Poker Table Habits Field Guide
A casual study notebook for clearer decisions and better review habits.

Tier 2 independent resourcetable observationupdated 2026-08-19

Table Observation Without Guesswork

Observe actions, not imagined motives

I get better notes when I describe what happened instead of assigning a personality to another player. “Raised after two limps” is observable. “Always tries to trap people” is a theory that needs more evidence.

Use small categories

I use a few neutral categories: action order, sizing pattern, response to a board change, timing, and repeated choices. I do not need to fill every category. One clear example is more useful than a long list of assumptions.

Observation template

Keep the sample honest

A single hand can be memorable without being representative. I label early notes as tentative and update them when new examples appear. If the pattern disappears, I record that too. Good observation includes the possibility that my first idea was incomplete.

Use notes to improve questions

The purpose of observation is not to create a label for someone. It is to make my own decision process more informed. I can use a pattern to choose a review topic, adjust a question, or decide that I need more examples before changing anything.

A worked observation example

Suppose I notice a player raising after two callers. I write only that sequence. I do not label the player or guess the reason. Later I see a similar action, but the board and number of callers are different, so I record the difference. After three examples I may have a tentative pattern, or I may discover that the situations only looked alike because I remembered the first one more vividly.

A second useful observation concerns my own response. Did I change my plan because of evidence, or because I expected the earlier pattern to repeat? That question prevents table notes from becoming stories about other people. It also helps me notice when I am overconfident in a small sample.

For practice, write one fact and one uncertainty after each selected example. The fact might be “the same sizing appeared twice.” The uncertainty might be “I do not know whether the situation was comparable.” At review time, keep both lines. Good observation preserves uncertainty until there is enough information to narrow it.

Questions I carry into the next review

I finish each page by choosing one question that can be answered with another example. I avoid questions that are so broad they produce only a list of opinions. A useful question names the situation, the decision, and the information that might change the plan.

Keeping the question small makes the notebook easier to maintain. It also gives later pages a clear connection without forcing every page to repeat the same recommendation.

A practice log I can reuse

For the next three examples, I write the setting in plain language before I write my opinion. I note the action order, the information that changed, and the reason I chose the line I chose. I then write a second sentence beginning with “Another possibility was…” This forces me to remember that a decision had alternatives even when the final result makes one option feel obvious.

At the end of the review, I classify the note as clear, uncertain, or incomplete. Clear means I can explain the situation and the reason without filling gaps. Uncertain means I can state the competing ideas but need more study. Incomplete means I cannot reconstruct the action accurately. I do not use the categories as grades. They tell me what kind of follow-up is useful.

If the same uncertainty appears twice, I make a small study card with the question on the front and one carefully chosen example on the back. I keep the card focused and revise it when a counterexample appears. This gives the next session a practical purpose without turning the notebook into a rigid rulebook.