Taking Notes - PokerTraining.org

Taking notes
Store experiences

The basic idea of accumulating information is for you to have a competitive advantage over your opponent. The best case scenario is to find a certain pattern and use it against the other player. But that is easier said than done so staying patient and not making up any kind of pattern that doesn´t exist is the key to success.

In addition to that, you have to look for solid information. In case player A bets on a gut-shot out of position on the flop, then this might be valuable information to you. However this behavior only becomes a pattern when player A repeats that move in a similar scenario. So until you´ve seen that behavior again, put a (?) next to that piece of information. Another important point is that you have to take into account that players on the table react to their opponents just like you do. Let´s assume player B is a maniac and acts totally crazy. Player A adjusts to that and calls him down with a bottom-pair. Assuming now that player A is a callingstation who calls everything with a bottom-pair might be a wrong assumption. When taking notes, keep them simple and short. It´s not your goal to completely identify the character of your opponent, all you want is quick information that is easy to read and helps you to make a decision when being involved in a hand with that guy. Don´t forget to account for that other players are learning and improving, too. So when you take a note, put the date next to it, the older the note, the less reliable it becomes. Last but not least, if you play different type of games (Hold´em, Omaha, Stud) and you take notes during every game, don´t mix those different pieces up. The same goes if you prefer Texas Hold´em and you switch between no-limit, limit or tournament Poker, just to name a few.

Assuming you play Texas Hold´em, the first aspect you have to pay attention to is how your opponent plays pre-flop. Which type of hands make him bet, call or fold? If you play NL poker, how much does he bet with certain hands? As I mentioned before, keep the information simple. A standard bet with KK is nothing special and not worth mentioning, a simple call with KK is. The optimal scenario for you would be to find out your rival´s betting pattern, e.g. he bets with KJo and better, calls with KTs-K2s and folds every other king.

Things you have to especially look for on flop, turn and river is how your rivals play certain hands like over-cards, over/top/middle/bottom-pair, flush-draws and straight-draws. Another important piece is to discover if a certain opponent has a tendency for slow-playing with very strong hands, especially directly after the flop has been dealt. Look for whether or not that player bets/raises or checks/calls with hands like a flopped set, flushes, straights, full houses or better hands.

Important data you can obtain on the river and during the showdown is with what kind of hands a certain player is willing to call a bet. Does your opponent throw away and show e.g. a pair if he sees 2 or 3 over-cards? Is he calling high bets with a top-pair even if there are obvious straight/flush-possibilities being displayed on the board?

The final big point is whether or not your opponent likes to bluff. If you caught someone doing that, take notes on the situation the bluff took place: How much did the player bet? Was he in position? Did the flop look kind of scary? How much did he bet/raise? Maybe you want to take notes on how long a certain player took. But the most important thing when assessing a bluffer is to find out how that player continues to play if his bluff has been called on the flop. Does he continue to bet with nothing (if so, how much) or is he giving up on the hand by checking?

As I mentioned before, your goal should be to keep your notes simple and structured because there´s absolutely no chance to completely identify a player´s tendencies during one session. Sometimes you´ll only be able to find out one single piece of info for one player, but that´s nothing to be concerned about. The longer you play, the more often certain players will cross your path and you can easily update your scouting-files on those guys later on.

Now after you collected enough information, you should assess and grade your opponent based on the things you saw before. An easy way to do that is to assign a color and maybe even a certain amount of stars or bars next to his name. If your poker room software only allows you to add some colors, you can grade your opponents playing style with a certain number on top of the text field.

When grading a player, I usually look for two different aspects: The playing style and the playing strength.

I´m using five different colors for five different poker styles:

Green = Callingstation. A player that doesn´t initiate action but calls down everything. Has no clue about odds and outs. Very passive. Almost impossible to bluff but will pay you out with almost every hand.

Pink = Maniac. A player that´s totally crazy, almost bluffs in every hand, calls everything, re-raises with nothing. Very aggressive. Don´t be scared of any kind of move and play ultra-aggressive yourself if you have a hand.

Blue = Solid player. An opponent playing some ABC-style Poker. Bets when he has a hand, checks when he has nothing. Respect him when he bets and try to bluff him when he checks.

Yellow = Dangerous player. Might be tough to read for you. A player that caught you off guard more often than not and maybe has a read on you. Be very careful when getting involved in a pot with him.

Red = Great player. Pro-like. Doesn´t make mistakes, excellent timing, switches his game up a lot. Be extremely careful and hope for the best or leave right away.

Considering the playing strength, I´m judging on a four-bar scale:

One bar: Rookie. Making a lot of mistakes and plays with no strategy.

Two bars: Average player. Doesn´t make rookie mistakes but doesn´t vow you either.

Three bars: Above-average player that knows what he´s doing.

Four Bars: Pro.

By combining the playing style and the playing strength, you should get a quick idea of what kind of player is sitting next to you on the table. If there´s a player with two green bars, you probably know that this opponent might call you down with a bottom-pair. If you´re facing an opponent with one pink bar you can expect a lot of raises with nothing. If everything went as planned, taking notes might be the aspect that is going to give you the competitive advantage you always waited for.

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