How Pro Poker Players Take Notes on Their Opponents

18 Mar 2026

Learning how to take effective notes on your opponents is an underrated skill in online poker.

By taking notes, you give yourself easy access to valuable information about how specific players approach the game.

This article will help you improve your note-writing, making it faster and more efficient — which is very important during play.

Let’s get started!

What Should You Look for When Taking Notes?

First, let’s talk about what you should actually pay attention to when writing a useful note.

Whenever you see a player do something unusual or non-standard, you should consider taking a note.

If you are playing live or on a site without a note-taking feature, you can do this mentally, in a notebook, or even in your phone notes.

The most valuable notes are the ones that reveal clear leaks or tendencies in a player’s strategy.

Here are a few good examples:

A player opens preflop with a very weak hand and shows it at showdown
An opponent checks back a very strong hand on the river instead of value betting
A player bluffs on the turn or river without equity or range advantage

From these situations, you can draw useful conclusions:

A player who opens something like is extremely loose
A player who checks a strong hand on the river is too passive and likely afraid to lose money; their river bets will also be more polarized
A player who makes wild, ambitious bluffs likely overbluffs, so you can call them down looser

This is not a complete list, but you can easily think of many similar situations worth noting.

What You Should Avoid When Taking Notes

Do not write notes that will not help you in the future.

It might feel good to write something like “idiot!” but that note has no real value.

Instead, focus on specific hands and actions that explain why the player is making mistakes. This will allow you to build better counter-strategies the next time you face them.

How to Take Notes Quickly and Clearly

Now that you know what to look for and what to avoid, let’s talk about abbreviations. Using short forms will save you a lot of time and allow you to focus more on the game.

Position Abbreviations

Let’s start with positions. Since full ring is much less common now, we will focus on 6-max.

Under the Gun = UTG or EP
Middle Position = MP
Cutoff = CO
Button = BU
Small Blind = SB
Big Blind = BB

When writing a note, always start with the player’s position.

Position is one of the most important parts of any note because it strongly affects optimal strategy.

For example, if a player open-raises from UTG, you can quickly write:

'UTG or w K5s'

or = open-raise
w = with hand

The “w” acts as a visual separator, making the note easier to read. After it, you always write the hand or hand type, such as:

A3o
fd (flush draw)
oesd (open-ended straight draw)
gs (gutshot)
Ah (ace-high)
bdfd (backdoor flush draw)

Action Abbreviations

Here is a practical list of common abbreviations for actions:

bb = big blinds
x = check
c = call
b = bet
or = open-raise
x/r or xr = check-raise
x/c or xc = check-call
cb = continuation bet
rcb = raise c-bet
x/b or xb = check back
db or d = donk bet
cc = cold call
3b or 3 = 3-bet
3p = 3-bet shove
3bp = 3-bet pot
4b or 4 = 4-bet
4p = 4-bet shove
4bp = 4-bet pot
5bp = 5-bet shove
sq = squeeze
sq/f = squeeze-fold
2/3 bar = second/third barrel
fe = fold equity
l/c = limp-call
F/T/R = flop/turn/river
@ “xyz” = on board “xyz”
r = rainbow board
ss = two suited cards
sss = three suited cards
o = offsuit relative to draw
vs = versus

These are just examples. You can adjust them or create your own system.

Example #1

A player on the CO shoves preflop for 40bb with after an UTG open.

You can write:

'CO vs EP 3p 40bb w 44'

This quickly captures an important deviation from standard play.

Example #2

A player opens on the Button with 30bb. The Big Blind calls.

Flop: — he bets 1/3 pot.
Turn: — bet 1/2 pot.
River: — shove all-in.
BB calls, and he shows a bluff with .

This note can be written as:

'BU or w Q4o F/T/R 3 bar+p 30bb @ AT3ssJo2o'

From this note, you immediately understand that this player is capable of overbluffing, and you can consider lighter call-downs in the future.

Conclusion

Good note-taking is a powerful edge in online poker. It allows you to make faster and better decisions against opponents you have already played with.

The key ideas are simple:

Focus on unusual actions and clear mistakes
Avoid useless or emotional notes
Use abbreviations to save time
Be consistent with your system

If you build a solid note-taking habit, you will have a long-term advantage over players who rely only on memory.