Are we breeding a whole generation of mediocre poker players?

[dogmeat]

After viewing my statistics for 250,000 hands of online poker I have begun wondering if we are breeding a whole generation mediocre poker players.

In the not too distant past, players learned from watching other players and giving each subtle strategy a try. If they continued learning, then they were able to move up to higher-limit games where they encountered plenty of "fish", but also a few players that exhibited even more advanced play. Yes, there were certain players that seemed to have an inate feel for the game, but if you ask the majority of players in their 50's and 60's (I guess their 70's also to include Doyle, Amarillo etc.), most will probably tell you that the learning process is long, and crucial, for long-term, high quality play.

Although there are terrific books out now, and these forums provide great information, how many players are we leaving behind in the mediocre stage?

I realize that the desire to improve is an individual thing, and certainly there are many players here on 2+2 that have advanced to a high level of play, but as a percentage, how many? How many players are finding internet gaming, learning to multi-table, and then "settling" for just a portion of what they could actually learn (and earn).

If there are 100,000 new (last 12 months) players at online games that have learned to win a little and have moved-on to multi-table, how many will wind up with an overall stunted growth rate? 50%? 80%?

I don't know the number myself, but might hazard a guess that it is close to 75%. Perhaps this is a natural trend and progression of education and learning. Perhaps the number of high-quality, upper-limit players as a percentage of the total number of poker players will be no different than it was 20 years ago, I don't know.

What do you think?

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]