Taking notes

[Calpeman]

I am playing the 22s and 33s at one of the smaller sites so I keep playing the same players a lot. Because of this I realize I could really benefit from taking good notes on my opponents.

What should I keep in mind trying to do this? Obviously calling/pushing ranges would be important to get notes of, but I feel this is difficult as there are so many different situations. What a player pushes with as a big stack on the bubble could be totally different than what the same player pushes with having 7x BB with 6 players remaining. However, as I 3-4 table there isnt much time to make detailed notes. Anyone got any good advice on how to make notes in an effective and good way?

[TruFloridaGator]

I put the blind level & his ratio of stack to blinds in the notes for each play I take down. I also take down if its a bubble situation or full table when you see them acting weak/tight, loose or maniacish(word?) in addition to the hands he raises or limps w/ in these situations.

Just try to abbreviate a lot & you should be able to get some quality notes in.

[barycentric]

Usually I only put notes on people who are weak in ways far from the norm. This allows me to make more marginal plays like calling all-in w/ JJ early when I know he pushes stupid hands like K6o. Obviously this shouldn't be taken too far, but I've had this work on as high as step 5 qualifiers. Another thing to note is how people defend their blinds. This info can be crucial to know near the bubble.

[jokerthief]

I like to keep track of how they play in the early rounds pre flop. I feel that if I can nail that down, then the rest of the tournament becomes easy to read. Suppose someone raises 3 big blinds from early position and shows AJo at showdown, I'll type--rpf ep 3bb AJo. I'll just keep recording that data for the first few levels and then later in the tourny my reads become instinctual. I'll also record anything unusual or tells. An example of a tell I recently jotted down was when I noticed that a sneaky player would occasionally bet the pot, where he would normally try to sucker people in with small bets on strong made hands. Turned out that he would make pot sized bets with weak made hands like 3rd or 4th pair when everyone was showing passivity. Noticing that won me a huge pot a week later where I would normally fold against him.

The above posters have given some great advice. Taking notes is probably one of those things that everyone needs to improve on.

[etgryphon]

Here is a good post by bisonbison on notes (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=micro&Number=923884&fp art=21&PHPSESSID=)

I would start there.

-Gryph