In the live game of Poker, you have many tools at your disposal for improving your odds. Your opponent’s attitudes at the table, their clothes, their language and, of course, the way they bet may all help you make key decisions. For the observant player, these “tells” are an invaluable resource for improving their chances. While playing online poker, however, you can’t see the players you’re up against. This means that you need to be far more observant about their betting actions and what they are willing to do in a game. Of course, you’re likely to play against thousands of different players in even a short period of time while playing online, so making notes about these players is an absolute must. You should always strive to keep very detailed notes about your opponents. You can’t forget that these notes need to be structured for them to be useful.

The first thing you want to do is attempt to classify their play generally. For example, are they tight or loose, passive or aggressive, straightforward or tricky? These kinds of generalizations can give you a lot of information and ensure your notes are useful at a quick glance.

After that, you can add in specific types of play that they engage in. In this portion of your notes, you’re looking to remember how they play their draws, what their raising range is from all positions, how often they defend their blinds or perhaps how they like to bet bigger hands. You should try and gather as much of these bits of information as possible. This will reinforce your generalization of the player and also give you important information if you ever find yourself in a similar situation with that player again.

However, these specific notes shouldn’t just apply to those specific events. For instance, when making notes like “limped pocket 4s under the gun,” you should try and think whether he or she has also limped with 66 or 22 in early position. “Limps with low pocket pairs in early position” is a far more useful note as it applies to more than one situation.

Finally, just like your strategy on the table, you should be ready to adapt, change or even delete your own notes. The more you play against a player, the more you’ll learn about them. Notes should be like an ongoing observation sheet, so you should always be amending your notes to reflect what you’ve learned.

Notes are a powerful ally when you’re playing online. Using them effectively can ensure you make educated decisions about what your opponents are holding. However, they can also hurt you, if they’re not organized or accurate, you may end up hurting your bottom line!

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