Quote Originally Posted by Monsieur_chat
So I wrote myself out a whole new hand starting chart, with wider ranges in mid and late position and even tightened up my play UTG.

Finally I decided if I was going to play I was going to take detailed notes and really focus. I did this and it's brilliant. I'm sure some of you remember the very first time a read on someone really paid off. It's like you're inside their head! They do EXACTLY what you expected them to lol.

Anyway, I stuck to 2 tables and played about 300 hands. Ended up up a buy in and a half.
Just remember there'll be some down swings, but yes, this is EXACTLY the right way to go. Taking really detailed notes is a pain, but I think it's worth it to do it in depth for a few k hands. After a while, you'll develop short hand notation.

There's a great link to notetaking by Pokey on that other forum (Spoony gets credit - I stole it from him):

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78...-tl-dr-332863/

I will also mention that there are short cuts to note taking. My favorites are the variants of "stacks off light," a great note to see when you're about to get into a big pot with villain 'cuz you have KK on a Q-high board:

SOL ~ stack off light (less than TPTK)
SOvL ~ stack off very light (2nd pair, 2 overs, GSSD's)
SOvvL ~ stacks off very very light (with total air, bottom pair, underpair to entire flop, etc.)
SOLpre ~ stacks off light preflop (call all-in shove w/ 77 or AJ, etc)

As you can see, the basic note has suffixes. I sometimes note the actual hand or circumstances where he stacked off. "SOLpre 44 ss40" would mean he was short stacked and had only 40bb's when he stacked off w/ 44 preflop.

I also use the prefix C3BL "calls 3bets light" when villain flats a 3bet w/ AJo and C3BvL when he does it with KTo. I'm 3betting for value with a nice wide range. I guess you see the pattern. You can make your own, but I thought it might help to see what I've worked on. You also need to note when villains prove capable of "floating," or calling a cbet with air/overs (or whatever weak hands they float with). I use the prefix FLT and generally note hand and flop, since it's usually easiest to just see from there what he's capable of.

I'm sure others will give good advice on this topic, too. GLGLGL.