Reading or playing?

[jeffsbabe]

Do you try to improve your game by reading and learning skills from other players more advanced than you?

I personally think that studying what more advanced players do improves my game. My husband, on the other hand, believes you can just learn by playing. He'll be the first to admit that I play better than he does. He knows I read and study, but is unconvinced it will help his game.

Recently our daughter gave him some poker books for his birthday. He is reading them now. It will be interesting to see if his game improves.

I'll be the first to admit that I get confused by all the information out there. After reading I always play in freerolls to see if the knowledge will do me any good. Usually, I go out very quickly. After a few days I'm back to playing MY game with a few tips in the back of my mind that somehow click and get incorporated into my ususal play.

So what do you think? Is studying helpful?

[Dazzler69]

I really think it depends on the type of person you are. Books have there place in learning poker and so does learning by playing. I learnt using both methods, because as I found you can read 5 different poker books and they can tell you different things. While the basic strategy will be the same, there will be slight differences in the way that the writer plays the game, and that style probably suits them.

What I tried to do was read books, try out the way of playing prescribed in the book and see if it suited me and add it to my repotoire, if it didn't suit me then I wouldnt use it. There is a saying that 'There is more than one way to skin a cat', and I think poker is the epitome of this, and by having these different styles and skills in your toolbox then you will become a better player. I'd like to think that I have used a little bit from everything I have read, added it to my game and fine tuned it while playing.

However as poker is so situation specific it is very difficult for a book to give perfect knowledge to a player as no situation will be the same as there as so many variables e.g. your postition, others in the pot, there position, there styles and abilities, stage of the tournement (if applicable). So you need to play the game to understand this situations and to know whether one of the skills that you learnt in a book is right for this situation, if not then you do you're best and store it in your memory to be used at a later date if a similar situation occurs.

Anything that can help improve your game is good, but some stuff is more effective for some people. Some people won't be able to learn a thing from books but could learn loads just by watching a better player, or playing loads of hands. People like Doyle Brunson, Stu Ungar, Chip Reese etc didn't have loads of books, magazines and websites to help improve there game, they had to rely on playing over and over again.

[Shad]

I read all types of strategies and tips and incorporate them into my own strategy. The best way to learn is to study different winning strategies and take the best of each strategy to put in your own.

[coopb2005]

I couldn't agree more with Shad. Until someone develops a flawless poker strategy do your own strategy. Those books help of course, but playing your own game is the best way to go. But the only reason the pro's are so good is because they play the game constantly, if you played constantly and gave everything else up and played thousands of hands each day, then you would have your own book. Just like any game it takes practice. Talent wise, it isn't up with most sports, but really...if Kobe tells you to take a 3 with 2 seconds left, you still have to perfect the shot in practice and nail it in the game. Same with those books, you need to practice practice practice to get better.
-Coop

[alice]

What I personally believe , without reading one cant move further.
If you wanna to improve your skills and want to gain more money through you game then you cant escape from reading , ofcourse you will have to incorporate all whatever you have read in the game , this applies not only for poker but in every other field of life , I have been reading good articles since few weeks now and it has helped me alot , from where do you get the knowledge ?

[mafalda34]

i think the most important thing is poker is reading your opponents, by watching u are going to pick up a lot of things of their game. And then when u have a big hand u are going to get much more profit.

[dooish]

i believe the moves happen too quickly, especially for beginners and unless you have poker tracker to review games then much of the game will pass by especially if you are not attentive.

with a poker book it's easier to understand the play at your own pace and fully digest it.

for no limit "harrington on holdem " is great for explaining moves in tourny play and can be downloaded free with a little searching.