This article sponsored by PokerFox.net

My first piece of advice is always to study harder. Becoming an expert player does not happen overnight, but if you study hard, and use the right tools to increase your knowledge of the game, you can make piles of money and have fun while you do it. Here are a few recommendations on which tools to use to increase that knowledge as quickly as you can. <READMORE>

Books - There are some truly great poker books out there written by the best players in the world. They aren't expensive, and almsot every poker book out there will make you more money than it costs. Books are a sound investment in your future. Conjelco has the most complete list of poker books online, but make sure you check Overstock before you buy them because you will often save yourself some cash.

Articles and forums - Some of the best players in the world openly share their strategies and views of the game in articles and in forum posts. You would be crazy not to use the information that they are freely providing.

DVD's - Most poker videos are not of much use unless you are a beginning player. The WPPC 2004 DVD that I got recently wasn't bad, but in general most poker DVD's just can't cover very much in an hour or two, and most of them are geared toward beginning players. I think you would learn more from watching Howard Lederer play on TV for an hour than you will learn from his DVD.

Personal Lessons - Lessons will certainly speed up your climb to the top, but they are also expensive. I myself take private students (though I don't have time for very many these days) and I do all my booking through PokerMentors. A few lessons here and there are certainly helpful, and I would check PokerMentors or search for Bob Ciaffone online if you want to get serious about the game very quickly and aren't worried about spending some cash.

Online Training - Poker Coaching websites are popping up everywhere, and the information provided by many of them is excellent. For the money these sites are probably the best thing you can do to get to an advanced level quickly. I'm often surprised at how many member's of my site are members of other sites as well. I think that many of the solid players here on pocketfives are the kind of players who own every book they can find and join multiple training sites for different viewpoionts.

I don't feel it would be appropriate to post reviews of competitors (or my own site for that matter) here, but in my experience and from reviews I have heard Cardrunners.com, Gidders.com, RealPokerTraining.com, and ProPokerSchool.com are all quality sites with quite a bit of video training. Take a look at them, along with my site at Pokerfox.net, and decide for yourself which sites to join.

Magazine subscriptions, free information online like the hand histories forums here on pocketfives, and having a friend or two to talk poker with on a regular basis, are all great ways to improve your game as well.

I'll see you at the final table,

Fox
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