how to focus remember how live hands played?

[John49]

I'm new to the forum. I just started playing some $40 buy in NL at Commerce. I am not easily remembering how hands went as far as betting order, amts, position, etc. Do I just need to focus on everything and keep playing more and more til it starts sticking in my brain naturally? Any pointers to speed up this retention process?

[Grunch]

Not sure this is the right forum. I think B&M might be right.

But before I move it, I'll tell you what I do.

I keep a small pad of paper & pencil with me in my pocket. If a big important hand comes up that I want to go backk to, after the hand is over (usually some time during the next orbit) I find an opportune moment to get up from the table. I'll probably go to the bathroom, but I'll also write down the details of the hand. Things like stack sizes, relative positions, and exact board cards start to fade from memory soon.

[Cactus Jack]

Do it at the table. Might as well see who notices, comments and you'll have a better table image with those people. The ones who don't notice or care are your ATMs.

[John49]

Do other people have an opinion about whether I should make notes at the table or away from the table? If there aren't severe disabilities, then I would like to do it at the table. Of course, if I only do it after large losses, and not at other hands, then good players can see which hands I played are making me nervous and unsure and they can try to get me into those situations again, or even worse, start bluffing those situations. I don't like giving away that sort of image weakness to some players. But to be honest, I'm having a hard time remembering betting patterns and position. Stack sizes, I generall seem to remember a little better b/c I'm good w/ visuals.

To be honest, I think if I play more, it'll come to me. Just wondering if people had some tricks to it. Like an acronym for the order of planets or rainbow spectrum.

[sirpupnyc]

At 40NL you probably don't want to look like the nerd who's paying attention. You're probably also not going to make note of many details that fall into useful patterns.

If written notes help, though, go for it. Pick up the NY Times and fold the Arts section to the Crossword if you want a little camouflage. I imagine spot observations about particular players will be more useful than detailed hand histories--note what seems unusual and try to weed out the commonplace in advance.