[LearnedfromTV]

Three points:

It's probable that the internet players Tran has played with are not the very best internet players. I doubt he's played with durrr, bld, or cts, for example. His idea of an internet player might be someone like Thomas Wahlroos.

The main problem with internet vs live discussions is that online players have a much larger sample size and are better able to assess skill statistically, while live players by necessity have to rely on anecdotal or statistically insignificant evidence for claims of superiority or inferiority. On the other hand, long-run results aren't the only determinant of skill; experienced live players can probably much more quickly (in terms of number of hands) determine what an opponent's strategy is, and identify holes in it. This advantage still is affected by the much smaller sample size, although not as much.

David, this thread would be much more successful if posted in hsnl. The online players most capable of discussing this do not post much in nvg!