An advantage that online poker sites have over playing poker in a casino is the ability for a player to take notes on the other players.When playing poker in a casino it is not possible to take notes on the other players as you would first need to bring a notebook and pen to the poker table, have it be allowed by the casino, and then not have any other players notice you taking and reading notes on them, as if they did notice they would change their play when dealing with you. It is especially impossible to fulfill the third condition, as the other players will notice you.
In online play, though, you just need to perform a few mouse clicks, type your note on the player, and look back on it whenever you encounter the player again.This makes note taking well worth the effort, as you might take notes on a player you competed against for an hour, then see them a few hours or a few weeks later and be able to look at your note and know how you should play against them.
Taking notes will improve the quality of your game against players you have encountered before.All major online poker rooms allow note taking, and most advertise the fact, as they too know how important the ability to take notes is to the profit margin of to poker players and hope to entice even more players into joining their poker room.
Here is a good example of how note taking can help your personal profit margin.Say you are in a tournament and your stack has shrunken over the course of a few levels.You pick up A-Q and make a preflop raise with your strong starting hand.Another player follows by reraising you enough to force you all-in.You see that you have notes about this player and take a look at them and see that he is a tight player who will only reraise with the strongest of hands.You figure that he probably has pocket aces, pocket kings, or a possible, but not likely, dominating A-K.With reluctance you come to the correct decision and make the fold.In this situation having notes on another player saved you from throwing your tournament life away.
In the same situation instead of the note saying that the reraiser is a tight player, it says that they are a very aggressive player who likes to take chances.In this case, you would probably choose to call, figuring that you are not at a significant disadvantage in the hand and could in fact be dominating.This is a good shot to try and pick up some chips against an opponent who could be trying to pull a fast one.
As you can see, note taking can influence your decisions so that you make the correct decision more often, as you know more about your opponents.This will improve both your play and your profit margin.Try taking notes on as many players as you can to get a small edge when next you face them.