player notes

[gibs]

I'm going to start taking notes on my opponents online, but I need some help getting started. Could those of you who take notes give me your basic format, and what you keep track of. Do any of you keep track of the different hands a player will raise with and what position, or any other specifics like that? Or do you just write down general things like loose, tight, calling station?

Thanks in advance for your help

[ZeeJustin]

First of all I'd like to reccomend www.pokertracker.com. (http://www.pokertracker.com.) I am in no way affiliated with the site, I'm just a satisfied customer. It keeps track of every hand that's played. For example you can click on someone's name, and it will show you what hands they raise with preflop.

What I keep track of with player notes are just very simple things. If someone shows down 32o, I'll write down "plays 32o in X position". If they cap on the flop and then showdown bottom pair I'll write "overly aggressive with bottom pair", or something to that effect.

Whenever someone raises preflop, I always keep track of what they showdown. It's a very good way to find a maniac, and it is important not to fold a hand like KQo just because someone raises PF when they raise PF with hands like Q5s.

Keep it simple, but keep watching their play so you can take notes.

[stripsqueez]

I have evolved my own note taking style as i think you will have to in order to make the notes work for you in practice

I have often made many notes on 1 player and them deleted them and replaced them with the word "bad" - ie i have come to realise that there is no particular pattern to how they play and i dont need any particular strategy to beat them. I may leave in consistent tendencies such as "raises pre-flop with any starting hand" or "always raises with the goods". The primary use of my notes for such a player however is simply to identify that i want to play with them.

The corollary of this is that most of my notes are for players i think can play...i target such a players starting hands, raising pre-flop requirements, and bluffing tendencies (in particular whether they bluff into the turn after raising pre-flop, or bluff raise the turn)...the one thing i note for all players is how they play the blinds, ie if they will fold the blinds

i tend to think you can get carried away with taking notes in as much that players change from one session to the next and nothing substitutes for 30 minutes observation at the table

[lunchmeat]

when you make a note also write the date, this helps you know how reliable the note is