Please advice me. Bankroll and Note taking at live game.

[smokylosecannon]

Hello all, I am a relatively new holdem player. I have been going to local cardrooms and casinos in SF Bay Area for several month and struggling to move up to higher stake tables. I have two specific questions anbout note taking and bankroll issues. If you can give me an advice, I really appriciate it.

1)What kind of note should I take during the session, if I should take one at all. Right now, I sit out every 45min or 1hr and try to take note about other players, hands I played, hands opponents played, starting hand standard and its adjustment, and some other quick note. The problem I am having is that I don't know exsactly what I need (probably no one know exsact inoformation I need) to take note on, how to organize them, and doing all that in reltively short time. I am bit confused and do not always do as well as I should. Will anyone give me advice?

2)Bankroll.
Right now, I play mainly at 3/6 or 2/4 table, but I am doing without a proper bankroll. 80BB on 3/6 is about what I earned so far. I know this is way too low, but the problem is, the local cardroom I usually go to take huge rakes off the 1/2 or 2/4 tables. $2.5 at 1/2, and $3 at 2/4. And they take them out of every single pot as long as the players saw the flop. I think that is huge rake and discourage me from playing at lower limits and entering to small pot. Should I just save up 300BB from my day job then start playing cards again? But if possible, I like to earn through playing holdem. Any advice anyone can give me?

Thanks to all.

[mrjim]

You'd be better off to post this is the B&M forum.

[onegymrat]

Hi SLC,

1) What I used to write down were two things in general. One was problem hands that I wanted other player's opinions on. Second were simple things that I found troubling and needed to be reminded, such as: Don't cold-call so much, pay attention to pot odds, you don't have to leave winning every session, etc. Whatever you feel that you need to review before your next session. I'm sure you can find your own problems to solve.

2) The rake is horrible in most casinos, but where else are you going to play for free? The point of a sufficient bankroll is not only the obvious, but also a way of assuring that you don't play scared. Suppose you have a $5K bankroll. You take a shot at a 20/40 game, get a string of stone cold cards, and lose $2K. Do you think your next session you'll be feeling confident? Let's suppose you have the same result but your bankroll is $50K. Would the $2K loss mean as much, or would you shrug it off and get back to work not letting one lousy session ruin your confidence?

There's no rush to move up so quickly. Get more experience and get more hours in. There's plenty of time to move up in limits. Trust me, the bad players will still be there. Good luck.