G
GWU73
Visionary
Silver Level
Some people don't care about playing live poker so hud's are enough and alot better than some random note in a few months when you play with the same playerYes I take notes. That's the best thing you can do. Keep your HUDs. You won't be able to access them when you grow some nuts and play some big live tournaments with the big boys.
Definately helpfulI was having a discussion with my league teammates about the value of note taking. With a lot of players using HUDs and others wanting to act "organically" and still others who multi-table so much that they don't have time to focus on individual opponents, I have come to think that I am the only player left who takes notes on the other players at the table or if anyone else still does it and if they see the value in it?
Personally, I think this is one of the greatest tools in online poker. There are very few "tells" that you can get from the online game. Yes, I do know there are others, such as timing tells (which I fool around with the throw off my opponents from time to time, but generally I have a system where I wait the same amount of time before taking any action to combat this tell). For me, recording that a certain player likes to raise from the button 80-90% of hands in an unopened pot and will cbet no matter what comes on the flop is terrific information that I can use (that is not necessarily evident from the info you gain from a HUD...or at least not specific) to combat that player. And the best thing is, that when you save it, next time you play that player, you have a great idea of how he (or she) is going to play.
You can track all sorts of information through note taking. I have a personal system that I use to detect where other players seem to have leaks in their games that I can exploit. I also have abbreviations for certain things (CB for cbets when player has raised preflop and then cbets the flop every time). I even take notes on myself and when I successfully run a bluff or when I make a bad play (yes, it happens...more than I would like actually LOL).
I think that taking notes, updating notes as the other players adapt to different tournaments or adjust to different levels of tournaments; or finding differences between the way they play different tournaments and cash games gives me a real advantage when I am playing against these people. I would like everyone else's perspective.
No hud no notes about as useful as week old rotten box of chicken wings just use your head and start playing poker like a savant.