The importance of making player notes while playing online should never be underestimated … Make them often & have a consistent method for notes or tagging players.
It is one of the most effective ways to win more playing online poker – Any edge is worth taking – Good player notes give you a big edge especially at smaller rooms as they have more value – But make them in all the games you play at all sites.
While playing online poker doesn’t have the benefit on live games for spotting physical tells it offers a big advantage live games do not … Making notes on players.
Most online poker rooms offer some form of note taking in their software allowing you to make all sorts of notes on players. These notes are stored for you to refer back to in following games making an increasingly valuable reference. You can even make notes on players while your watching games your not playing in.
Making player notes is one of the most overlooked yet valuable parts of playing poker online. If your not making player notes – start now – it is an absolutely vital edge for you as a player and you can be sure good players are making notes on you.
The quality of the player notes feature varies from site to site – some offer both a detail note facility and simple graphics to tag players and also show you have notes on them.
Some will have easy systems, ideally they are both quick to enter up long notes, feature simple graphics or colour coding for you to tag players fish, sharks, bluffers etc in a way that is easy for you to identify quickly.
Personally I try to keep my player notes simple and concentrate on both general notes and unusual hand specific notes too. I also much prefer to use a simple traffic light colour coding system with a few other colours for maniacs or rocks which means I can see weaker players in the lobby and quickly at tables.
All information in your player notes is useful information
For cash or ring games I would note down the game (eg. 0.50/1 NL short) including if it was a full of short table game, the players buy-in which is good for noting if he buys in for the maximum or is burning off chips buying in for an odd low amount.
After a while playing I would update the profit or loss of the player – this is a useful indicator. I would also make a general note if the player is very obviously a fish / calling station / maniac gambler or a solid player.
Also note down danger or tricky players who are able to out play you or others creatively – These players I mark as WATCH giving me both a warning and a reminder to make more notes where possible.
Where specific hand or betting patterns come up note them down – and mark up if they happen again. This is very useful information if you know a player consistently raised the pot by 4x BB on kings or aces you at least know what your up against and can make better decisions based on probable tells.
Making player notes is worth doing at all sites – whether the sites is big or small, generally tough or an easy to win sites its worth doing as much as possible but for different reasons.
Player notes at small sites are particularly valuable because you are sure to bump into these players regularly and get to know a lot of features of their game. As much as players like to think they are not habitual or that they consistently play certain hands in the same way … They do.
Another feature of small poker sites is that players will cross over into higher stakes games than they maybe should be playing because there isn’t a seat available at their preferred limit. This is worth noting as is things like their buy-in and profit in cash games.
Player notes at big sites may seem less valuable as you less likely to play them regularly. Your notes will end up shorter and less accurate so keep them simple – ie. Fish, Calling Station, Watch, Grinder, Danger, Loose aggressive, maniac, solid etc.
Player notes at tough sites with good players will save you a fortune and avoid getting into expensive hands. It will also allow you to note players who grind – playing only premium hands or “by the book” players who are unlikely to bluff at pots without the correct odds.
Specific hand notes are most valuable here including betting patterns if possible – things like betting 3x BB with high pocket pairs or betting 1 1/2 times the pot with made hands against possible flush or straight draws.
Player notes at easy to win sites might seem pointless as you want to mark them all as fish – but you will definitely be swimming with some sharks and they need to be identified. Remember you cant bluff bad players but knowing that they over play Ace rag or AK is very useful for putting players on probably hands. As is noting players who always defend blinds or are habitual calling stations.
With all note taking it is important to re-assess your player notes – if you marked a player down as a fish and clearly he isn’t anymore or they were just having a bad day then maybe mark them down as a “tilting” player or inconsistent.
