[beekeeper]

OK, now I'm going to reveal myself for the geek that I am. After reading Mr. Schoonmaker's columns on notetaking in Card Play magazine, I decided I wanted to take notes, but I didn't want to take notes on my opponents during live play.

I made myself a sort of cheat sheet for taking notes during games at my local home game, copied it, and taped it to a spiral of index cards. At first the guys at my game were a little suspicious and a lot of them asked to see what I was taking notes on--they were concerned I was taking notes on them. After I showed them, they didn't seem to care--as far as I know.

My cheat sheet was set up so that all I had to do was check a series of boxes, and write down my starting hands, the flop, turn & river. I recorded the blind amounts, what action I took on the flop, turn and river (fold, call, check, bet, raise, reraise), and what the outcome was. I didn't always have time to record all the info, but I recorded as much as I could. At a 10 player game, you can write stuff down during the deal. I worried that players could see my starting hand selection, though, and that if I spent too much time on my notes, I wouldn't be observing the table enough.

I'm not sure whether this info is useful in the long run--my regular game took a summer hiatus and I haven't used it at the local games I've been able to find.

I posted a poll about this in the "beginners" section to see where others stood on the issue. The results were inconclusive. Out of 44 who took the poll, only 4 took notes. Most people who expressed an opinion said they wouldn't take notes on their opponenets during live play.

With regard to my own notes, I took them enough to notice an interesting trend. Our tournament blind structure was aggressive, so that we could finish a 20-30 person tournament in 1&1/2-2hrs. In the tournaments I placed, I usually only played 4-7 hands, and of those, I won them all or all but one, and it only went to a showdown may 2x on average. In the tournaments where I did not place, I played less than 4 or more than 7 hands, saw more show downs, and lost to hands I should have been able to see by the turn. It was useful in the sense that I could see some 2nd best hands I chose to chase. It was also useful to see how tight/loose I was playing and how that affect my win rate.

Sorry so long-winded, but I'm still trying to evaluate the benefits and methodology that will work for myself as well. I don't want to take notes that are going to make me concentrate on the wrong things.

I'd be eager to see more feedback to your question, though.

Regards, H