6:04am: This is a very informative article written by Corey (aka “DntCaltACmBk”) regarding note taking in heads up sit n gos. While I personally don’t take advantage of the luxury of being able to take notes as much as I probably should, this article explains why it’s important.

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Throughout the grind of heads up sit & go’s I have picked up a lot of useful skills that aided me in my Sharkscope graph exploding. Note taking was one of them. I do get the opportunity to play the same people multiple times so of course the notes help in that respect – but for me, note taking is mostly about helping me to focus and observe my opponent’s tendencies.

The number one piece of advice that I could share – the one thing that I absolutely know to be true and useful, that I’ve known even before I was a winning player – is that you should be looking to put your opponent into a category as soon as possible. Even if it’s in the first two hands, identify him or her – TAG, LAG, weak-tight, weak-loose, whatever… just categorize him/her! You might not be correct, but much like the testing follows the hypothesis in the scientific method, as does you trying out your opponent. Adjust your play to match the type of player you THINK you are dealing with. If you’re running over the guy, you know you’re right. If it’s not working, reconsider your note. By five minutes in you will probably know what type of opponent you have, then you can lock in your note and you’ll have a head start next time you meet as a bonus.

So what should your notes say? I don’t have a formula, in fact most of my notes are kind of goofy. “Calling McCallington from Callville”. “Loose goose”. But mostly I just write “weak-tight”, “LAG, “TAG”. I do get more specific, which I will get to in a second, but I’ve got to tell you the number one note I make…

The number one, most common, probably happens every day note is…. “weak for weak”. What I’m telling myself is that my opponent bets weak with his weak hands. Think about how beneficial that information is. It almost always holds true too. Most opponents marked with “weak for weak” are accompanied by a note right next to it that says “strong for strong”.

Beyond the one word, one line notes I do sometimes get more specific. This often happens if I am having difficulty categorizing my opponent but I need to keep observing and keep giving myself information. It can also be if I just feel like giving myself as much information as possible. Sometimes a “LAG” note is not enough, if this guy is just a maniac the more ways I can express that in my notes the more I will be prepared next time and know how to close the deal this time. So if a note worthy hand takes place I’ll take it down. Just before I wrote this article, for example, I had to write “Overbet pot huge with bottom pair when I raised pre”. That tells me what kind of player he is, doesn’t it?

Finally, a common note for me is writing down how my opponent likely views me. If I keep getting caught making bad plays or bluffs, maybe my opponent thinks I’m a LAG donk – hey, maybe that’s the note he has on me! So I make a note of it. Another match I had just before this article: I put myself in my opponent’s shoes and it appeared that I was a fairly ABC obvious poker player. This allowed me to steal some nice pots and probably forced him to make some big folds.

Note taking really isn’t about the next time – the next time is good, but you want to win now. Taking good notes means that you are observing, that you are thinking – and especially if you can take notes on how your opponent views you, that kind of critical thinking is bound to improve your game. So take your notes and remember, for when those rematches do come up, it is nice to leave little notes for yourself. I like to write “Dear Corey of the Future, This is the easiest donk in the world. If you lose you should quit at life. Your pal, Corey of the Past.”