\u201cKnowing your opponents\u2019 tendencies in all sorts of preflop and postflop spots is simply invaluable.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
With enough information and the knowledge to\ninterpret it correctly, your win rates are bound to skyrocket. So it\u2019s no wonder\nthat there are various tracking programs in the online poker world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, as good as poker trackers are, you can\u2019t\nalways use them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In live poker, you don\u2019t get the benefit of a\nprogram running in the background, silently collecting all the data for you to\nuse. As for online, more and more sites are completely banning or severely\nrestricting the use of trackers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While this is certainly inconvenient, especially for those used to playing with the help of various poker stats<\/a>, it\u2019s not the end of the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One trait that all successful poker players\nshare is their ability to adapt to new situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you can\u2019t have a program doing things for\nyou, there is nothing to stop you from doing it yourself by taking notes on players.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n It may not be as efficient or as extensive but\nhaving some ideas about what kind of a player you\u2019re up against certainly\ndefeats playing completely blind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On top of that, most of your opponents won\u2019t\ntake that extra step, so you can even gain an advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Manually taking notes on players may feel like\na demanding and painful task, but it doesn\u2019t have to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The goal of this article is to give you some\nuseful guidelines on how to go about your note-taking process, whether you play\nonline or live. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With these tips, you should save a lot of time\nand end up with notes that are actually useful in your games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you\u2019re playing poker, especially if you\u2019re\non multiple tables online, there is almost always a lot going on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even if you\u2019re experienced with multi-tabling,\nas the number of games increases, the time you have for other things, including\ntaking notes, decreases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because of this, it is extremely important to\nfigure out what kind of situations warrant taking the time to make a note. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are doing it too often, not only will\nyou lose time and perhaps start timing out all over the place, but you might\nalso end up with big walls of texts that don\u2019t really help you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, to begin with, focus on really odd,\nnon-standard events, like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many examples such as this, but you\nget the idea. You want to take notes of the events that stand out and can help\nyou in particular spots in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Making a note about someone defending in the big\nblind with a hand like 7-4 against 2.5x raise is just too wide. That kind of\ninformation won\u2019t really help you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even if you had enough time to take notes on\nall the plays, it still wouldn\u2019t be very effective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You don\u2019t really need a huge file containing\nthree pages of (mostly irrelevant) information. With all that data, it will\njust be hard to find the concrete info you\u2019re actually looking for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike auto-generated stats, notes are\nsomething you\u2019ll need to work out on your own and build over time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With enough hands against a particular player,\nyou\u2019ll be able to pick up on their most important tendencies and be able to\nrely on those notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a particular player sucks out on you or plays a weird hand and puts a bad beat on you, you might get mad or go on tilt<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s part of the game, and no one is\ncompletely immune to tilt, but don\u2019t let these things influence your notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making a note of \u201cfish\u201d, \u201cidiot\u201d or \u201cdonkey\u201d won\u2019t\ndo you any good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The next time you come across that player, you\nprobably won\u2019t remember the hand; you\u2019ll just have a note that\u2019s supposed to\ndescribe what kind of a player they are. But a lot of the time this won\u2019t even\nbe true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe you will feel better after \u201cmarking\u201d\nplayers that put a bad beat on you, but if you\u2019re serious about taking notes\nand making the most out of them, you need to avoid this practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These days, most online poker<\/a> rooms come with an inbuilt feature that allows you to make notes on players in real-time. It\u2019s usually as simple as clicking on the player\u2019s name or their avatar and typing a note in the box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some rooms will even provide you with\nconvenient little icons or colors you can use to mark players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can develop your own system for tracking\nplayers with categories, which you should keep consistent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some of examples of possible\ncategories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you mark many regular players in your games\nwith a colored label or some kind of shortcut representing a specific group,\nyou will know how to adjust your play against these opponents even before\nsitting down at the table. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This will also help you find the most\nprofitable games and table select, so it is totally worth the extra efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, don\u2019t be quick to put players in\ncertain categories and be prepared to move them from one group to another as\nyou gain more information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even good regs make bad plays every now and then,\nbut that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re bad in general. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Take enough time to figure out what group the\nplayer is most likely to belong to and never make judgments based on one hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you become more proficient with the whole\nprocess, you might develop an even more complex marking system for different\nplayer types. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019d suggest starting with a simple\ncategorization and branch out from there, especially because tagging players in\na more specific way will require a fair amount of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You don\u2019t need to write a short story to make a\nuseful note on a player. You only have a limited amount of time to make a note,\nand you want it to contain just the relevant information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Everything else surrounding it is just the\nfluff that you don\u2019t need and will take time to write down and read when you\nmeet the same player again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, a note like: <\/p>\n\n\n\n 3-bet from the middle position with 4-5s\nagainst UTG open, c-bet on the 9-high board<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n can simply be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n MP 3-bet 45s, c-bet 9-h flop.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n You have all the information you need right\nthere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, some notes won\u2019t be as specific. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You might want to simply describe someone as a\nvery aggressive player or someone you\u2019ve seen bluff a lot. Still, it would be\nperfect if you could come up with a couple of examples that back up your theory\nas these can be quite useful in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bluffs a lot (3-barrel shoved river w missed\nf-draw x few times)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Having these kinds of specifics and the general\ninformation can be of great use, as not every player is prone to bluffing the\nsame way. Some will keep firing, and some like to check-raise as bluffs, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whenever you want to make a new about a player,\ndo so on a new line. To take it one step further, you can add separators to\nquickly access what you need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When I\u2019m taking notes, I have these lines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This makes your notes much tidier and easier to\nscan through during the actual play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Just like any text, breaking your notes into\nsmaller chunks makes it easier to read and nicer to look at in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in the day, if you wanted to take notes on\nlive players, you\u2019d have to show up with a pen and notebook and keep writing\nstuff down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to making you look silly, I\u2019m sure\nquite a few players wouldn\u2019t take too kindly to it and would be super curious\nto know what it is that you\u2019re writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, thankfully, there\u2019s all sorts of technology\nlike smartphones that let you make quick notes without anyone raising an\neyebrow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Players spend a lot of time on their phones as\nit is, so no one will know if you\u2019re taking notes or chatting with your\nfriends.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNote Taking Fundamentals: What To Pay Attention To<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Avoid Making Notes<\/strong> When Tilting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Person](\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/tilt-poker.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHow To Take Notes Online<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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![\"colour](\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/poker-notes-example.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nKeep It Simple And Efficient<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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How To Take Notes In Live Poker<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n