I’ve pretty much always taken notes on players, but I really kicked it up a notch after reading John Vorhaus’s book “Killer Poker Online”.  He explains how important it is to take VERY DETAILED notes on ALL the people you play against.  Here’s an example of some abbreviated notes he suggests:

CWC= Calls with Cheese (usually preflop)
BWC= Bets with Cheese
RWC= Raises with Cheese
CB= Automatic C-Better (hit or miss)
NF= Incapable of Folding
CF= Can fold a hand

Today I decided to really take his strategy to the test.  Here’s a hand for example that seemed to pay off.  The notes I took on this guy over about 200 hands were as follows:
RWC,CWC,CB,CF

Poker Stars, $0.02/$0.05 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 9 Players
[URL=”http://www.leggopoker.com”]LeggoPoker.com[/URL] - [URL=”http://www.leggopoker.com/hh”]Hand History Converter[/URL]

SB: $10.53
BB: $4.96
UTG: $19.01
UTG+1: $5.09
Hero (UTG+2): $6.31
MP1: $5.64
MP2: $9.95
CO: $20.08
BTN: $3.42

[B]Pre-Flop:[/B] :Ac :Kc dealt to Hero (UTG+2)
UTG calls $0.05, UTG+1 folds, [COLOR=red]Hero raises to $0.25[/COLOR], 2 folds, [COLOR=red]CO raises to $0.45[/COLOR], 4 folds, Hero calls $0.20

Now taking my notes into account, I could have probably shoved on him here, but since He can fold, and he’s a habitual C-Better, I think there’s more money to be made by calling his 3-Bet.

[B]Flop:[/B] ($1.02) :8s :4h :8c (2 Players)
Hero checks, [COLOR=red]CO bets $0.25[/COLOR], [COLOR=red]Hero raises to $1[/COLOR], CO calls $0.75

I’m pretty sure I’m ahead here. One more bullet aught to do it.

[B]Turn:[/B] ($3.02) :9d (2 Players)
[COLOR=red]Hero bets $2[/COLOR], CO folds

[B]Results:[/B] $3.02 Pot ($0.10 Rake)
[I]Hero mucked :Ac :Kc and WON $2.92 (+$1.47 NET)[/I]
While I’m typing this, this same villain made my notes pay off again for another 30 or 40 BBs. 

I think there might be something to this notetaking stuff.  I’d better get back to it!

More later.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 25th, 2008 at 12:28 pm and is filed under Learning & Lessons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.