[LionelHutz00]

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I've read in those "books" that if you can read your opponents then you can win without knowing any theory.

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I think this is a misstatement. It's more like the great players who haven't read books know the theory and concepts that it takes to be a good player. Even if they don't have a label for something like "implied odds" or "first-in vigorish", they understand and apply these concepts. Instead of learning these concepts from books, they've learned them through thought and experience.

There are many ways for a player to learn how to be good at poker. But most players who don't bother to pick up a book become bad players because they don't think about the game critically and they therefore make the same mistakes over and over. Guys like Negreaneu et al are the exception: they learned the game by thinking about it critically and by playing lots of hands.

My point is that just playing a lot and relying on that experience is not going to make you a good player. Critical thinking is the key to becoming a good player. For some people, reading a book about a subject helps them to think critically about it. For others, they don't learn as well by reading books. Viva la difference.

btw, I'm talking about poker books that actually make you think (by guys like Sklansky, Miller, Ciaffone, etc.); not cookbook-type books like TJ Cloutier's crap.