is basically a combo of both random and systematic note taking. You need to take fast effective and detailed notes to give you good guided advice for your tournament.
Alternative Note Taking:
Here are several other note taking strategies by other people:
* TeamFU
* RecPoker Search Frame (Search for Note Taking)
* RecPoker Article “I Put Myself On Tilt By Taking Notes” (Ideas of what not to do)
Party Poker/Empire Poker Note Taking Special:
When playing (PartyPoker/EmpirePoker), Always have the hand history window up. This way when someone mucks their hand after calling/being called on the river, you can see what they have, and you can make correct notes on how the hand played out(# of people seeing flop, size of bets if NL, etc.) Most don’t even know about the hand history window, and being able to see mucked cards.
