11 replies to this topic

[braminc]

just wondering, how many of you guys keep detailed records of all your online opponents. what kind of hands they play, what style they play, how often/when do they bluff, check-raise, etc... in the online poker books ive read they recommend doing this to the point that its almost a necessity. i thought about trying it , but its a whole lotta work. especially since i play a lot on party poker where you almost never see the same player twice, and theres enough bad players to make money off of without even knowing theyre game. curious about you guys thoughts on this topic.

[Suited_Up]

braminc said:

just wondering, how many of you guys keep detailed records of all your online opponents. what kind of hands they play, what style they play, how often/when do they bluff, check-raise, etc... in the online poker books ive read they recommend doing this to the point that its almost a necessity. i thought about trying it , but its a whole lotta work. especially since i play a lot on party poker where you almost never see the same player twice, and theres enough bad players to make money off of without even knowing theyre game. curious about you guys thoughts on this topic.

That's where I play, and not high limits, so I don't really feel the need to do that yet. They all equally suck beyond comprehension, so what's to know. When someone is really bad I just put em on my buddy list so I can take their money later.

[jayistheman]

i always use the note taking feature of online poker sites... its a great tool, and its easy to use, so why not...i note the following:are raises legit?does he limp with big hands?passive or agressive?betting patternsloose caller?bet draws?slowplays big hands?and anything odd that i pick up on

[akishore]

i also play low limits online, but still find it helpful to take notes on names that i see multiple times (which isn't uncommon at all). specifically, i do it through the note-taking tool (right-click their name, etc.).what i note immediately is their classification:tight-aggressive (solid grinder)loose-aggressive (lagger)tight-passive (scared money)loose-passive (calling station)this is very easy to see if the person has attracted my attention.after that, i take down common betting patterns:respect his raises / don't respect his raisessemi-bluffs all his drawsraises mean top pairbets on flop regardless of cards if he was preflop aggressorwaits for turn to checkraise if hits flop hardcan't lay down big pre-flop hands (e.g. AK unimproved)plays any ace, plays any suited cardsstays in with bottom/middle pair to the riveretc.the biggest thing IMHO is to classify the player, that's usually good enough information to exploit if you're in a bot pot with him. the rest are little details that can help in specific situations.hope this helps,aseem

[wrto4556]

Im with the "taking all the notes you can crowd". When you come into a table and you notice a couple people with the note pad icon by their name, you just made your reading job alot easier. The more notes you take now, the more players you recognize later.

[Hardrocker]

wrto4556 said:

Im with the "taking all the notes you can crowd". When you come into a table and you notice a couple people with the note pad icon by their name, you just made your reading job alot easier. The more notes you take now, the more players you recognize later.

Amen to that. I play most of my limit at Party, and you might not have notes on people at you table some (maybe most) of the time, when you do it makes your job so much easier.

[braminc]

wait.........so when you make a note on partypoker, it saves that information if you ever see that player again???? i was under the impression that once you signed off, those notes were erased.

[bourbenz]

braminc said:

wait.........so when you make a note on partypoker, it saves that information if you ever see that player again???? i was under the impression that once you signed off, those notes were erased.

no they stay there for good, another good thing to do is date your notes as silly as it seems so many players come through party and blow a few hundred, if your notes are 2 years old they may be worth reconsidering they have either been redepositing for a long time or actually gotten better in which case new observations are in order.so to answer your question yes definately keep notes, youll be surprised how many nondescript names you do see over again and not realize, especially from rocks who stay out of most pots.

[braminc]

one more question:how detailed do you get with your notes.... like how do you decide what to put in/leave out?

[Ed]

Something else I put in my notes ... If I see a player sit down, I note the date and amount they bought in for. Usually, they'll buy in for the same amount every time, and if I have that note when I enter a table, I can get a good idea for how they are doing on the night, which may be give me some sort of read on how they are going to play from there.I also on occasion will scan the tables at .05/.10 and .25/.50 (the limits one and two up from mine at the moment on Stars), and if I see any familiar faces, I will note that, as well. If someone is usually a .25/.50 player, and they have dropped down to my world, I want to know that.

[Alcatraz]

Even if you never see the player again, taking detailed notes has another advantage -- it keeps you focused on the game at hand. Perhaps that's a bigger selling point for me, as I have ADD and playing a tight game for me can be a real chore if I don't have some kind of distraction. Booking players keeps me occupied enough to make it easy to lay down that QTo in early position for the 10th time in a row.I also find that any notes I take during a session are fresh in my mind for the rest of the session. Information I write down I remember better than information I don't commit to writing. I rarely refer back to my notes in fact; for me the process of writing them is more important than actualy reading them.Things I record: A smattering of hands played, noting position and whether they limped, raised, or called a raise. A quick look at that when a player I recognize sits down will tell me a world of info.How does he play his draws? Does he semi bluff his 4 flushes? Always? Never? If a 3rd flush card hits the turn and he comes out swinging, this is good info to have.Does he underbet the pot with strong hands or are his underbets weak bluffs/draws/underpairs? What about his overbets?I like to keep my stats screen open while playing. I find that when I'm actively booking players, my flop % will fall below 20% and my win rate will skyrocket. When I don't book opponents, my flop % will general be in the mid to upper 30% and my win rate drops fast.