Taking Notes on Other Players
Posted September 25, 2008 2:37 pm in Enjoyment, Gambling Hall, Internet Games by admin
One of my favorite things about playing online poker versus playing in a live poker situation is the way there’s so much information available to you at all times. Because poker is a game of information, the more information you have at your beckon the better apt you are to come out ahead. And while some people have memories like steel traps, it can be hard to remember player’s patterns even hours after having played with them, which is why taking notes on your opponents online is one of the great tools you have as an online player.
I used to take notes primarily in the style a player played. If I thought he was a horrible donkey, chasing down hands, I would flag him red and write in his box that he was a donk and played crap cards and should be pinned to the wall. And while these kinds of trends can be reliable, there is no accounting for mood in this kind of rendering, and so now I prefer to notate players by specific hands rather than by trends.
For instance, if I see an opponent raising a bet with the four flush, then betting the turn when he misses, this is valuable information to notate, but is probably best rendered in the context of the hand. If a player is coming into pots out of position with hands like J 6 and such, this is a great thing to note, that the player literally plays any two cards in any position. Watching how these players tend over time, though, when you see them acting in the future, should be handled with care, as players tendencies can change from session to session, but in general, the more notes you have on a player’s style, the more apt you are to make the right decision at the right time
