Pick a specific game->Game specific IRCs/chats->Search out tournament player friends for personal help->forums/online guides->official printed guides
What you should do from left to right. If you don't have friends who actually compete you can use the internet to learn from them there. In my experience you'll have an easier time looking for them in game specific chats/online programs like GGPO or skype and these are some of the very same people who write the most in depth online guides to boot.
Thanks. Seems like a long process but I think I can manage.
All of everyone's sources are outdated.
It's a huge shame. How am I supposed to improve like this? Things were much better a few years ago.
Like that quote that people like to state of Miyamoto where he says that a bad game is bad forever... that thing really doesn't hold true anymore.
If it's bad enough at the start it doesn't matter. Some games can get away with it but others can't. And in some cases they're never fixed.