Taking Notes Online

Tripps111 December 2006

You've signed on, picked your Sit-n-go, took a glance around for any recognizable avatars, and settled in for a nice little game. You may be thinking the last thing you want to do is work. And let's face it - taking notes on a player online is work. The fact is, most people don't bother. Yet, almost every time you hear the pros discussing their online play - they mention extensive note taking. So there must be something to this...right?

I've had a recent conversion to prodigious note-taker. This article discusses the methods and benefits of keeping track of what your fellow players like to do.

I don't need no stinking notes
I just didn't see the purpose. There are so many players out there, what are the chances I'm going to run into the same people enough to make note taking a relevant part of my play. I mean, even the closest most astute observations are pointless if I never see the dude again. So, screw it. I'm not going to bother.

Then I noticed something. Due to schedule and stakes-preference, I frequently see the same players over and over again. How can that be when PokerStars has 60,000 + players online at a time. Well, the answer is simple - Stakes + Time + Tournament Size really limit the field quite a bit. I'd say, if you put all those factors together, you are probably working with a field of 2000 - 4000 players (and that might be on the large side). So, over the course of a few months of play, you are likely to see 10 - 20% of that field more than once. Doesn't sound like much to you. That's a solid read, immediately, on conservatively 200 players. That can be the difference between going shoulder deep into that check raise bluff or letting it go based on something you know about your opponent. In other words, it's not an edge you should overlook.

OK, I'll take notes, but I won't like it
My first few attempts at note-taking were half-hearted at best. I usually wrote things like, "slow played a big pair" and "will defend his blind". This was a start but it wasn't nearly enough information. I would find myself referring to these notes later and wondering how that information could be used. In short, it couldn't. This hand-specific information is only useful if you can wrap a little context around it. So, I started to develop a systematic approach to these notes.

Doing it right
There are so many factors that go in to a decision made by a player. So, I decided to work out a little short hand that would paint a circumstance around my observation that would allow me to better understand not "what" the player did, but "why" they did it.

I arrived at the following short-hand to allow me to get as much information into the box as possible while still playing.

Position	The place on the table in relation to the button 1, 2, 3,4 ,5 ,6 , D, sb, bb
Stack Size	The relation of their stack size to the blinds and antes (commonly referred to as "M". [players chips] / [bb+sb+ante]. I have a quick way of figuring this. I look at the pot at the start of a hand and multiply by 10. Then I compare that to the stack of the person. So, say the initial pot is 300 (100+200+0). Then a stack of 3000 would represent an M of 10. A person with 2500 in chips then has somewhere between a 7 and 8. I'm not usually more exact than that. M=##
Mood	If I can tell from previous hands or chat, was the person in (or representing) a particular mood tilt megatilt shell - very tight up to that point - can't remember a hand they played in desperate - making a series of aggressive moves due to shrinking stack and growing blinds passive - has been playing very quietly and folding a lot active - has been playing a high percentage of hands
Style	The basic playing style of the player expressed in terms of Tight/Loose and Passive/Aggressive. The reason I take this every time (shouldn't a player always be the same?) is because players often try different styles for a session. Or perhaps they just feel loose for a night. I can never be sure on my first observations if this is a person's "normal" style, so I just note it every time. TP, TA, LP, LA

I always start a note with the above four codes. If I don't know one of them, I place "()" in the spot.

With those codes out of the way, it's time to write the narrative. Compare then the two notes below.

OLD NOTE. repopped all with a small pair
NEW NOTE: sb, M=3, desperate, TA:. repopped all in with a small pair

The Old Note indicates the player made an aggressive move. The New Note reveals the player was trying to save his tournament and picked the pocket pair to make a stand. Would he have picked and Ace X hand to do this with. KQ. JK. I don't know, but I now know when I'm considering a call that he has a history of making a stand with pocket pairs. This will color my pot-odds analysis and help me decide whether I'm a small dog, or a huge underdog.

Using the Information
You took all your notes. Now what. So much of your decision-making is going to be governed by your own play, so to suggest there is a cookbook approach to effectively using notes is not practical. I will however show you a few situations where notes have helped/saved me from my own play. In the examples below I will show you the other notes, my own situation, and the thinking I put in to my decision.

Deep into a M(ulti) T(able) T(ournament).

ME: sb, M=12, passive, TA
HIM. d,M=7,active, LA

The Hand:
Everyone folded to HIM who raised to 3x big blind
I had 10-10 and call
BB folds

6-6-9 on the flop. At this point I haven't referred to any notes but since this is an exceptionally good flop for tens, I try to take it down right now. You lead out with half the pot. HIM calls. I don't like that call, but it does feel a little weak. That's when I read this note:

[Note. d, M=8, aggressive, LA. HIM raised on the button and continued after missing the flop. Went all the way with A10.

Hmmm...maybe he's just hoping to hit. Let's see what the turn brings us.

A 3 comes on the turn. At this point I want to force him to go all in or fold, so I put about a 1/3 bet out there. HIM raises all in - putting me all in if I call.

So, at this point in the hand I believe I have the best hand but am worried about two things. Of course, he could have a six, in which case I'm dead. He could also have an over-pair - again I am dead. On the face of it, this is a really tough call. I have to take two pair to the river for my tournament. Without any other information, I just might fold and wait for a better spot. If I fold now my M will be around 5. Bad, but not hopeless. Then I review the note mentioned above and review the betting of the hand. HIM raised the button - not really a big tell, could be anything really - but an Ace fits. He flat calls my lead-out on the turn so that still fits a hand he believes could be good if he catches his pair on the next two streets. Finally, my smallish bet on the turn, showing weakness, has likely emboldened him to try for the steal. Any smaller (credible) bet will leave him crippled, so he has three choices. Fold, call and pray to pair up, or go all in. At least, this is the thought I applied when making my decision. He certainly could have been slow playing a big pair or trips, but my thoughts were tending heavily to a call - which I did.

HIM turns up KQ. Not a bad play on his part really. If I had nothing, there was no way I could call. But this type of bluff works every time except the last. Had the turn been a face card or Ace, I believe I would have folded - thanks to my note. Oh, and by the way, he caught a King on the river to knock me out. Stupid game!

This hand is a prime example of the fluid nature of hand analysis. You may wish that every decision was clear and absolutely undeniable, but we all know that just can't be. I used the notes and my observations during the game to make the right decision. But, of course, it's not enough to be right.

 

Here's another interesting little hand that my notes helped me through.

ME: 5,M=16,passive,TA
HER: 2,m=35,active,LP

After an hour or so of a big online tourney, I'm doing OK, but HER is rocking. An M of 35 at this point represents a very big stack. She is in fact, one of the chip leaders. Over the last 20 or so hands she has been limping and calling raises pre-flop, then getting out of the way after the flop comes down unless she has something. If she's had something she's used a blend of raising and check calling.

My cards. QQ

HER limps, I raise 4X the bb, dealer calls, HER calls.

Three players to the flop. So far, nothing very unusual. She has a big enough stack to warrant a call and take a gamble at the rest of my (or dealer's) stack.

Flop comes down J59 rainbow. She checks, I raise half the pot. Dealer folds. SHE goes all in.

On the face of it, this is a very positive situation. I have an overpair to a non-connected board without suits. I have nothing really to fear except a set. What are the chances she has a set. Very good - thanks to the following notes:

[Note]
HER: 5,M=15,active,LP. Check raises all in after flopping the nut straight
HER: bb, M=12,active,LP. Check folds to my continuation bet on a ragged flop
HER: sb, M=20,active,LP. Check raises all in after flopping top two pair
HER: 3,M=18,active,LP. Check calls all the way down with top pair.

Clearly HER likes to slow play big hands after the flop. And why not. For her style it makes perfect sense. She's in so many pots, seeing so many flops, it only makes sense she lets her opponents take a stab. They see her play everything so passively, of course they are going to start betting at her. In fact, because her starting cards tend to be so raggy, she probably gets a lot of calls for that check raise move. Also, notice that she either calls with medium strength hands, or folds her misses.

I fold my Queens. I never know whether she had it or not, but I don't need to. It wasn't a good situation, and I wait until I find a better one. If I had to guess, I'd say she had the set.

How This Helped My Game
Aside from the obvious benefit of knowing a little something about your opponent's tendencies, taking notes has helped my game tremendously. Everyone has a few moves they really like pulling off, and I'm no different, but it only take a little note-taking to make you realize that other people are taking notes on you. And if I do the same move in the same situation too often, other people are going to notice that and exploit that information. I have really started to consider the range of possible moves now rather than the old standards.

For example, when I'm getting a little short (M less than 10) and have been playing very tightly, waiting to make my stand, I have a little move I like to put on the big blind. When I'm in the sb and it's folded to me (not very common, but still, it happens), I like to raise with any two cards. I'd say I win about 70% of the pots uncontested this way, and get a free trip around the blinds. After pulling this move off recently, I suddenly realized how easy it would be to take a note of this (sb,M=7,passive,TA. raised my big blind when folded to him). This tendency of mine is a nice move occasionally during a tournament, but I've been careful to use it only once, or twice (if I've recently moved tables) per tournament.

Helping My Live Play
A weird thing happened the other day. I was playing a live tournament in Vegas and while the action was going on, I was mentally taking notes on the action at the table. As I watched a hand I wasn't in, I caught myself thinking, "4,M=7,active,LP: check folded to a very small continuation bet". This mental note stuck. Every time I looked at this player, I could hear that note. Obviously, if you are only going to be spending 2 hours with a group of strangers this might not be that useful, but I bet it could help at your weekly home game.

Taking notes on players is not a new concept. TJ Cloutier once said he had a notebook containing observations and hand analysis for every player he ever got involved with. In fact, in the vernacular, when you want to know how someone plays, you would ask, "What's the book on her?".

I highly suggest you try taking notes. Don't feel you need to be as anal about it as I, or have a coding system, or even do it regularly. But I guarantee that if you start and make a heroic call based on past observations, you too will become a believer.