Player notes

gerry87

Do any of you use a template for your player notes? Or do you just scribble anything you notice about a player.

How acurate do they tend to be? If you have a player labeled as one thing can it not get you into trouble if they play a hand differently?

Are player notes as useful in sit and go's? Since you dont play with the player as long and people play completely differently with different stack sizes and when blinds change.

I gotta start taking better notes... some of my most advanced ones read
"Complete idiot... " and "Will call any anything... at all"

ArmaniJeanss

gerry87 wrote:

Are player notes as useful in sit and go's? Since you dont play with the player as long and people play completely differently with different stack sizes and when blinds change.

This is the template that I follow for STTs.

Early Stages (level1&2 Tribeca).
At the start of each note I write down the month and buy-in.
I take notes of the following in early stages (level, position, size of raise, cont bet,cards that were raised with etc).
So an early level note would be.
"Mar06 $15 STT. Level1, 3xBB pfr UTG with AQs. No cont on missed flop with 2 callers".
I also take a note of what hands he didnt raise with (hopefully as a guide to his min raising standards).
So 'Mar06 $10 STT, level2 limped in EP with JJ' might be useful if he raises in a future game, implies its QQ+.
Take note of any silly slowplaying, anyone who pfrs more than 4 times in first 10 hands, anyone who doesnt play more than 1 or 2 of first 20 hands. Note anyone who overpays for flush draws, calls pfrs with garbage etc.
Build a profile, make an effort to get half a dozen notes in each STT.

Middle stages(level3&level4)
Try to note who has the ability to change gears. Notes will largely be the same as above.

Bubble stages(usually level4/5 onwards).
Basically at my level ($15 STT) only about 10-20% of players undertand bubble play. So a note might be "Bubble leader 8000+ level4&5 putting no pressure on 2nd/3rd players or Shortstack on bubble but pushing well into 2nd shortie" or Limp folded level5 with < 1600 chips or Min raised with a small pair utg level4 with 1800 chips . Again its just building a profile of who is a TerryFcukwit, and who seems to have a brain.

Head2Head.
Anyone who raises or folds from SB more than 30% of time is noteworthy. Anyone in BB who doesnt call 3 consecutive SB raises prob doent know whats going on. But H2H notes are difficult cause the blinds are so large anyway.

*********
Thats what I do, and its helped me sometimes, and rarely hindered me. However don't rely on notes too much. Players get better, they do things differently depending on mood swings, they play badly drunk (worth mentioning on a note if its after midnight Sat or Fri and it a Euro player !!!), it might be someones brother or granny playing the account etc.

AJs.

djkeogh

thats pretty good note taking. I tend to be more along the lines of the OP with little scrawled comments about specific hands and then a generalisation about their play. I then play against them again and observe and update my notes accordingly in case they guy was just on tilt or something the previous time we played. Might adopt a more structured format though

ianmc38

If you use pokertracker, then profiling villains is alot easier. I generally note their raising and calling range from EP-LP and whether they appreciate the importance of position.

Note how they play 2 broadways, PPs, SCs and from each position

Will they fire 1/2/3 barrel continuation bets when they miss a flop with AK/AQ etc?

Will they fold to checkraises when they fire a c-bet?

How do they play open-enders, flush draws and gutshots?

yaddy yaddy ya

generally when someone shows down a few hands I've a pretty good idea of how they play

5starpool

I am nota note taker. Yes I know, I should be. But to be honest I only play Omaha cash games, holdem only in tournies, so I think it is less important, I may be wrong, but I am also lazy.

How the hell do you use all those notes when that detailed? Do you sit out the first 10 mins and read about your oppo if you have notes on them?

Maybe that is why I am only slooooowwwwlyyy increasing my BR. That and outdrawing idiots at .50/1 PLO on Stars.

ArmaniJeanss

5starpool wrote:

How the hell do you use all those notes when that detailed? Do you sit out the first 10 mins and read about your oppo if you have notes on them?

To be honest, despite having over 3500 separate players noted, usually when I start an STT I'd say I have notes on at most 2 of the opposition - theres just an absolutely huge amount of/turnover of players at these low levels.
I'm a very tight player myself at the first level (I fail totally to see the point of robbing 60 chips in blinds) so it does give me some time to read any notes that I do have.

ianmc38

I've notes on about 800 $1/$2 cash players. The very odd time, i'll have two at my 6 handed table. My notes are concise and to the point. Takes 15 seconds to scan over and remember someone.

BigDragon

Hint: if you make a particular "play" whether good or bad at a table, make a note for each of the usual suspects at the table that saw you make that play and that they may have it in their notes. so ur notes may detail their play and may tell you what they have in their notes about you.