Taking notes on players. Here's how I do it.

Ssssssnakes · Feb 10, 2022

Do you take notes on other players? I do it a lot, because it helps a lot.

Here's how I do it (pokerstars):

The basic note gets the color yellow and I write on it the day and the kind of table I am sitting with that player.

Players who I have met before get their color changed into green, so I know to take a look at their game play, since I meet them more often. It's always good to know your opponents.

I also check for every player on how many tables they sit. If the player sits at three or four tables, then I change the color to orange. If it's more then I change it to red, because you have to play them differently.

Finally, I note every player that I end up with in a heads up (I usually play SNGs). Because if that happens twice, you know he might be up to something.

Mainly of course my notes revolve around stuff like "plays pocket pairs slowly", "bluffs a lot" or "plays only pretty hands".

How are you handling your notes? Are you using them?

BlackIce · Feb 10, 2022

I started using notes because I was seeing some familiar names and it's paid of big time. It's amazing how often I have run into players with notes and my calls have paid off:deal: based on the notes'.

Backlash · Feb 10, 2022

Not to often anymore these days. 10 years ago it seemed more relevant. But now it seems fruitless for me.

Ssssssnakes · Feb 10, 2022

Backlash said:
Not to often anymore these days. 10 years ago it seemed more relevant. But now it seems fruitless for me.

Do you think it's the kind of table/tournament you play? I imagine big MMTs being not the place where you run into the same ppl all too often.

Master_nolios · Feb 10, 2022

I site and watch for hours just making notes. Kind of a pain because my notes are on watching tables I'm not even playing on. This is the cash tables. When I play a cash game I just filter the name and put those notes on the player. It gives the appearance that I'm super tight because I'm busy playing catch up. My color code is red for good players and green for calling stations and constant bluff er s . Yellow is Caution. Really get info off HUDS to see if I'm missing patterns.

All doesn't matter if unlucky you can't . I've gotten really good at passing the players. Make insane calls to find out I'm ahead. And next card he hits. Been pretty constant in staying toquestion rng. But that's another thread.

alien666dj · Feb 11, 2022

I mark opponents only if they have statistics for at least 100 hands and those whom I meet during the game at least 5 times per session.

Ssssssnakes · Feb 11, 2022

Master_nolios said:
When I play a cash game I just filter the name and put those notes on the player. It gives the appearance that I'm super tight because I'm busy playing catch up. My color code is red for good players and green for calling stations and constant bluff er s . Yellow is Caution. Really get info off HUDS to see if I'm missing patterns.

That's a really good system, too. Do you think there's different information to notice important on cash tables compared to SNG/MMT games?

What is the ratio of your red/yellow/green marked players and how many have you marked so far?

Master_nolios said:
All doesn't matter if unlucky you can't . I've gotten really good at passing the players. Make insane calls to find out I'm ahead. And next card he hits. Been pretty constant in staying toquestion rng. But that's another thread.

Yeah. I know that and it's especially annoying when you are dealing with a bluffer who you know would even call your all-in.

Luvepoker · Feb 11, 2022

Note taking is very underrated in my opinion. While you need to make sure a player has not changed there style a lot every time you meet them its always good to have information on a player so you can make a good educated decision.

Master_nolios · Feb 11, 2022

Ssssssnakes said:
That's a really good system, too. Do you think there's different information to notice important on cash tables compared to SNG/MMT games?

What is the ratio of your red/yellow/green marked players and how many have you marked so far?

Yeah. I know that and it's especially annoying when you are dealing with a bluffer who you know would even call your all-in.

I really don't know the total of each category is. My x file shows I have 487 noted players. But I have made notes while playing that didn't make list.

I use it more on cash. Best part is people like to use simular screen names on different sites. I use masternolios on the sites I use for cc. I don't have a lot of confidence in two of those sites so I don't dep[it there.

I do play tournaments but Remember tourneys is more about chance and aggression. Get it in as fast as you can. Cash is about methodically taking bits and pieces. So you play different. And live play of both is a different monster.

Live pay I do rather well. Not that I stink online but getting reads is tough. Past notes and betting habits are really only things you can watch.

PeLLeTTi · Feb 11, 2022

Well I use methods of putting the card that the villain uses along with his position so I can have as much idea as possible of the ranges of hands he plays. It helps, sometimes it has its flaws, I wanted to know from you guys how you do your notations so I can improve my classification and notation methods.

TeUnit · Feb 11, 2022

The more you put into taking notes, the more you will get from it.

zipocool · Feb 12, 2022

in some difficult hands, notes can certainly help, but I would not attach too much importance to them

Poker Orifice · Feb 20, 2022

I use very extensive notes on players and find it extremely helpful.

I also have many abbreviations that I use to describe different types of play/action.

There's a long list of things I will attach a note for.

I also have a fairly extensive color-coding tag system. I make use of all of the colors available on most sites & on Stars I have over a dozen different colors in use.

Just recently I have been playing a different format & site than I typically play on. It has been interesting to see MANY players on the tables that I have notes on and haven't seen since 2010, 2011. I am talking about dozens of players.

RustyRed83 · Feb 22, 2022

It is not something I do these days, I let HUDS do a lot of the work. I never bumped into the same players on a regular basis, so when I did come across players I had notes on, they were pretty useless as i used to find players evolve, and i could potentially make mistakes going on the notes i did have. Plus i'm way more lazy these days.

SpaceMage · Feb 22, 2022

I am unsure about player note taking.
As I play low stakes most of the time and thus mostly playing against recreational players and newbies. The variation in those peoples' play should make notes unreliable.

I would say note taking would be more applicable to high stakes semi-pro or pro players.

Am I correct or am I barking up the wrong tree.

RustyRed83 · Feb 22, 2022

SpaceMage said:
I am unsure about player note taking.
As I play low stakes most of the time and thus mostly playing against recreational players and newbies. The variation in those peoples' play should make notes unreliable.

I would say note taking would be more applicable to high stakes semi-pro or pro players.

Am I correct or am I barking up the wrong tree.

I agree with you, there are 1000's of players playing the micros, especially on Pokerstars. The chances of you bumping into the same players, is pretty rare, well especially in my experience. The higher the stakes you play, the fewer players and more chance you will come up against those players more regular. So notes are probably more affective.

Lupus · Feb 22, 2022

I am only color coding players that i get some sort of read on.

If they shove their stack preflop and it is over 20bb with no raise before them i mark them yellow. This lets me know to beware if they play after me and that i might need to play tighter to be able to call
If i am at a final table i will always mark all players pink. This tells me they are probably good players that i need to be aware of. I might update that color as i progress that final table.
If i think they are honest and rarely if ever bluff i color them blue.
If i think they are fish and call anything or just play badly, then green
If i feel they are a really good player that can bluff often or similar i color them red.
Definitely helps when i play thise folks again

Danieleli · Apr 11, 2022

Ssssssnakes said:
Do you take notes on other players? I do it a lot, because it helps a lot.

Here's how I do it (Pokerstars):

The basic note gets the color yellow and I write on it the day and the kind of table I am sitting with that player.

Players who I have met before get their color changed into green, so I know to take a look at their game play, since I meet them more often. It's always good to know your opponents.

I also check for every player on how many tables they sit. If the player sits at three or four tables, then I change the color to orange. If it's more then I change it to red, because you have to play them differently.

Finally, I note every player that I end up with in a heads up (I usually play SNGs). Because if that happens twice, you know he might be up to something.

Mainly of course my notes revolve around stuff like "plays pocket pairs slowly", "bluffs a lot" or "plays only pretty hands".

How are you handling your notes? Are you using them?

Very nice way i never heard of that type of notes... It's always something like fish /regular agressive/tight . I think i will add some stuff like the change when i see players more than once. Thx for sharing

jordanbillie · Apr 12, 2022

Ssssssnakes said:
Do you take notes on other players? I do it a lot, because it helps a lot.

Here's how I do it (Pokerstars):

The basic note gets the color yellow and I write on it the day and the kind of table I am sitting with that player.

Players who I have met before get their color changed into green, so I know to take a look at their game play, since I meet them more often. It's always good to know your opponents.

I also check for every player on how many tables they sit. If the player sits at three or four tables, then I change the color to orange. If it's more then I change it to red, because you have to play them differently.

Finally, I note every player that I end up with in a heads up (I usually play SNGs). Because if that happens twice, you know he might be up to something.

Mainly of course my notes revolve around stuff like "plays pocket pairs slowly", "bluffs a lot" or "plays only pretty hands".

How are you handling your notes? Are you using them?

Nice.

I typically color code with overall profitability (I'm an MTT player).

So I use direct table experience, combined with sharkscope data (overall profit/loss, roi, itm% etc) to give me an overall picture of how winning/losing the player is.

Red = Fish
Orange = Semi Fish
Yellow = Break even ish to moderate winner
Green = Long term winner/shark.

PLAYFUL1 · Apr 12, 2022

I use the notes to help me to see what kind of a player I'm up against, so the footnotes are defiantly an advantage

Whompus · Apr 13, 2022

I use the color coding mainly. Just a few notes. But almost every one gets a color, and the more I see em the more it changes..

Redman1902 · Apr 13, 2022

I like the idea of color coding. However, you need a certain history with the individual player, so I think the long-term win rate (or after the players can develop at least a current period) is a really good approach.

dongato2 · Apr 13, 2022

I always take note of the players mainly the players who limp and those who make pointless bets

Tigroslav · Apr 13, 2022

How do you check how many tables they are playing if they have blocked the search feature!?

Its nice to take notes but I try to confirm them by stats on at least 100 hands played vs that opponent.
Sometimes people mix up their play investing a few chips to throw you off their actual style.

akmost · Apr 13, 2022

I have different colors for the basic categories , something like: calling station , crazy , reg , tight etc.

I always write down the tournament I took the note for example : ''PKO 3.30 Reg speed'' and I also use some abbreviations because we want to note them fast, right?
I note only the out of line plays(at least for my judgement).

OR-open raise
OS-open shove
EP-early position , MP , LP , BTN , SB , BB etc
X/R-check raise
AI-all in
OOP-out of position
IP-in position

Last but not least I delete the older notes because players and tendencies are not static. I try to keep labels and notes which are relatively ''fresh'' .Anything older than 2 years it's not ok for me.

Taking notes on players. Here's how I do it.

Ssssssnakes

Enthusiast

BlackIce

Enthusiast

Backlash

Rock Star

Ssssssnakes

Enthusiast

Master_nolios

Rock Star

alien666dj

Legend

Ssssssnakes

Enthusiast

Luvepoker

Lost in the twilight zone

Master_nolios

Rock Star

PeLLeTTi

Rock Star

TeUnit

Legend

zipocool

Visionary

Poker Orifice

And Still...

RustyRed83

Legend

SpaceMage

Rock Star

RustyRed83

Legend

Lupus

Rock Star

Danieleli

Rock Star

jordanbillie

Legend

PLAYFUL1

Legend

Whompus

Rock Star

Redman1902

Rock Star

dongato2

Rock Star

Tigroslav

Rock Star

akmost

Rising Star

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