Utility of YouTube videos

How useful are yt vids for upgrading your poker skills? Do they expedite the process? How much have you used that tool as opposed to paying a mentor?

I think when you are starting out its not a bad idea to find as many free poker resources as possible and trying to extract as much from them as possible. However I would say, if you are looking through poker content from the likes of High Stakes cash games or wsop tournaments, while there is some to be learnt, its very important to realise that those broadcasts dont really do a good job of accurately reflecting the grind of a poker game.

All that said, the best thing you can do is just immerse yourself in all of it and you will learn as you go on.

CardsChat has a channel on YouTube where they have very good videos, I recommend watching them, on the WEB you will find many videos but nobody teaches you strategies or they give you a tutorial about poker tournaments, some YouTube poker videos are full of a lot of fantasy because they only show the best plays, I recommend you watch videos of poker tutorials

As good as the poker content is on youtube, nothing beats playing poker and learning things yourself, analyzing hands AS they happen, not afterwards. Usually people like to go over spots and what they should have done, but in poker things are never cookie-cutter perfect. You can generalize the strategy, but when you bind yourself to a certain style of play, you lose the ability to adapt and switch gears.

In my opinion, I think that youtube videos are a good way to start, however, Twitch is great! Players like Lex V and Jamie Staples are really easy to learn from. I have also started watching BParis (I think his style is similar to Staples... no one is like Lex).
If you are interested in a passive way to get better at poker Twitch is the best option followed up by youtube.
Youtube is a bit better for very specific things that you can search.

i think poker videos on youtube are more like an advertising for the game; of course, as a beginner i learned a lot from them, but the way the highstakes pro play is not helping a microstakes player in being profitable. also, some of the information is misleading, like the semibluffs they run which for a beginner seem a lot like standard play-like going all in flush draw. also, it seems like pros play more for the television and if they get money after the session, it's more like a bonus.

I think highstakes pro games are really fun to watch, but if you want to learn there is a lot of good material especially oriented for the micros. Tutorials and streams. I'd look for that!

I think if you are a beginner, youtube videos will always help .. Then when the level of your game grows up you yourself will understand what you watch and what to read.