I start with the basic loose\tight, passive\aggressive designations. This will help me understand their ranges and betting styles. Then i add in specific traits (overvalues hands, high bluff frequency, fearful of raises, calls draws at a poor price) to help add nuances to their play. Once you play enough, you start to see patterns and clusters of characteristics in certain types of players.
Try the search feature ... There are quite a few previous threads that you can look through.
One of the biggest mistakes that new Players make is trying to do/learn/try too much too fast. The game will come to you if you just sit back and wait ... and observe the hands you aren't playing in. It's tough, yes. You want to get in there, it's fun!! When you start to 'see' hands as they are played out you will have your 'ah ha' moments that will allow you to dig deeper into the game.
Observe each player for ...
1) Physical behaviors
2) Timing Tells, both checking and betting
3) Bet sizing Tells
4) VPiP ... How often are they entering pots (Voluntarily Put in Pot)
5) What holdings are they showing?
In the beginning your poker decisions may seem pretty 'easy' then the hard part comes in by attempting to keep the game simple. You start to out think yourself and some decisions become harder than they need to be. Some of it is your intuition kicking in, some of it is the fear of losing and some of it is the excitement of the spot. HAVE FUN .. sometimes you will be right and sometimes not. GL
In the beginning I found it overwhelming to develop 8 profiles. My solution was to develop as detailed of a profile as I could about the player on my left. Then the 2 players on my left, 3 etc. I still paid attention to the other players.
Even now I don't have as detailed of a profile on the player that might be 3 places to my right as I do for the one 3 to my left (maybe they were right about all the weed smoking!).
SpewingisMyMove has it right about the basic designations. Paying attention to the hands you aren't in (which should be most of them) is critical. You can see the whole story at showdown. Knowing how wide the players open/call/raise with is gold.
OTF what is a player's cbet/call cbet frequency (IP, OOP)? Does he c/r at a high frequency?
Accurately profiling a player and knowing how to exploit his tendencies are critical skills. IMO you need to hammer on improving this part of your game throughout your playing career.
