Well regardless of which takes more intelligence its certainly easier to gather info today . So imo its much easier to be good at poker then it was back in the dark ages (pre solver) Of course also easier for everyone else to be good. Not trying to be funny but how would a live player even know they're actually have an advantage over the field. What percentage of live players actually play enough to overcome variance.

By todays standards yes they played pretty bad but that's fine if your opponents are worse

Thats not the point.

In my career, I have always tried to be the dumbest guy in the room. You want to be surrounded by people smarter than you to learn from them.

Weird thread.

It's absolutely way easier to learn poker today than it was in the "dark ages".

I've never had a losing year live playing 500-1500 hours a year live in about 15 years of live play.
I have had essentially four separate 500 hour break even streaks
This year so far I'm at my lowest hourly In a decade.
2021 and 2022 were my 2 highest hourlies ever.

In each of those years I had one night account for 30 percent of my yearly win which is pretty absurd.

There is a TON of variance in live poker and while it's extremely unlikely I could have actually been a losing player all of this time I have no doubt I've run pretty well overall. It's far more likely though that for example I could have been playing losing poker post covid and just ran hot than playing losing poker this entire time.

How you handle variance is such a huge part of live poker.

I will say this though - win rates are still so high live that it takes way less of a sample size than it does online to at least surmise that you're a winning player.

A casino is a great place to have people think you're an idiot when you're not,and a terrible place to think you're smart when you aren't.

Yup and it amazes me how many people that is too

I would say that a guy who uses a calculator to help solve complex differential equations is better at math than the savant who can multiply two 10 digit numbers in 3 seconds but struggles with integrals.

It’s much easier for some

I attended one of those motivational seminars for entrepreneurs some years ago.

The first thing the presenter asked:

"Show of hands, Does anybody know someone who is dumber than you, but makes more money than you?"

After a hearty chuckle from the attendees, I'd say about 95% of the room raised their hand.

There's plenty of smart people who push brooms for a living.

There's plenty of "Dumb People" who are really good at one very specific thing... and if it wasn't for that one specific thing, they'd probably be digging ditches.

Berkey found a niche and it appears he's doing well. I don't find his content interesting. It's not for me, but I am probably not his target demo.

I feel like being dumb.. and being successful at something are two entirely different things, so after a few pages of reading this thread, I'm not sure that distinction has been made.

I still can't figure out how Berkey is trying to be a pseudo-intellectual.

There's a strong correlation between being smart and being successful. Yes there are successful idiots and smart people who aren't that successful (although smart broom pusher basically involves some kind of drug addiction or mental illness) but that doesn't mean there is no correlation.

berkey is not “dumb” in any way, shape or form though

He's certainty smarter than your average bear

This means nothing as most fans on onlyfans know someone dumber than them who makes more money than them

Monetizing your sexuality does not make one dumb. Paying for onlyfans when porn is free and real life women are available makes one pretty dumb.

Yes lots of rich dumb people but also people love to diminish the intelligence of successful people. I have family members that will gladly tell you Musk and Bezos are both stupid and have no idea what they're doing. Much easier to cope by saying Bob's richer than me due to luck than to admit its due to hard work and smarter life choices. Having said all that while i don't think Berkey is actually dumb i think he makes most of his money by pulling the wool over the eyes of people who probably aren't very smart. At least not at poker. I say that because i can't imagine any decent poker player listening to him for 5 minutes and saying to themselves i want to give this man my money

Musk comes from money (hmm, rich white folk from south africa? wonder how they made their money) and he's well-reputed to be a business disaster by a lot of different people at all the different companies he's worked in. it's certainly possible to be very lucky and strike it rich, in poker and in real life.

yeah richest man in the world is worth over 200bill because his dad wasn't dead broke

okay

Yeah say what you want about Musk’s $44b money bonfire at twitter, but you can’t call the guy dumb.

Musk is a highly intelligent person, in the top 5% if not 1% of the population. You obviously cannot believe everything you read, but there are several sources that corroborate his estimated IQ in the 155 range, well above the 145 genius level. People have questioned some of his business decisions, so his business intellect may not be on level with his overall intelligence, but he is still an extremely intelligent person. He also lacks some basic common sense, which can be typical in high IQ people.

I can, I have, and I will continue to do so. I don't necessarily mean in the sense of IQ, or book smarts, but just general sense. In general high levels of intelligence come with the ability to be completely and utterly deluded about certain things, and I think he's that. The smartest person I personally know is also the stupidest.

"One thing about intellectuals: they prove that you can be absolutely brilliant and have no idea what's going on."

richest guy in the world=business disaster. got it.
people pushing brooms for a living=super smart.

This thread is hilarious.

There are certainly smart people who choose to do menial jobs, and you wouldn't look at the guy with the biggest stack on the table and assume he's the best poker player, would you? There's plenty of evidence of his being a walking disaster. If it's new to you that he's not what some make him out to be, do you need me to find some of it for you?