Why do we post on 2+2?

[Malachii]

What's the motivation for some of the better posters to post on 2+2? Online games are getting tougher constantly as money is constantly leaving the worse players and going to the better players. Unskilled casual players can't possibly support the many nutpeddlers who are constantly draining money from the online poker economy.

If we assume that a new player is essentially a fish by the time they get to 2+2 - they don't know the right play postflop, they don't raise their good hands enough, they telegraph their hands - and everytime we post advice, that advice is read by dozens of other lurkers and posters with similar problems, then every single post we make costs us long term financial EV by making our games tougher. We are merely increasing the speed with which the inevitable arrives - online poker games will eventually become too tight to be worth playing in for the majority of poker players. So why do post?

Not all players that seek to learn succeed. Also, new players are still theoretically profitable up until the point that they become better than you. I started making an effort to learn poker 2 years ago, and, while I'm better than before, you could still crush me.

The majority of players:
(a) don't bother to learn more
(b) are stubborn with their ways, and while reading, will not actually change a lot of their play

More importantly though, you might consider this:
The best way to learn and retain information is to teach it to someone else.

I don't remember the exact numbers, but studies have shown that with normal memorization you'll remember something like 30-40% of the information long-term, but if you teach it, you'll remember 80%.

[TomCollins]

Sometimes you learn more by teaching than being taught.

I can't imagine that, out of the millions of people who play poker online, a significant percentage of players are reading this forum. Even the players who are probably aren't maximizing their potential.

I have two friends who play online both of whom I've told more than once how valuable this forum is. Neither one, to the best of my knowledge, has even once taken my advice to come here and read the postings. These are guys who play regularly and spend money on poker books. They're reasonably competent, but will never get to the next level.

I think a significant portion of even twoplustow readers fall into the category of my two friends. They like watching tournaments on TV, and have a basic understanding of the game, but simply aren't willing to put the necessary work to take their game to the next level. They'll donk around the low-levels for a couple of years, just barely breaking even, then find a new hobby.

And then there's readers like me who are willing to take the next step, but probably won't ever play beyond mid to low buy-in levels because of time constraints and a lack of raw skill. We may be able to beat the clueless and barely competent, but will never be a threat to people who live and breathe this stuff.

Long story short, I think that the highly skilled posters here have very little to fear from revealing their secrets. For every one forum reader who eventually reaches their level, thousands of us will only improve marginally.

That said, I'm grateful that so many experience and highly skilled players are willing to share their knowlege. I've learned a heck of a lot from 2+2.

[SNOWBALL138]

Its actually +EV for the high stakes players to teach the lowstakes players to beat low stakes games. That way they move up to higher stakes and lose it to the high stakes players.