You must remember very exactly what occurs at the poker table. You often need to review the early action before making a decision later in a hand. You must learn specific patterns and behaviors that each of your opponents follows, so that you can make better decisions against them in the future. When you discuss hands with other players or analyze them on your own, you need to be able to describe exactly what happened.
There is no standard poker notation. (Chess has a great one that allows summary descriptions that can be understood easily by players speaking completely different languages.) When writing about a hand, the author normally uses a verbal description of what happened. Let's call this descriptive notation. I have always found that a table summarizes the action best, although it takes a little getting used to. Let's call this tabular notation. I am going to describe a hand using both notations. After the following table, I will explain the various items shown.
The blinds are $50-$100. Carl, who is under the gun and has $5,000, raises to $350; two players call, and you call from the button with the 9
9
. You also have $5,000. The blinds both fold. On a flop of 10
6
2
, Carl bets $1,500. The other two callers fold, and you call. The turn is the 3
, and you both check. The river is the K
, and he moves all in. What should you do?
The first row shows stack size. The second and third rows describe the players. You can use anything you want here. I used names and position descriptions. The descriptions used are small blind, big blind, cutoff, and button. You might want to put in brief player descriptions, such as weak-tight, steaming, or any other relevant information. The next row gives holecards. Boardcards are shown in the first column, followed by the action on that round. This column is blank until the flop. The following rows describe the action. The amount bet, raised, or called is shown by player. I also use f for fold and ck for check. (The reason I use ck instead of c is that in limit games with fixed amounts, it is sometimes convenient to use c for call.) Pot size is in the last column. It is shown when the action is complete for the round or during a round when it is time to make a decision. A decision is represented by a ?.
I know this type of table summary would be a vast improvement over any method I've seen of displaying hand records online. They all are long and confusing. I would like to know what everyone thinks of this form of notation, including suggestions for improvements or changes. If you're interested in it, please let Card Player know and perhaps we can develop a universal poker notation that everyone loves, or at least one that is generally accepted.
Steve "Zee" Zolotow, aka The Bald Eagle, is a successful games player. He currently devotes most of his time to poker. He can be found at many major tournaments and playing on FullTilt, as one of its pros. When escaping from poker, he hangs out in his bar, Nice Guy Eddie's, on Houston and Avenue A in New York City.
