Taking notes at a live game
 

Is it concidered bad to have a small notepad with you to keep track of certain stats or tendancies of players at your table that youll be playing all day with? Or should i just try to use my head?

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

It makes you a buzz kill.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

Lol. Im not gonna have it up on the table, just down on my lap and stealth write now and then.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

at a home game or a casino?
Home game, probably just keep it in your head-esp. if its a game with friends

Casino- Feel free to leave the pad on the table, you're not there to make friends, your there to make bank [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

[ QUOTE ]
Is it concidered bad to have a small notepad with you to keep track of certain stats or tendancies of players at your table that youll be playing all day with? Or should i just try to use my head?

[/ QUOTE ]

Do both; take notes and use yor head. Some folks, not me, will get up and use the bathroom after a hand they want to record others will stay at the table.

Caveat: If you stay at the table and people notice you taking notes sometimes they will try to play better against you. And/or beat you senselessly about the head with your notepad. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

Do a search, this subject comes up once every few months.

Keep notes, it will help improve your game.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

I think mental notes should be sufficient, but that is how my own head works. I will notice things that someone does and it burns a wrinkle into my brain (as long as I'm sober lol). As an opposing player, if I saw someone taking notes, I think mentally I'd like to take that player out with a nice beat all the more [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] But rude, I don't think so. It will intimidate some I feel.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

Someone called the floor on me for doing this in a donkament once. Seemed to tilt him when floor said I was fine

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

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?

-Jerry

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

I take notes for every session, but usually I take them during a break or when I've quit. The only downside I can see for taking notes at the actual table is that it will indeed unnerve some people, as it will draw attention to you and make them realize that you are studying them. This usually will have only minimal consequences but will sometimes cause a major episode with the delicate ones. Additionally, it might distract you a bit because you'll be more focused on recording many past events rather than keeping really tuned to the immediate action. Try to use the most efficient shorthand possible, and I would keep the notepad small and out of sight. Draw as little attention to yourself as possible and just tell them "it's a grocery list" if they ask.

In general, you probably are going to find that your memory development is more important than major note-taking. Usually your note-taking is more important for the recording of who comes when, and what the more salient patterns are of the game and its juicier regulars. Online usually lends itself to more note-taking because of the lack of human interaction.

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

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

I dont think theres anything wrong with it. Just be prepared to take a lot of [censored] for it from other players.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

This is really interesting to me, I play live cash all the time and I have never taken any form of notes. I've always had a pretty good memory and that seems to be enough. Do you guys find that this helps you when you run into the same players again in the future or do you just study over hands when you are away from the table and look for mistakes?

-Jerry

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

I don't see a problem with it, but you will look like a total nit. I've played w/ a couple people who do this and I've noticed that they don't get any action ever from the more observant types.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

That pretty much sums it up. If you are playing in any low to mid stakes games, you don't want to draw attention to yourself. Just try to fit in and act like you are there to have fun. I used to always be silent at the table, but now if the table is playing tight I strike up a lighthearted conversation and 4/5 times the players start easing up and playing looser.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

I always take notes and have developed a system and scorecard that makes it quick and easy. At the WSOP, someone told me they didnt need notes and I asked him how manyh hands he played the last hour. He said "two"...the answer was "four". If you are interested, contact me.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

He said "two"...the answer was "four". If you are interested, contact me.

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Lol,very important info. Taking notes at the table is really bad.It makes you look nitty and like a killjoy. Just enter hands in your phone away from the table so it looks like you are texting. Can people not really remember a read or a tell on someone?

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.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is good advice, but more for live games than for tournaments. The rules about electronic devices at tournaments are so (stupidly) draconian; it's nearly impossible to use such a device to take notes during tournaments.

In the 2006 WSOP ME, I tried to take notes on my cell phone, and the players at the table called the floor on me immediately. The ruling was that I could not even step away from the table, record my notes on my phone and then sit back down in my seat!

At this year's ME, things were (slightly) more liberalized--I was able to post to my micro-blog, provided I did so while I was out of the hand in progress.

However, a couple of days later, when the Bellagio Cup ME was cranking up, the iPhone mania was in full swing, and the rule from the floor was no electronic devices period, noway, nohow--the rationale apparently being that the floor did not want to be in the position of figuring out who might be using an iPhone as a music player, and who might be using it as a phone/email device/whatever.

Long story short--if you want to take notes, use a pad and a pen, if anything.

Re: Taking notes at a live game
 

cliffspiro, I'm interested in your method and sent you a PM, but I agree with the other poster's concerns about being seen making notes at the table. I have seen one guy that is a Houdini with a notepad. He makes entries only while out of the hand, and seemingly only during player or dealer actions. Most players are oblivious to his entries.

I'm currently making my notes away from the table and fleshing them out at home. The worst thing about my method is that if I don't see a player for several months, I may forget him and not connect him with his file.