Notes When Playing Live

[GrunchCan]

Probably like many 2+2ers, I play a lot online but want to get in to playing live more often. One of the great things about playing online is how easy it is to take notes. Making a note about a person's play usually is as simple as a right-click on thier avatar. Keeping notes about our results is even easier. With PokerTracker or something similar set up right, the histories are pulled in automatically as we play.

There are a lot of differences between playing live and playing online. Some of these differences have helped me to consistantly lose live while I consistantly win online. I've identified many problems with my live game, and one of them is that I don't take any notes whatsoever. Most other problems have a clear solution. For example, probably my biggest problem was that I didn't track the size of the pot accurately. This was easily fixed with a little practice and some focus. But there doesn't seem to be a clear fix to my notes-taking problem. I don't know what I should be doing.

So for all you live players, how do you take notes? Do you note specific players' tendancies? Overall tendancies about a class of player, say maniacs and weak-tight players? How do you keep track of your results? Do you just note the bottom line, or do you track more details like how often you came in to a pot, etc? When do you take these notes? At the table during play, or later on when you get up?

Lots of questions, but if you could just tell me what you think is improtant, that's probably what would help me the most. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I don't take notes during a session. I watch the players and remember what they do in the current game. If I have been playing with the same player consistently, I will take notes on her away from the table.

In terms of results, I only track my hourly rate. You could use that to estimate your BB/100 if you wanted, but it wouldn't be as accurate as online. I wouldn't bother keeping track of other details.

Something else you may want to take notes on is yourself.

[BillsChips]

I was at a Foxwoods 2/4 LHE table (waiting for a 10/20 seat) and there was a guy taking detailed notes on every hand. He had notes on every player as well as how every hand played out, who bet, who called, what the board looked like and how the showdown played out. I found it very unnerving, but nobody made a fuss. It was actually funny when the dealer got confused at one point and this guy read back all of the previous action, like a court reporter does.

That's the only time I've seen anyone taking notes in a live game.

[GrunchCan]

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Something else you may want to take notes on is yourself.


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I'm sure that's right. Can you elaborate?

[As Zehn]

I believe Fossilman was taking notes during the 2004 WSOP.

[sean c]

Hi GrunchCan i have tried taking notes at the table but it always seemed to take up more time than just paying attention to the game. I would finish with my notes and miss an entire hand. I'm also not sure taking notes at the table is really a table image you would want.

[ QUOTE ]
I believe Fossilman was taking notes during the 2004 WSOP.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, i saw that. I think one of his notes read:
"mike matasow is an a**hole" hahahha

Sean, I definately agree about table image and note-taking. I was playing last month and saw a table-coach pull out his notebook during the game and force us to admire this fact. Although he was terrible and I later adjusted to this, my initial impression was that I should avoid him.

OP, as for taking notes on yourself and the general game conditions, I keep a section open in my notes about if I was on tilt, tired, hungry, caffeinated, rushing, cold-streak'd, talkative, quiet, too-tight, etc. Was the game tight, loose, exceptionally tough, slow-moving, poorly dealt, hot, cold, drunk, etc.

The kind of notes you keep on live play will generally be more subjective than online notes. This is because people can see you take notes and you don't really want this. Therefore, you are forced to rely on your memory. I believe there is much more information at a live table than online, but it is also much more difficult to tally this information. You must do it informally most of the time.

[GrunchCan]

You're (everyone) probably right that taking notes on the fly is silly, and maybe even -EV. Like wearing sunglasses at the 2/4 game.

I guess I'll just have to work at my memory.

[TakeMeToTheRiver]

[ QUOTE ]
I believe Fossilman was taking notes during the 2004 WSOP.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, he has stated that he only wrote down his chip count before the break. When you saw him writing in his book at the WSOP in 2004 (according to him) that was all he was doing.