General Poker Discussion Poker Forums

Does anyone have any suggestions, tips, or tricks for remembering reads in live poker? I'm not really speaking in terms of session to session, since if you remember reads after you leave the casino you can always write them down when you get home and review them before your next session.

I'm speaking more in terms of remembering reads in a single session. I try to follow every hand I'm not involved in and gather as much as I can. But with 9 other players at the table and no holdem manager to take notes in, I sometimes have trouble remember who played which hand in which way.

Something that has helped somewhat is mentally reviewing all the information I've gathered so far from time to time throughout the session. Like saying to myself, "Okay, this guy with the blue hat on didn't raise the river with a hand that was definitely worth a value raise, so he probably doesn't value bet well in most spots and is likely to be passive overall." But throughout the session I still find myself forgetting a lot of what I observed earlier.

If you cant remember who played which hand in which way then the villains at your table probably have not shown you a solid read yet.

http:///www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/joshua_foer_feats_of_memory_anyone_can_do.html

Right click on their heads > Add Note

If that doesn't work, start out by taking notes on your phone. Just like online. There's a lot of dead time in live when you can comfortably take notes without missing the action. Now you probably won't be able to check your notes when the action is on you, but you can, from time to time, just quickly glance over them.  This way, you'll be sharp when required. Besides, after a number of sessions you'll probably notice that you're becoming better at remembering without the need to write everything down. 

This won't look suspicious at all. Where I play, people are constantly texting on their phones, or even watching videos on their iPhones/droids/iPads. 

Making notes in your phone is not a bad idea. When you write things down you will remember it for a much longer period! I might start doing that...

I just open up a blank email to myself in my phone and record notes for the whole session: reads & tells, big hands played, corrections I should be making, blind structures and count at different levels if playing tourneys, etc.

Right click on their heads > Add Note

If that doesn't work, start out by taking notes on your phone. Just like online. There's a lot of dead time in live when you can comfortably take notes without missing the action. Now you probably won't be able to check your notes when the action is on you, but you can, from time to time, just quickly glance over them.  This way, you'll be sharp when required. Besides, after a number of sessions you'll probably notice that you're becoming better at remembering without the need to write everything down. 

This won't look suspicious at all. Where I play, people are constantly texting on their phones, or even watching videos on their iPhones/droids/iPads. 

yeah that would work, but where I play dealers will tell you to step away from the table if you're going to use your phone, because there's a bad beat jackpot that is disqualified if anyone at the table was on their phone during the hand, even if the phone user wasn't in the hand.

how about an actual, archaic, paper, hm, what was it called ... notpad!

yeah that would work, but where I play dealers will tell you to step away from the table if you're going to use your phone, because there's a bad beat jackpot that is disqualified if anyone at the table was on their phone during the hand, even if the phone user wasn't in the hand.

That makes it tough. What are your playing habits; do you play for several hours straight or do you take short breaks? You could sit out one round every hour or so, take a walk and take notes. It's not very convenient, but I don't know how else you could do this. For regs its easy because you'll get to know them but for new players you'd have to train your memory I guess.

I play at the commerce and there is a jackpot, but they don't mind use of electronics even when you're in the hand.

how about an actual, archaic, paper, hm, what was it called ... notpad!

yeah, but then I would look like a total dbag and no one would there would like me. I realize poker is about making money and not friends, but in live poker where you play with a lot of the same fish all the time, it's important for them to like you and want to be on your table. It's also important for dealers and floor managers to like you so that they can help you get onto the juiciest tables. So the EV of using a notepad is probably negative.

That makes it tough. What are your playing habits; do you play for several hours straight or do you take short breaks? You could sit out one round every hour or so, take a walk and take notes. It's not very convenient, but I don't know how else you could do this. For regs its easy because you'll get to know them but for new players you'd have to train your memory I guess.

I play at the commerce and there is a jackpot, but they don't mind use of electronics even when you're in the hand.

the video zankaa posted above has helped. I read Harry Loraine's memory book a long time ago but forgot about those techniques. But over the last couple days, trying to find bizarre connections between a player's appearance and the read I've gathered has been helping a lot. I also like the above idea of getting up and writing down notes every so often (not doing it at the table).