[tomsOn]

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David, ask Kenny who he thinks the top 20 no limit holdem cash game players are in the world.

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That's good, but you could also ask him to name the top online players. That way you get to know if he knows the scene well enough. Personally I doubt he does.

If a person isn't involved in the internet scene it's natural he has no clue how much effort the top players put, in terms of hands played and analysis, to become the best.

To us it's absolutely obvious that the best online players are better than the live ones. I think the most logical argument you can have here is that the internet guys play up to 60 times more hands per hour (and usually put in a lot more hours as well). They also have more tools at their disposal to analyse/learn (hand histories, PokerTracker, PokerStove, forums). Wouldn't it be absurd if, despite that, the live pros would be better? Something would have to be horribly, horribly wrong for that to be true. How can someone debate this?

I'm sure someone will try to counter this by talking about reads and being comfortable in live setting. But how can that possibly nullify a HUGE advantage in experience/understanding the game? Personally I believe reads are overrated, but even if you don't how can they overcome the fact that someone spent a 100x more (if this is an exaggeration it's not a big one) on playing/learning the game?

Like someone said, I would definitely value the opinion of Antonius, Ivey more, because they actually played a very decent amount against the best online has to offer. They might not be aware of the effort their opponents took to get better, but certainly have some kind of grasp on how good somebody might be. I doubt Tran can make those kind of judgements.