I think that if two people started playing for the first time today, the online guy would progress much quicker than the B&M guy, simply because of the enormous amount of hands that would be played caompared to the B&M. I'm not sure I agree that a new online pro is a favorite over a B&M pro with 20+ years of experience. By the way, I suck at both, but seem to suck less at B&M.