RE: Notes Articles by Dr. Schoonmaker

[intheflatfield]

I have thought of employing some sort of note-taking situations in live games previously and once I read the articles by Dr. Schoonmaker, I became more enthused about the concept.

However, in practice, I had difficulty coming up w/ some sort of tablature, matrix, shorthand, template or what have you that would be discreet enough to record information on the fly. Does anyone have anything that works?

Please advise.

[intheflatfield]

Please feel free to pmail me.

[intheflatfield]

Look I am not trying to make a great post here.

I am sure, however, that there exist one or several among this vast consortiom of poker experience and knowledge that has something useful they can share......

[mosquito]

[ QUOTE ]
I have thought of employing some sort of note-taking situations in live games previously and once I read the articles by Dr. Schoonmaker, I became more enthused about the concept.

However, in practice, I had difficulty coming up w/ some sort of tablature, matrix, shorthand, template or what have you that would be discreet enough to record information on the fly. Does anyone have anything that works?

Please advise.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you cannot remember important details about your opponents until you can take a bathroom break, that seems to be what you should be working on instead. No matter how good your notes are, it won't help if you can't remember them for a short session of play.

[vexvelour]

Maybe you could print out some sort of excel sheet- put the things you'd want to know about a person on there, so you can just check it off instead of writing it. You could have the whole table on a little piece of paper. IE:

Seat# Loose/Tight Etc.
1
2
3
4

And leave a little note section at the end of each players' row in case you need more detailed stuff. It should be small enough to stay discreet.

Just an idea.

[Dan Mezick]

You might consider creating a shorthand. Short codes representing much longer descriptions. The codes can be mnemonic ie "assisting the memory" so you do not have to look them up all the time. For example B1..B9 can refer to various forms of bluffing behavior. Think carefully about the codes since they get baked into your records. As such they are NOT easily changes at a later date. What happens is you define new codes instead, and kind of retire the old ones if you want to make changes. Avoid this by designing your coding system carefully.

www.PokerCoaching.com Coach Bill Seymour has a dandy article on this for online play. See the link below. The concept is perfect for actual note-taking in B&M play. The kicker is no one knows what you wrote even if they do read it.
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Poker Coaching Player Codes by Bill Seymour



SAMPLE CODES

Here's a decent example of a code set that has evolved over time from actual use.

There are some redundant codes as a result. Roll your own.

AGGRESSIVENESS

A0: (A)ggressive
A1: (A)ggressive & tight. May go too far (see R1) if he misses.
A2: (A)ggressive and loose. Loose-aggressive.

ACES


A2: Plays any (A)ce from any seat.
A3: Plays (A)6-9 only if suited, from any position
A4: Plays (A)6-9 only if suited, but only from a late seat getting correct price.
A5: Plays most aces but only from the LATE seats.

BLUFFING

B1: Prone to (B)luff
B2: Never (B)luffs
B3: Likes to (b)luff at low-card flops like 9-6-2, especially after raising pre-flop.
B4: Likes to pick up the blinds when he can.
B5: Likes to bluff at flops that pair.

BETTING

B5: likes to bet at scary flops at the right time (few players in)
B6: Will make huge full-stack-sized bets WITHOUT THE NUTS
B7: Will push AK/overcards after the flop if he misses
B8:

CALLING

C1: (C)alling station. Passive and loose. See also P1.
C2: (C)alls with middle or lower pair after flop.
C3: (C)alls pot-sized bets w/draw & too-few players.
C4: (C)alls huge river bets with inferior hands

DRAWING

D1: When drawing, willing to risk chips only with nut (D)raw only aftflop
D2: When drawing, willing to risk chips with 2nd or 3rd nut(D)raw aftflop
D3: When drawing, willing to risk chips with smart end of str8 aftflop
D4: When drawing, willing to (D)raw to the dumb end of a str8 aftflop
D5: When drawing, willing to risk chips with almost any flush draw aftflop
D6: When drawing, willing to chase (D)raw with incorrect price

EXCELLENCE

E1: (E)xcellent player-DANGEROUS
E2: (E)xcellent player-CAREFUL-MUST TRAP ONLY

F1: post-(F)lop will make "buy-it" type continuation bets

G1: (G)ood, solid.


CHECKING

H1: Always c(H)ecks when he misses
H2: Likes to c(H)eck and raise top pair.

I1:
J1:
K1:

LOOSENESS

L0: (L)oose
L1: (L)oose and aggressive.
L2: (L)oose and passive. Likes to (L)imp with anything.


M1: calls with (M)iddle or lower pair after flop.
N1: (N)ever bluffs.


ODDS

O1: Understands pot odds.
O2: Understands implied odds

PASSIVENESS

P0: (P)assive
P1: (P)assive and loose. Calling station.
P2: (P)assive and tight. Weak tight.


Q1:


RAISING

R1: Goes too far (R)aising w/pocket pair when 2 overs hit OR STR8 OR FLUSH DVELOPS
R2: Will almost always raise late to steal the blinds.
R3: Almost always comes in for a raise, seldom limps

STANDARDS

S1: Excellent (S)tandards. Few if any pre-flop leaks.
S2: Good (S)tandards but has some leaks. Has positional awareness pre-flop.
S3: Fair (S)tandards, has leaks. Plays A w/2,3,4,5. Plays connectors too much. Does not adjust standards for position.
S4: Poor (S)tandards. Plays any ace. Plays any 2 suited. Plays too many hands.
S5: Poor (S)tandards. Plays G5 and G hands such as KQo. Plays way too many hands.
S6: Likes mid-size suited-connectors from the back.
S7: Can be pushed off of the hand after the flop. See R1.


TIGHTNESS

T1: (T)ight



T8: Will Cha(T)
T9: Will not cha(T).

U1:
V1:

WEAKNESS

W0: (W)eak.
W1: (W)eak. Poor S4-type standards from any seat.
W2: (W)eak. Does not recognize traps
W3: (W)eak. Always calls with suited cards.
W4: (W)eak. Warning: DO NOT BLUFF. He calls.
W5: (W)eak. Pays off almost anything at the river.
X1:
Y1:


MISC

Z1: Will reload if he busts
Z2: Buys-in for less than max in NL
Z3: Posts-behind as he enters the game in an early seat, may be loose
Z4: Appears to multitable
Z5: Poker Tracker user
Z6: PokerAce user

[MicroBob]

that's a pretty impressive code-system.

wow.

[DyessMan89]

POTD. Great stuff man, thanks.

[Al Schoonmaker]

Dan,

I never expected to encounter anyone who takes more notes than I do, but Bill seems to do it.

Thanks for a fascinating post.

Al

[BarronVangorToth]

Here I was going to post my system and now I encounter a far superior one. Now if only I can get myself used to this...

The only thing that you can't short-hand as easily is conversation. And therein lies (often) the entertainment.

Regardless, kudos on an amazing post and system. I will be stealing it and not compensating you.

Barron Vangor Toth
BarronVangorToth.com