[eric5148]

Your logic is severely flawed. TOP and HPFAP have been around for years. If every limit holdem cash game player read and UNDERSTOOD them, there wouldn't be any profitable games. So why are there still good games?

1 - Poker is a gambling game. Not everyone plays for profit, no matter what they say.

2 - Just because someone has read a book, doesn't mean they have incorporated all or any of the skills and ideas from the book into their game. You still need to have playing experience and an understanding of how to execute each idea. I hear morons in the chat window constantly talking about how "TOP says AQ is a very marginal hand, and you shouldn't raise it preflop." Or "such and such book says you shouldn't bet a draw in a multiway pot." Most people don't make the effort to learn, they just move their eyes over the words and think they've become a great player because they read some book.

3 - Poker is a game of male egos. Many of them don't think they need to read books or study the game at all to be a good player.