Poker Strategy: Note Taking

So, you just invested that $26 token, and sat down to play poker with hundreds of donkeys for the next few hours. Your options include:

1. Chalk all of your opponents up to donks, and just play your best. This is actually a VERY good approximation.
2. Assume all of your opponents are good players. Maybe that works for some games, but not here. You will be making 3rd and 4th level plays and getting instacalled by TPTK or worse. Play appropriate poker, 2nd and occasionally 3rd level.
3. Treat each player individually. Take notes and deduce how best to get his chips, now, and in the future.

Option 1 or 2 requires nothing else. Go play.
Option 3, you say? I am glad to share some ideas and thoughts about how to note people, in all games.

First a general color-coding review:

Red: Pro
Orange: Trouble
Yellow: Aggressive
Green: Some information, be aware
Teal: ATM!
Blue: Calling station, generally kosher
Pink: Aggro-donk
Purple: Fundamentally bad, or just very new

So, as zach asks in his comment, what do we look for? What notes will be useful information, today and in any future tourneys? If you're like me and play lots of HORSE, you will see many of the same names over time. Even if you only sit down and know 1 player at the table, it can mean "I win" instead of IGH.

And, as I've been pounding for months, do 12 seconds of research to verify, confirm, or contradict your initial impressions. Even if your reading skills are off, probability, statistics, and time don't lie.

Please share your own thoughts in the comments. I plan to add them in and make this as comprehensive as possible.

General Concepts:

1. Playing a hand an unexpected way

If someone turns over cards you didn't expect, ask why. Go back, did they fool you? Did they 3-bet a draw, or not raise AA preflop? Get the best read you can, taking into account position, tilt, and anything else, while still there in the moment.

2. Playing too many hands

Automatic pink or teal. If I get moved to a new table and I see someone play the first 4 hands, it's obvious they aren't tight-aggressive. Note this for later. Also, look at the top of the leaderboard as the first hour closes. You will probably find several of them, too many hands + luck = big chip lead early. These are gold mines, get their chips because someone will.

3. LWC CWC CCWC BWC RWC

Limp, Call, Bet, Raise, Cold-call WITH CHEESE. Thanks to Jon Vorhaus for the "cheese" terminology. In fact, for the abbreviations as well. He provides a lot of them, along with some other great material in Killer Poker Online 2.

First 3 are Teal. Last 2 tend towards pink. Let's not forget my favorite pink,

BWFC

Bet with fancy cheese! When they have no hand, no draw, but a pretty board. Chasing a low then pretending to have a flush on 5th when they hit 3 suited cards. Or, as the bring-in, they pair on 4th and bet out (Stud or Stud 8). With Q6 rainbow underneath. Watch for these players and raise them immediately.

4. Pot odds ignorance

$2/$4 Stud 8, bring-in and 3 limpers. $4 in the pot. 4th street checked. Now 5th street and the boards are:
xx A9A
xx 277
xx 8K5
xx 4T3

Now, the aces bet. We know they don't have trips because they didn't raise. But more importantly, they are betting $4 into a $4 pot! And yet, it will continue,

call call call

Now every one of the chasing hands is probably on a low draw, or maybe 1 or 2 small pair. There is just no point in calling here, hoping to win half ($2) of the $4 in the pot. Certainly not on 5th street still on a marginal draw. Fish try to win every pot. Notice them.

5. Starting requirements ignorance

Any face card up or down (@R)
One or two gap straight draws (@S)
Cold-calling medium and small pairs behind a big card raise (@SE)
TRASH!!!! (@O) you name it, 2 pair, AAAx, 789T, T732 with 3 clubs...

6. Brick ignorance

7-card games are all about getting 5 good ones to win. Profitability goes down tremendously when you start chasing and peeling. Or, for god's sake, starting with a brick. You think KdAd2s is a good starting hand in Stud 8? It's not.

Starts with a brick
Purple (if you think they don't know any better)
or
Teal (if you know they will never learn)

Peels bricks on 4th AND 5th
Teal (if chasing draw)
or
Blue (if calling down medium value)

Calls down any low draw, to the river EVERY TIME (starting 827 means they will see the river unless they catch 3 bricks)
Blue.

7. Shoving requirements ignorance (i.e. "pushmonkey")

Starts pushing all in way too early in tournaments. Especially in satellites, shoving 985 chips at 50/100 UTG. With 66 or ATo.
Check-raise shove TPTK with JT, 86, A5.
Raise and call reshove with any pocket pair.
Pink.

8. Other

I've compiled the remaining thoughts below, sorted by player type. I've also included actual notes ("for actuality's sake!"), preceded by *.

Pink

A4J98 rainbow board. Raise after a bet and call, then fold to reraise. (limit @H) (80 more into 800 pot)
* raise every xxA (@S)
* raise every A2xx (@O)
* steal raise every time high card showing (@S)
Tilty! Almost always pink.
Jackass! Again, superiority, entitlement, and righteousness are the enemies of good poker players. Pink.
* reshove QJo at 40/80 for 1100 chips (Token Frenzy)
Ignores equity (@R). 3-handed A246TT and A368JQ, and xx789Q keeps betting. Yes he's ahead if the cards stop now. But he can actually be an significant dog. In poker, generally the hand that's ahead now is the favorite. Be aware when that's not true.

Teal

* Limp KQJ3, call 2 bets twice on QT6 suited flop to chase straight on flush board
* Complete and chase Qxx or AA3 (@R)

Purple

Limp with small pair, like AA3 (@R)
Bet or raise or reraise into apparent better hand on river (@RSE)
* Thinks razz is stud (happens more often than you might think)

Green

Chase draw, then check-raise river when it hits. The river check-raise is extra risky, because it may get checked around, especially when a draw appears to hit. This denotes a tricky player, at least one level trickier than the masses. Not necessarily smart, but it is tricky.
* Raise any pocket pair UTG (@H). Again, not necessarily good or bad, but definitely good information for us.

Blue

* Call 4 bets preflop K235 (@O)
* Instaraise top set (@HO)
* After raising, always check QQ-88 on A flop, always bet AK on A or K flop (obvious)

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Things are going well today:

UPDATE:



If you think you are doing well in $5 + 0.50, consider $10 or $20. I promise there is very little skill difference.