[Orpheus]

I'm not saying this view is right. It's just an alternative for your consideration:

Though I agree that the argument for knowing the other player's cards is compelling, I'm not sure that knowing the other player's cards is as great an advantage as many people make it out to be.

All our conventional wisdom is based on a specific balance of unknowns. Any significant change throws mot of it out the window. If you know the board, you don't have pot odds, you either have a huge made hand or you don't -- and you know what your "blind" opponents can reasonably play at any point.

If you know the board, your advantage is "real". Every hand you play will be a probable winner over the *entire* table preflop. If you know your opponent's cards, your advantage is merely statistical.

You've actually probably "played" the opposite variant: every time you watch a poker show with a table cam, you see all the hands. How often does the board surprise you and turn the advantage entirely around -- especially the flop? Too often for you to fully press your statistical advantage. especially since your opponent doesn't "know" he's dominated (or that you "know") and will continue to hit those lucky cards. On the flip side, you'd fold many winning hands because they would appear dominated preflop.

If you --and only you-- know the board, then many seemingly unplayable hands would suddenly become goldmines. You'd be playing for guaranteed high sets, flushes, straights and full houses -- maybe top two pair if you're in the mood to gambool. Though you WILL get accused of cheating (because you are) you'll never have much difficulty finding opponents who will happily re-re-reraise to all-in with AA on an AK3 flop, because their minds simply can't accept that you'd play 46u and the board would finish AK325.

Would it be boring? Using an ATM IS boring. Excitement comes from the risk. Who needs it? Besides, you'd be deliberately losing a lot of hands (inexpensively of course), always discarding face up, until good players are BEGGING you and your occassional "luck" to come to their tables. The meta-game of luring in bets and acting the fish could be enough to maintain your interest.

If you play Omaha, where straights and flushes are common, you know that most 5-card boards have a far higher potential that only a fool would chase in TXHE. You wouldn't be chasing. You'd OWN most of the straights and flushes that no one else dares chase, while they are grinding for two pair.

I'll put it another way:
Imagine you are colluding with a crooked dealer. Which would win you more money, faster: dealing key cards onto the board or into your opponent's hands so they're unknowingly dominated? Now replace the crooked dealer, with foreknowledge of the random deals, which sometimes do the same thing.

Here's another consideration:
Lets say you are playing against a table FULL of fellow clairvoyants. Do you want to play against ones who know the actual final value of their hands (but not yours) or would you rather play against ones who only know your hand?

Heck, we ALWAYS know our own hand, and experience, every deal, how much uncertainly awaits us on the board.