[BigAlK]

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What about reading people's hands? Would it be true to say that the better you become at doing this, the less affect tournanment speed will have on you?

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How about the better you are at this the better you will do at poker. I don't see how tournament speed impacts this. However this ability does impact how well you'll do playing a looser style early regardless of tournament speed. When you play speculative hands that get hit by the flop, but not so hard as to be monsters (2 bottom pair, OESD, flush draw, etc) then hand and people reading skills will impact how successful you are in continuing or getting away from these hands (whichever turns out to be correct). A loose style gives you the chance to get lucky. However it can also give you a chance to spew chips. That's one reason why reason why a conservative style is recommended for beginners. (See the discussion of different styles in HOHI)