Do you learn more from playing or studying?

I’ve been trying to balance playing and studying poker, but I’m not sure which helps more. Playing gives real experience, but studying helps understand mistakes. Sometimes it feels like I learn more from reviewing hands than actually playing them. How do you balance playing and studying?

Both are super important to me. Studying has helped me figure opponents out, to recognize patterns and then figure out a plan quickly to exploit their mistakes, before they can exploit me. But this is what makes poker fun. If we can’t recognize and exploit our opponents’s mistakes, then are they actually making mistakes?

For me, both work. I dedicate time to playing for a few hours every day and time to studying, and in both I learn to play poker well. I think that works for most people.

I have kind of practical mindset, so the way I learn is by doing. I think best for me is to play among studying so I can practice in real life what I'm just learning. That works for remembering better and adjusting my routine to new things.

Reviewing your hands after the session captures both.

The other nice part is you are getting real world examples of people playing at your limit.

I've always been an advocate for the 2:1 ratio, so if you have 15 hours a week for poker, you should spend 10 playing, which allows you to build volume and come across different scenarios and then five hours spent studying those spots and fixing leaks.

Note, if you're a complete beginner, this should be switched to 10 hours study and five hours play for at least a few weeks to allow you to become really familiar with the basic maths and general mechanics of the game.