I've been playing poker for a while, I play in tournaments everyweek and have done pretty well (usually finish in top 3 out of 100 players). When I started playing I developed my own style and some of my plays were not typical of a pro poker player, but I did very well. Then I figured I should read some books and learn to play the game from a pro's point of view. That was the biggest mistake I ever made, my style is to slow play most of the time and the books tell you to bet in certain situations, (you know be more aggressive), when I started following the information I got from the book I got destroid, since then I have gone back to my style of play and am playing at a high level again. The infromation you get from books may help some people but it won't help everyone. My advice is find a style that works for you and stick with it.