Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelvis
Only possible if also allowed to play. There is no way on earth a total beginner understands what lines are even possible and for what reasons so until he sees them in real gameplay there is no point in button clicking a solver.
The question is how many hands that total beginner needs to understand those things.
Somebody could sit down at a table, watch 5 hands of play while waiting for the BB and start crushing immediately.
It's also important to note that people learn very differently. For the majority of players, only reading poker books without ever playing does very little. For others, that might be all they need to know. Obviously not really comparable, but there are stories about an autistic boy who memorized several chess books and was able to beat his peers immediately even though they had years of experience.
For a 20BB heads-up game, memorizing a couple thousand common spots might already get you pretty far.