Opening Variations

People can spend many hours learning opening variations. However if you are a more resourceful player than your opponent, it does not matter if they get a better position out of the opening than you. You may be able to outplay them from the resulting position,    tactically and positionally. If their opening knowledge is strongly linked with middle game plans and tactical motifs, then you should be a little more worried! However in general, if one is better tactically and positionally than the opponent, then one is more likely to win in practice, than by knowing more opening variations than the opponent. Opening variations become more important as one increases in strength.