Taking Notes in Online Poker
Note Taking and Internet Poker
Most
online poker rooms allow you to take notes about the other players.
Taking notes in Internet poker games is one of the smartest and easiest ways
to improve your results. Here are some observations about note taking and
poker.
Hundreds of thousands of people play poker online every day. No matter at which site you play or at what level you play, you'll play against many different players over time. It's impossible to remember all their playing tendencies without help.
One of the best but least used features of most Internet poker software is the ability to take detailed notes about your opponents.
Recognizing Poker Playing Tendencies and Leaks
By paying attention and taking notes about your opponents, you'll be able to make informed decisions in the future when you sit at the same table as they do. It's important to learn how to recognize playing tendencies and leaks in other players games.
By learning if a player is tight or loose and passive or aggressive you can do a better job figuring out what range of hands they might have in certain situations. You can also determine how they are likely to play in any given hand.
For example, if you have notes on a player you are involved in a hand with that says they are loose and passive, you know that they play too many hands and play them passively. This means that on average they enter the pot with a hand that is poorer than yours, assuming you play a tight style, and that they will tend to let you lead the action after the flop.
You can use this information when deciding to enter a hand, how to enter the hand (calling or raising), how to play a hand after the flop and whether or not to call a bet on the river. This type of information can lead to a great deal of additional profit to a good player over time.
You can also keep notes about how they played particular hands.
For example:
- How did they play pocket aces? Did they raise with them before the flop or did they limp?
- Did they chase a flush draw even though they weren't getting the correct pot odds? Did they let you draw to a flush without charging you to do so?
- Do they bluff often or not at all?
- Are they likely to go on tilt?
- If you play against certain players often, do they play better in the morning or evening?
These are just a few of the things you can track. The more information you have about your opponents, the better chance you have of beating them.
And remember, most online poker players don't take notes or even pay attention to the game, especially when they're not involved in a hand. This is one of those areas where you can get a small edge over most players. And poker is a game of finding small edges and exploiting them.
How to Take Notes While Playing Online Poker
Many poker players who do take notes develop their own type of short hand system so that their notes don't take too long to read and don't take up too much room. Here are some sample abbreviations that you can use to start taking your own notes.
- TA or TAG- Tight aggressive
- LA or LAG - Loose aggressive
- TP - Tight passive
- LP - Loose passive
- A or AG- Aggressive
- P - Passive
- T - Tight
- L - Loose
- Fish - Bad player
- M - Maniac
You can develop any type of note taking system that works for you. You don't even have to use abbreviations--you can just type in what you want to remember. As you gain experience and have notes on more and more players, you'll probably reduce most of your notes to an overall grade that includes tight or loose and aggressive or passive.
When I take notes I put a question mark after any determination that I'm unsure about. This happens when I haven't played enough hands against a particular opponent to determine if they play the same way all of the time. The next time I play with them at my table I have an idea of how they play but realize that I may need to re-evaluate my earlier notes.
Taking Poker Notes by Hand
While most of this article deals with using the poker software features to take notes, some players choose to take notes by hand. The best system for this is a box of index cards with alphabetical tab dividers. This way you can have a card for each opponent and quickly see if you have any past notes.
When you sit down at the table, simply look in your file and see if the players at the table have cards. For the ones who do not already have cards, start a new card. When a new player enters the game, find their card or start a new one. When your playing session is finished, simply file all of the cards for future use.
As you play more and more, this type of note taking system can become unwieldy. I don't recommend it, mainly because the poker software makes it so easy to do online while you are playing. In addition, you won't lose your notes or have something happen to them.
There are online poker tools not run by the poker rooms that you can use to track and analyze your play and the play of your opponents. One of the popular ones is Poker Tracker. It can be a useful tool if you are serious about making money playing poker online.
You could also check out Poker Edge and Poker Office. I don't have a lot of experience using these types of tools, but I have used Poker Tracker, and it can be a valuable tool.
This page about taking notes in online poker, note taking, and Internet poker was last updated on August 26, 2010.