Taking Notes in Poker Tournaments

Taking notes is something many players fail to do even though it is a very good way of increasing your win-rate and completely free too. The main reason players do not take notes is either because they are playing too many tables or they rely on poker tracking software instead.

Those who play mtt poker tournaments are the ones who really should be taking detailed notes on their opponents, even more so than cash game players, I would argue. The reason I say this is because you will play against cash game players more regularly than tournament players so you will have a larger sample size of logged hands but you may only meet a tournament player again on a rare occasion so any extra information you have at your disposal is extra welcome.

So what sort of notes should you be taking when playing in a tournament? Thanks to a number of websites that track tournament play every player’s results, for most of the big sites, are available to view. One of the first things you should do, especially if deep in a tournament, is to check these websites and see if the players on your table are winning players or not.

Secondly, when making notes on key hands, make sure you note what size stack the players in the hand had, what position they were all in, what hands were revealed at showdown and how close to the money places you were at the time. The reason for all this detail is so that you can start to picture together how the player you are taking notes on plays at certain stages of a tournament. You should also note the tournament buy-in amount as some players play a variety of stakes so it is good to know at what stakes you saw them make a play.

Some players start off by playing tight and gradually play more loose and aggressive when they have a certain sized stack or are close to the money. Others will isolate short-stacks with marginal hands whilst others will only isolate them with premium holdings. The more information you have to hand the better as it will allow you to avoid dangerous confrontations and also allow you to win some vital extra chips in the right spots.