Introduction and a question for all you good players.
 

I've been playing winning poker for maybe 6 months now or so but not seriously. I have probably made $300 profit altogether, since before that I lost around $150 online. But thats really about 20 mins to 30 mins a session of poker, with some SNG's.

Now, I have decided to get serious. I want to get GOOD. I have pokertracker, and I have SSH and TOP.

I went down from playing 2 tables down to 1 so that I can pay more attention.

Now my question is..

For all you good players how long does it take for you to get your reads?

After about two orbits I probably have reads on two people. And it doesn't go further than "Loose,Plays Q8o in MP" or "Bets flush draw".

I feel it takes me too long. I realize that once I have been playing for twenty minutes I have reads on like 3 people. And half the time they leave.

Is there a faster way to get reads or is it all experience?

And also...

I can never tell if a player is tight. Only when he is loose. How long should I play with someone to get a grasp of whether he's tight? I always think that he maybe somewhat loose, just hasn't had any hands to play.

Sorry for the long post. I'd like to hear your responses you guys seem to know what you're talking about.

Re: Introduction and a question for all you good players.
 

It takes a while to build up notes on players. It can be frustrating to study a player, start to figure out how they play and then they leave. If you take notes then eventually you will start to play with players you know a little. Playing at the small limits will probably be frustrating, as the number of new players and number of tables will be high, making it more likely you will play with mostly new players.

Tight players take a while to spot, as they don't draw too much attention to themselves. Two ways to spot a tight player: One you will hardly notice they are in a game so you'll need to scan the table once in a while and notice who's in the game but you haven't noticed. Make a note, "Can go a while without playing a hand". Two they will usually show down quality/monster hands (not Q9s in middle position and not second pair in a large pot)