Not a pro but I recently started learning some poker. Two texts that absolutely opened the game up to me were The Grinders Manual (fundamentals) and The Mathematics of Poker (where your stats/math background will be useful). The way I started was by dedicating 2 hours per day (1 hour studying, one hour playing online micro stakes). Next I will start learning and memorizing output from Solvers, that seems to be key to success at higher levels. Good luck on your journey if you get into it!

I’m curious. Poker has a lot of strong strategies and what not, but if a new player comes in, how do those strategies prevail? You may be confident with two Aces, but the player could be extremely confident in their king pair and wager as if they have a straight

Most poker players do not read books and drink while playing. As the stakes get higher then the meaning of a fish changes. Strategies that worked at lower stakes become blunders at higher stakes and so each time players move up those new players are the fish.

I know what you are trying to say here, but the example is funny to us veterans. That player's extreme confidence has won us a lot of money with our aces.

New strategies have to be pretty extraordinary to disrupt a game as mature as poker. There is a lot of innovation to be tapped, but that usually isn't happening at the low- and mid-stakes games in your home room. For the most part, my skill is being able to adapt to you faster than you can adapt to me. I am relying on you playing your kings like a straight.

(Also, it's a well-known phenomenon that recreational players will hear about and mis-apply contemporary strategies with the same confidence. Somebody like Doug Polk professing about "GTO" on his hugely popular YouTube channel is often creating many more fish than he is sharks.)