Using Player Notes Online What Are Player Notes?
Most
online poker sites have a cool feature that allows you to keep tabs on other players. By clicking on a player's name with either your left or right mouse button, you can normally select a "Player Notes" option. This will open up a little notepad where you can make comments on that player's play style.
If you see a note next to some body's name, you know that you have made comments on them. These are only visible to yourself, nobody else has the benefit of these notes.
What Should I Use Player Notes For?
Simply put, you can use Player Notes to keep track of another person's play style. Putting a note in that some guy is a loud mouth won't actually help your game any. However, if you know how to put him on tilt really easily... that would be noteworthy. Stick to things that impact the game. It doesn't matter if that nice guy from New York said that he's 5' 10" tall with a bad temper. It DOES matter that he raises heavily with 2 5 offsuit before the flop.
Don't finalize your notes on stuff like bluffing, betting trends, and the like unless you see quite a few of a player's hands. Make tentative, quick notes about individual situations. Finalize your notes when you can track TRENDS, rather than one time occurrences. If you think you have a real fish on your hands, use your Buddy or Friends list to watch the player in other games. Then you can make detailed notes.
Is There A System For Taking Player Notes?
My system is much more simple than other systems that I've seen. It covers information that probably won't change much over a short period, because these are player habits linked to personality and basic poker theory. My sample template is as follows:
- Play Ability (Great / Good / OK / Bad / Awful)
- Pre Flop Bet/Raise With (AA, KK, AK, 49os, 23su, etc.)
- Post Flop Bet/Raise With (Mid Pair, Bad Kicker, Draw, etc)
- Tries To Steal With (Any Ace, High Suited, Nothing, etc.)
- Misc. Other Stuff (Bluffer, Suicidal, Trapper, Pro, Overplays XX, etc.)
- Date And Game (3/15/04 - NL Hold Em)
As you can see, 6 lines max, and often less. You want to be concentrating on your game, not on writing a book. Tells are next to meaningless in online poker. People say anything any everything, and they lie on a regular basis. In fact, I play with Player Chat turned OFF a lot of the time. Pauses can mean anything from 'I'm Clueless' to 'I'm In The Restroom'. Don't worry about tells that have nothing to do with betting, worry about your game.
* Play Ability: How good do you think this person is, after some observation?
* Pre Flop Bet/Raise With: What hands will they stake serious money on before the flop?
* Post Flop Bet/Raise With: Will they stake serious money only on made hands, or on the draw? Will they bet hard with bad kickers, and when they don't have the nuts?
* Tries To Steal With: If they have position, will they pressure the blinds with nothing at all, with speculative hands, or do they have decent outs when they go for the steal?
* Misc. Other Stuff: Personality traits that can wreck their game, or yours. For example, if you scout out a table and see enough Pro notes, take your business elsewhere. If you see some nice big fish, pull your waders on!
* Date and Game: Critical for people like me who enjoy NL, raked hands, and old
school Hold Em games. Players can be great at one thing, and be very bad at another. And they can have a totally different attitude from game to game as well.
I hope that these guidelines help your game. Tailor your note taking system to whatever you feel comfortable with. Remember, notes are there to protect your money, not to win a writing prize. It doesn't matter if they look messy, as long as they help you win.
Bill Ricardi – Internet Gaming Guru