Best way of learning / improving your knowledge

I ask myself, wether reading some tactic related books help out the most regarding analyzing equities.

Or: a combination of enjoying the game and learning by watching: how much does watching Pros in High Stakes Poker/tourneys helps you with performing in your own tourneys?

I e.g. rewatch the POVs from Pros in wsop at Love Poker and some DeeprRuns of Tourneys on YouTube.

Does anyone have experiences?

Just navigated myself to the poker strategy column, which ist quite interesting. To ready through maybe I Just answered my question here myself lol.
Anyway, thank you for your thoughts.

Vini-Gee said:

I ask myself, wether reading some tactic related books help out the most regarding analyzing equities.

Or: a combination of enjoying the game and learning by watching: how much does watching Pros in High Stakes Poker/tourneys helps you with performing in your own tourneys?

I e.g. rewatch the POVs from Pros in WSOP at Love Poker and some DeeprRuns of Tourneys on YouTube.

Does anyone have experiences?

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All of this helps a little, but it is very slow growth. The fastest way to get better at poker is to share with others what you are doing. Play poker track your hands and then share those hands with a group or here in the post the hand section. Then ask a lot of questions about each hand when someone posts a thought. Ask the why- vs what opponent type -with what frequency would I take such an action etc etc- The best way to learn is to ask a question about something you do not know. Not the end result of a hand but how should I be thinking preflop flop turn river.

This is a great site and so few use it to it's full potential- when I study with my group we can spend an hour on 1 hand trying to look at from all perspectives.

Try to do that with your hands and you will see how strategies begin to apply in many many spots and yet have to deviate in spots as well.

We have some great resources right here in this forum. Check out these two threads for lots of information:
CardsChat Learning Poker Thread Series Guide
CardsChat 30 Day Poker Training Course

If you are able to capture hand histories, posting them to Cash Game Hand Analysis and Tournament Hand Analysis will definitely help you advance your game. You can ask to have your play analyzed, or even ask specific questions about a hand (like, "Should I have folded here?", "Is my betting size appropriate here?", etc.). You can also review other people's hand analysis questions/answers and see if you agree with what has been discussed.

Thank you for the great information

Watching pros definitely helps, especially if you actively pause and think about their decisions before hearing the explanation. You start picking up patterns in bet sizing, stack pressure, ranges, and mental discipline.
That said, I think the biggest improvement comes from combining both: study + experience. Books and theory help you understand why plays are good mathematically, while watching deep runs shows how strong players adapt in real tournament situations.
A lot of people watch poker like entertainment only, but if you review hands afterward and compare your thought process to the pro’s reasoning, it becomes real training. I learned way more once I started asking myself: “What would I do here before seeing their action?”

Rosemaryyy said:

Watching pros definitely helps, especially if you actively pause and think about their decisions before hearing the explanation. You start picking up patterns in bet sizing, stack pressure, ranges, and mental discipline.
That said, I think the biggest improvement comes from combining both: study + experience. Books and theory help you understand why plays are good mathematically, while watching deep runs shows how strong players adapt in real tournament situations.
A lot of people watch poker like entertainment only, but if you review hands afterward and compare your thought process to the pro’s reasoning, it becomes real training. I learned way more once I started asking myself: “What would I do here before seeing their action?”

Click to expand...

Yep, nice conclusion. The question in the end ist definitely obligatory for learning.

The best way to improve is the play online - a lot, get a database, and review your data / hands. If you're primarily a live game player, I recommend... playing online... a lot. If you're a casual player who plays live, I recommend playing online... a lot.

Hope you see the pattern. If you're looking for an objectively great path that will catapult your game forward, it's playing online w/ a HUD and database. You'll be able to play lots of hands, track all your data, review spots, etc...

If you play live, you can't really do this the same. Even if you remember all the stack sizes, bet sizes of a hand, etc... you're going to miss things that you won't when you have all the data available to you from online play.