One aspect of note-taking is knowing how to actually make them meaningful. For example, having a note that says, "Shoved with J9o" doesn't tell you everything you need to know. If you think they are shoving weak the next time they shove you could be disastrously wrong. For example, when they shoved with J9o, were they under 10BB and in shove/fold mode? Were they the monstrous chip leader and just trying to eliminate people who had no chance of actually harming them? Were they 3-bet
bluffing? If you don't know the answers to questions like these, i.e. if your notes are "out of context" then you may find yourself relying on notes which are untrustworthy.
Another aspect of note-taking is knowing how to use the notes properly. Let's HYPOTHETICALLY say you know for a fact (and are correct) that when this person bets 7.25BBs preflop they have QQ. They bet 7.25BB preflop so you know they have QQ. How do you then use that information properly? Are they also someone who will fold QQ to a big re-raise? Can you push them off their hand with a solid c-bet if the flop hits with overcards?
Simply taking notes is not going to win you chips and could even harm your play if you don't do it properly or don't know how to take advantage of the notes you take.
REQUEST: If a forum person is reading this, could someone write an article on taking notes well and how to use them? I'm no where near good at it (the above info is from mistakes I've made with my own note taking). What I'd like to see an article cover is:
- Intro to note taking (what it is and why it's important).
- Taking notes on player types.
- Taking notes on player activities (this person traps often, this person bluffs, etc).
- Taking notes on specific actions.
- Taking "partial" notes (notes where you don't end up seeing the hole cards so you are only guessing at what actually happened).
- Using HUD information effectively in lieu of or in addition to note taking.
- Tips and tricks (apps to use vs. writing on paper, types of notations, etc.)