There is a lot that you will learn by simply watching a poker table keenly than what you will when you are playing it for yourself. When you play online poker you are definitely realizing the nuances of the game in a void. Even if you are trying to predict what the other players are up to doing, you are still left with the kind of decisions that players are vulnerable to make in a poker table.
In cases where you are watching the poker table with an insight in to the kind of pockets that they hold, you are going to get an insight in to how the players will react to different betting decisions that are on in the table.
Watching the poker table and getting to know on how each of them in the table might react is an important part of decision making in poker. When you learn the different decisions of poker players under different poker responses in the table, you will be equipped with a clue to decide on the responses of the poker players, thereby judging on whether they are thinking in a certain way to the gaming. So, when you are free, you have to spend some time by simply watching the poker table, pretty keenly though.

