I assume there are lots of you who play without a HUD and was wondering how do you keep track of your opponents? I've been experimenting with a text file where I record the hands if there is a showdown. If there was a preflop raise I put it in a special category.

Basically I just want to get better at reading opponents and if any of you have a system that you'd like to share please do.


Thanks!

Text file? Hmm, you like to do the hard work... It's much easier with a HUD but anyway, HUD doesn't guarantee itm place.

I have no idea how to make that truly work, but here is what I would suggest.
First, you come up with a listing of types of hands and apply an identifier to each. For instance:
PR - Pre-flop raise
BL - Bluff
CRF = Check-raise fold

That way when you're reading through an opponents hands you only have to read short identifiers and quickly know how that person plays.

Originally Posted by JonathanAReth

I have no idea how to make that truly work, but here is what I would suggest.
First, you come up with a listing of types of hands and apply an identifier to each. For instance:
PR - Pre-flop raise
BL - Bluff
CRF = Check-raise fold

That way when you're reading through an opponents hands you only have to read short identifiers and quickly know how that person plays.

Thanks for the ideas. Seems like it's quite more complex than I thought. Poker is too situational to make it truly work. I've tried doing it for a few play money practice games and think I'll just stick to making mental notes and focus on the action. Writing in stuff makes you miss the table action...so yeah.

No HUD here, no text file. Just the client`s notes and tags.. and those only a few to keep track of who's way too loose and who's constantly at tables.

Originally Posted by Chewfulitsch

I assume there are lots of you who play without a HUD and was wondering how do you keep track of your opponents? I've been experimenting with a text file where I record the hands if there is a showdown. If there was a preflop raise I put it in a special category.

Basically I just want to get better at reading opponents and if any of you have a system that you'd like to share please do.


Thanks!

Hi. Are you playing on a site that saves hand histories? If so you can always go back after you are done playing and review each hand and build data on the other players....it's a painstaking process if you're trying to extract lots of data...but not so bad if you're just looking to note unusual or especially interesting plays.

This is how I take notes at live tables

http://jonathanlittlepoker.com/how-i...e-poker-table/

maybe it can give you some ideas for online.

Originally Posted by gabpoker

This is how I take notes at live tables

http://jonathanlittlepoker.com/how-i-take-notes-at-the-poker-table/

maybe it can give you some ideas for online.

Thank you for sharing this video. I bookmarked it. I had never seen this explained before and I have actually been wanting to know how other people make notes.

Originally Posted by vapandrei

No HUD here, no text file. Just the client`s notes and tags.. and those only a few to keep track of who's way too loose and who's constantly at tables.

I'm going to make use of PS player notes too. There are quite a few regulars on the free rolls i'm doing atm.

Originally Posted by ccres

Hi. Are you playing on a site that saves hand histories? If so you can always go back after you are done playing and review each hand and build data on the other players....it's a painstaking process if you're trying to extract lots of data...but not so bad if you're just looking to note unusual or especially interesting plays.

Yeah, I'm on Pokerstars and use the hand history to check the mucked hands and get a sense of the ranges people use. Made it into the money on another free roll today so I think it has helped me to write it down for a while.

Originally Posted by gabpoker

This is how I take notes at live tables

http://jonathanlittlepoker.com/how-i-take-notes-at-the-poker-table/

maybe it can give you some ideas for online.

Thanks for the video, had heard of Jonathan Little and saw a couple of explained hands. Will def check his Youtube channel and see what else is on there.

The more information you have the better - but some people are successful without support software. I don't use it all the time. Sometimes I feel like I over-think decisions when I have all that information at hand.

A lot of the time I have the support software running so I can look up players if need be, but don't have the hud actively running. I don't know. I feel like my reads on players are better when they're not influenced by software. With that said, I never play online without my software running and recording everything.

I'm more of a live table player though, so take this how you want.

I also play without HUD. What I do is put colours on my opponents according to their play style and write notes on them - something special which needs to be remembered. It helps. And I am not going to install any HUDs. I am quite satisfied with it. Sometimes it makes me laugh when I read the notes which I wrote before.

You will greatly facilitate your life if you do this with the help of HUD

Originally Posted by Chewfulitsch

Thanksforthe video, had heard of Jonathan Little and saw a couple of explained hands. Will def check his Youtube channel and see what else is on there.

Jonathan has a ton of great stuff and often makes some of his paid videos available for free to his email subscribers. I think check out his stuff will be very +EV.

Originally Posted by Chewfulitsch

I assume there are lots of you who play without a HUD and was wondering how do you keep track of your opponents?

I used to play without a HUD many years and what I did was that I marked players with colors and wrote notes about them:

Green = Good player
Orange = Bad player
Light blue = Fish
Dark blue = Whale
Red = Hazard (which in my book means someone super aggressive who constantly makes really big raises more than a pot, raises all the time, plays almost every hand, never gives up before turn and who most likely will lose their whole buy-in eventually)

In addition to that color coding, I added notes if I saw something valuable happening:

- If someone got caught with a bluff
- If they didn't give up with an overpair or top pair
- If they paid way too much with draws
- If they checked the nuts on river
- What did their donkbet mean
- With what did they reraise
etc.

Basically any information that can come in handy when I am in a tough spot with them. I still use these same colors and notes even with HUD.

Originally Posted by IcyNicy

Sometimes it makes me laugh when I read the notes which I wrote before.

Me too! Sometimes I see my notes like "plain idiot" which means that I have probably lost a big pot to them when they were calling 'til the end with bottom pair and then got their second pair on river against my Aces for example. Not very informative but sometimes feelings win over reason

Originally Posted by Chewfulitsch

Yeah, I'm on Pokerstars and use the hand history to check the mucked hands and get a sense of the ranges people use. Made it into the money on another free roll today so I think it has helped me to write it down for a while.

Good. If nothing else, extracting any significant amount of data by hand will make you appreciate a HUD that much more if you choose to get one.

Originally Posted by gabpoker

This is how I take notes at live tables

http://jonathanlittlepoker.com/how-i-take-notes-at-the-poker-table/

maybe it can give you some ideas for online.

Really nice I will apply tonight while I will be playing a tournament. Thanks for the advice! I will shar my progress here !