What to make player notes on at the table

Dara O'Kearney shares what he makes a note of when he is observing his opponents at the table.

There are two things I look for when it comes to making online and/or mental notes on players. Showdowns and frequencies.

When I am observing a hand I am not involved in, when it gets to showdown, I replay the hand in my mind and think about how it should have been played. Whenever they do something different, that’s when I note it. I am looking for really egregious mistakes.

For example, if a player in the HJ calls an UTG open, the flop is 9♦Q♥2♠ and they check/call a bet. The turn is a 3♠ and it goes check/check. Then the river is T♣ and it goes check/check. Let’s say they show up with T♠8♠.

I would then replay the hand in my mind, and think about how it should have been played. I can spot four obvious leaks in this player’s game. First of all, they have called too wide from the HJ with a weak hand, so they are loose preflop. Secondly, they call with just a gutshot on the turn, so they are a bit of a gambler. Third, they missed a really good opportunity to semi-bluff when their opponent shows weakness on the turn, with a flush draw and gutshot, so they are unlikely to be bluffing when they bet in the future. Finally, they missed an opportunity for a thin value bet on the river with 2nd pair.

From one hand I have determined that this player is loose passive, and when they bet they are likely to have a very good hand, with few bluffs or thin value.

You can make quick assumptions from frequencies

As you can tell, it is the hands that went to showdown that are invaluable when it comes to making notes on a player. The player might have played a hand perfectly for all you know when you can’t see their cards at the end, but you can make strong reads about hands that went to showdown. Online you also have the luxury of pulling up the hand history to replay the hand when it does reach showdown.

Frequencies are important too, ie how often they are playing hands from certain positions, as well as how often they are raising/calling/folding.

Online this is very easy to determine if you have a Heads-up Display (HUD). When it comes to live poker, however, you will never have a large enough sample size to get reliable data on an opponent. That doesn’t mean you should disregard the information you do get.

If a player opens their first 10 hands, it’s a reasonable assumption they are playing too tight. If a player has not played a hand for three orbits, they are likely to be a Nit. It could, of course, be the case that they have just been dealt an unlikely string of monsters/rags, but until you get more information it is still better to go with these reads than not.

Dara O'Kearney's book Endgame Poker Strategy: The ICM Book is out now.