[w_alloy]

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the simple answer to your question is 'no, we can't'. evidence? no one has done it before.

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I think this is a very naive statement. Even if it were true, how could you possibly know? And just because noone has done it yet doesn't mean it isn't possible. The math of poker, as a feild, is still in its earliest stages. On the back of The Mathematics of Poker (which I haven't read yet), he compares modern poker to the bond and options markets of 30 years ago, dominated by intuition and experience. By the mid 90s, advanced math and analytical skills where overwhelmingly applied in these jobs. While this may be an extreme example, I think we are moving that way. So even if this isn't possible now (which isn't a point I'm willing to cede), as more hands are collected and the statistics of poker are better understood, who knows?

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almost every good player thought Bld was a donkey when he first arrived. many think cts is a donkey, or that durrr can't play omaha. thus far i'd say the track record is pretty bad.

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This is proof of my point, not yours. I think Bld is one of the best examples of this happening. Here is a player that people didn't understand, but was definitely one of the top on party from and objective standpoint. So the PSC was being influenced by him even if people weren't realizing it. As people started to realize the method of what he did, people adapted some of it or fixed leaks. I think today, as a whole, there are way way more players playing a style like bld than there used to be. If someone figured out right away what exactly he was doing and why it worked, they could have benifited from it before the poker community at large, if only very marginally.

Thats not to say that Bld had a profound affect on the PSC. But even a the smallest drop in the bucket adds volume and makes waves.