Im not a live player, but i guess it shouldn't be a problem to take notes after you have played, since it takes too much focuss while playing. Also there is no need to note complete hands imo. Just be aware of players tendencies. In contrast to online games you have to remember just a table full of players, so it wouldn't be a problem to make some kind of protocoll after your session.

I once tryied to use my phone as a holecam, but the dealer saw it and told me stop immediately.(obvious recording red light on the phone gave me away).
People on the table were like : 'Why would you film the table?'
It was a lil bit akward

Notes are good for some players I guess...

But from what I see when I play, I have a player labeled as horrible terrible donkey that plays only garbage hands and then all of a sudden later in the session I see that same player winning pot after pot while holding the nuts.

So...my point here is...that even donks get good cards and smash flops sometimes too.

So I don't really recommend calling a donks all in just because you seen him shove J 10 when all he had was middle pair 3 hands in a row.

Stats are good but they are not failproof.

I just say play solid poker and don't worry about what donkey x 999 player did 3 hands ago.

seems there are two different things going on in this thread.....notes that are taken on other players and their tendencies....and Hand History notes...my comments are on HH notes taken on how I played my hands......

What I like about your note-taking is that it commits you to analysing hands away from the table. By collecting all that data, you give yourself plenty of opportunity to fix your leaks.

Do you include player profiling in your notes? Seems mandatory to me, as I've already suggested.

It would be great to use an application that helped you record VPIP and other relevant data with short-hand at the table. I mean, wafting through all the texted or tweeted info is little time-consuming after the session. And, to be honest, I can see a lot of players not analysing the data at all. If this data was already organized in a HUD format, the analysis would be much more efficient.

By the way spleeft, check out this thread on LLSNL from a few months back:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...sults-1196436/

I have a "poker journal" that i right down hands in and notes that I keep in my backpack or whatever or in my car when on trips. When i take a break I do it away from the table, write stuff down etc, I also have incredible recall (which means I should be a better player than I am lol) so often times I don't even need it and can remember when I get back to the book, or can write while eating etc.

Using my phone to email myself like many others have said is what I do. Never at the table, although I've never seen someone told not to do it, it's obviously not something you want to do for many reasons.

I include very short notations on player profiles if needed, like " young agg" or "older nit" and sometimes more descriptive notations when needed. Mainly I think its important to record Stack sizes, postions, and exact preflop action ,( like number of limpers, etc). And later I'll edit the HH to be readable, and I'll also put in the pot sizes, and other things I rebember about certain Villians. I guess your point about missing action is valid if i were to try and record everything all at once at the table, so I just record the vitals like card suits,stack sizes, and exact bet sizes. Most of the time when i go back and edit the HH , I see the betting mistakes, and what not .
And most of the time I find a HH that , say Ive won, and most would think was just a standard HH ,( like raise a few limpers, and c-bet the flop when checked to me, and take it down ), but when you really look at tthe bet sizing and flop texture you can see that was probably an even better way to play the hand.
Even the HH's in that thread , ( that are very sparse and missing lots of info ), are showing people how bad they are playing in certain spots !

Tonight I saw a player who was very explicitly and frequently taking notes at the table. He was using paper and pen. Nobody objected.

Thinking about adopting this myself.

Do you believe the note-taking affected the way this player was perceived by the rest of the table? What I mean is that, while there were no objections, some might have steered clear of him because they'd think "gee, this guy really knows what's going on". I generally take the the view that any behaviour that inhibits others having a good time is likely to be detrimental to win-rates, insofar as players might become too serious, analytical and nitty.

I honestly don't think anyone besides me even bothered to notice!

He was back tonight, taking notes again. I pointed it out to another player who was right next to him, and he hadn't even noticed, much less cared.

I'm amazed at how oblivious some people can be to everyone else at the table...

The other night one guy moved from one end of the table to the other (moving towards the blinds), and the lady now in the seat next to him asked why the "new" player wasn't being required to post!

I gave her a look and said, "Are you serious??" As a heart attack she was...

What you describe is quite an insight, really, into table dynamics. As an aside, not meaning to derail this thread, but, what do these players actually notice?

Here's a provisional list:

• Their cards
• The flop
• The bet
• The turn
• The bet
• The river
• The bet

So, what do they notice about us?

• Our age
• Our gender
• Our accent
• Our hairstyle
• Our clothes

So much for reverse tells, ranges, bet-sizing, HH, stack-size, c-bet %, 3-bet% etc.,

fwiw, I've played with a few players who were obviously taking notes. and they've been terrible every time.

Why not just take notes whenever you take a break? It's not that difficult to remember all the interesting hands that happen in a 1-2 hour time frame.

This.

And you look like a major wierdo taking notes.

You look like a major weirdo wearing hoodie, shades, & niise-canceling cans. Doesn't in itself make it a bad idea.