You absolutely can develop skill by reading and learning the game , the math of poker and and knowing your outs and odds is essential , so is understanding the structure of the game including position and the nature of playing tourney's versus cash games , these are the kinds of things that can be easily learned in books instead of just getting in there and playing blindly , instinct is the thing that can't be taught and you learn that by playing ,if someone just wants to learn basic holdem , phil green's little green book is good for that , harrington on holdem 1 and 2 are good for tourney holdem , my personal favorite books are Theory of Poker it's awesome and Super System 2 becasue it covers my favorite games and isn't just a holdem book but it does also cover holdem , mike caros book of tells is a fun read too, gl |