[benkahuna]

Didn't Greg Raymer get himself a main event win with a few years experience and reading lots of 2+2 books and hanging out here?

All you've shown is that some pros can train people to become good players. That's indicative of a student-teacher relationship (and in many cases financial relationships). I think there are a number of examples of people that became great players in the absence of other great players. Do you have to play against such players? Yep. Do you have to know what they're thinking at the table? Certainly. Do the most talented pros have to teach other players their SuP4 Sekr1t Inf0z for them to learn how to win? I don't think so. Does it help? Almost certainly.