[Mike]

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why/how do you think good players UNintentionally filter their replies? what does this mean?

as for your last advice about emulating a good player, makes sense. it's virtually impossible, though, for me to truly know who is really truly great at the table. w/o millions of hands on a particular player, i don't really know in reality. i am a poker agnostic!

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As far as filtering replies, first the dynamics of the game are so varied that it is almost impossible to comment correctly on a hand someone describes other than the mechanics of hand play, and even then the advice could be wrong.

If you are having difficulty determining who the better players are at your table - slow down. The primary reason this is difficult, is you are not watching, but playing.

Play in the same group to really learn anything from them. It does not take millions of hands, perhaps an hours really watching their play and you should at least have it down to half the table being poor players. A second hour and you should be able to divide it down more. Then you have a base to work from.

Better than average players do this every time they sit down and usually within a few rounds, it is a learned task that every player should be doing.

Unlike chess every hand in poker is about $$, not just the ending. The financial line between break even and winning is very thin, why would I want to make the game I play in harder than it is? I paid in time and $$ for what I know, so did everyone else. Why should I freely share with anyone the little tricks I learned that help me take your money?