Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

If you are a good player, playing at a low limit, dont do it. Any advantage you get from taking notes will be countered by weak players thinking you are a shark. You want to create a nice relaxed atmosphere for the fish to lose their chips. Don't do anything to disrupt this.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

Maybe at the higher limits, but if its the same people for that long you should be able to just remember anyway, at the lower limits people just bust too fast its not even worth it.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

Believe it or not, I've actually had two separate instances where a player has called the floor and had me barred from taking notes during live play (small pocket notepad). The floor's exact explanation was "no reading material at the table".

Needless to say, I don't play at that establishment anymore, ever.


q/q

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

[ QUOTE ]
What kind of stuff are you planning on recording mid-session? Are you planning on writing down reads/tells on other players at the table? Are you planning on keeping track of your own results/mistakes?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well on that occasion I was making notes of hands more for a trip report than information purposes

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

I had the same question when I 1st started. After a while it became easier to remember the specifics of hands. I think 2 things helped with this:

1. Becoming comfortable at the table
This just takes education and experience. If you get the basics to be routine and you don't have to constantly remind yourself about them you will have the opportunity to think about other things like how the last hand just played out and what it reveals.

2. Playing tigher
This will mean that you don't have as many hands to remember and you will, most of the time, be able to reflect on them between hands. You will also have more time to study other players.

I write notes at the end of each session, but they are more about who was playing and how the table played. I also write down any mistakes I may have made and any plays that I thought were good. You won't be able to remember everything and that is fine. I assume that the note taking you are wanting to do is to help improve your game (obv [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]) and stop leaks. I believe that as you get more experience you will start to notice your big mistakes and will be able to correct them. My experience has also been that if you make friends with good poker players they will help you discover your leaks and help you fix them. I didn't think I'd make poker friends when I 1st started, people didn't seem to know what to think of me, but after a few months that changed.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

I don't take notes on players. I try to keep that stuff in my head. I will however, sometimes write down a hand, because it's annoying that I will forget the exact board sometimes.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

If you want to take notes and not have people realize it, try using a blackberry, iphone, or some other electronic device with a decent keyboard. People just think you're checking email or messaging someone, not taking notes. It has the opposite effect of them thinking you're a shark...they think you're not paying that much attention to the game.

As long as you keep your notes short and only type while you're out of a hand, nobody will complain or even question you.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

It takes a strong will to keep anything annoying on the table.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

[ QUOTE ]
If you want to take notes and not have people realize it, try using a blackberry, iphone, or some other electronic device with a decent keyboard. People just think you're checking email or messaging someone, not taking notes. It has the opposite effect of them thinking you're a shark...they think you're not paying that much attention to the game.

As long as you keep your notes short and only type while you're out of a hand, nobody will complain or even question you.

[/ QUOTE ]

Im suprised it took this long to get this reply, this is exactly what I do if I ever take notes as no one suspects it and you just look like your bored hammering out some email and not really there to play

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

I play with the same people day in and day out and I'm glad I take notes. Usually I can remember their tells/tendancies,but sometimes I can't