Taking notes on my opponents vs relying on stats

[Gilead]

I’ve noticed I play better when I take notes on my opponents, even online. Do you guys keep notes regularly, or do you rely only on stats?

 

[ninocabral]

I trust my grade more, the statistics serve to give you a basis, your grade is more accurate if you wrote it down correctly.

 

[fundiver199]

I have stopped notetaking completely. In the past I rarely found old notes usefull, when I looked at them. That might just be me though.

 

[TheniT]

I think it's very important to look at your opponent's notes, which provide more accurate information than just looking at their stats.

 

[Tadi]

It is useful to keep notes about the players and this data is very useful.

 

[TeUnit]

I take notes, sharkscope, and colorcode players. I even have notecaddy(on my hud)which automatically takes notes, but I dont play on many sites that allow a HUD.

 

[hardongear]

Poker Tracker 4 takes my notes for me. How useful they are now is debatable considering we may not see villain again for quite awhile and he may have studied and likely his game has changed since we last played against him. Notes are only really good if you play in a small player pool and regularly against the same villains.

Cheers!!!

 

[xreiss]

in micro stakes i think no need in notes. after yeah sure

 

[rdwr33]

I both observe and analyze my opponents and I certainly look at the statistics and sometimes I try to count on luck

 

[monkeytilter]

Stats give u a quick reference on a player's style, but notes are vastly superior in my opinion - the trick is taking effective notes

 

[Rost]

I take notes regularly, especially in the regular tournaments I play in, and especially if I often encounter the same players in them. Notes are useful, and they have definitely brought me a lot of money because thanks to them I often made the right decisions.

 

[skaterick]

Notes are crucial !

 

[successlaw]

I usually try to put some notices whenever I see something unusual at oponents

 

[player4533456]

Stats are great, and if I could only have either stats or notes I would chose stats. But note taking is a great tool where you can capture a lot of things that you would miss by just looking at stats. So when the site I play at lets me I do both.

 

[akmost]

Both , the notes must be recent though.
I have made some good hero calls in the past because of my notes.

 

[mssmotilda]

in micro stakes i think no need in notes. after yeah sure

I think the opposite - it is precisely at micro limits that you need to take notes, because players make the same mistakes.

 

[Station_Master]

Both. Hud gives you stats, but not bet sizes or range conatruction, so you need to make notes on this stuff

 

[primrose]

When I played online, I took notes constantly. Like all the time. Also used a label system based on categorizing preflop states.

On GGPoker specifically, I mean, it only remembers session stats, so it's your job to write down session stats and convert them into lifetype stats for the opponent. If someone has played 105 hands, write a note that says

20/13/8/35 (105)

And if they already have a note like that and it ends with (180), then combine them into a single note that ends with (285). You will require basic arithmetic

Rake in online cash games is brutal so you should chase every edge you can get. If you're playing MTTs, then eh, way less impactful, I guess you can not bother unless someone does something wild.

 

[Flyer35]

I use notes all the time. Other than real time observation, I find them to be the best way to assess my opponents.

 

[LiviuRo123]

When playing online, do you take notes on other players to remember their tendencies, or do you rely on memory?

 

[oriole]

I always take notes, memory fades but notes stay sharp.

 

[s0ftdumps]

do you use a HUD?

 

[Mauricio Perrotta]

No, next question

 

[Mantinhoo]

I usually take notes on players, since relying only on memory isn’t always reliable during longer sessions.

 

[PlayNow]

When playing online, do you take notes on other players to remember their tendencies, or do you rely on memory?

Definitely take notes!
Even if you have a great memory, after a few sessions those reads start blending together. Plus, players evolve their games, so old mental notes might be outdated anyway.
I try to jot down notes immediately after seeing something significant. If I wait until the session ends, I've usually forgotten half the important stuff.