Hi everyone, I play poker on and off but now I really want to start taking tournaments seriously but I don't know where to start. Should I start online? Should play at my local casino(I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, so there are lots of casinos here.)

Currently I am reading Dan Harrington's tournament books(I read good things about them and I got them at a good price at bookstore that was about to be closed).

I have read the first book and I liked it, learned some good things, some new to me. But what else should I be doing? Should I go to my local casino and see how the tournaments are played? Should I go online to see how tournaments are played and what everyone is doing?

I really don't know where and how to start, how did you guys start out your poker tournament career? What are the things you did? What did you study? Anything would be very helpful.

Please post any questions or any comments, thank you.

First of all, I'm in no position to teach you the game.
But I'm relatively confident in that getting in a good volume of online playing is best best and easiest way to improve for a beginning player. You should also check out poker theory videos online, I don't know much about poker books but I believe videos are better.

You should at least become a winning live player in no time
GL!

Thank you for reply, I also want to go the online way, at least to start. I always thought books were better but after watching, some videos, I think that the videos are the way to go.

For me online is better for beginning.
It is hard to start now because you may not have bankroll to play the games that you want.
Start watching streams from proven winning players(I like tonkaaaa and jcarver because they play high stakes and explain why they do something)
I would suggest to find a staking group just for the beginning-it will teach you basics,show you which games are worth to be played,point you any severe mistakes if you have any,show you software and videos.
In my opinion half of online poker is staked but I don't like it for long term(many people do it and are some of the most successful players in the world and at least 80% of regs were being staked at some point).
There are plenty of staking groups in this forum,search and see if any suits you(if you like the idea).
Books can teach you basics but the game changes constantly and books can give you obsolete or at least outdated strategy.
How I started-sng's with 180 people in PS(staked and coached for less than an year),then 18 man sng's and now 6max hyper turbos with my money.Still can't afford to go live(because I have to go abroad-in my country live games are waste of time).
Online poker is more competitive and if you are decent online,you can crush live games with no effort.
The BIG money are in live events but you will need $$$ for travelling and entry fees.
These are my opinions and I don't pretend to be valid for everyone and be the best choice for you or anyone else,this is how I see things right now.