Absolutely right! However, the action at live casinos has not degraded in such a manner. The players of the new age of poker you mention are being felted at an amazing pace in live games.
They're actually getting felted at an amazing pace in online games too. A heavy majority of the players online lose long-term. That's because not only do the good players take money from the bad players, when the bad players are playing each other, flipping coins for money, they lose to the rake (rake also takes a share when good players take from bad players, but you get the point).
Online poker is absolutely not representative of the real game which is being played in casinos. Players who learn primarily online are missing a HUGE aspect of game theory.
You corrected yourself later saying you meant poker theory. Please explain what aspect internet players miss. The only difference I see in it is tells, but then again I'm not old enough to play in a casino, and although I play live most of my play is online. So I probably am missing a part of poker theory, please elaborate on this HUGE aspect I'm missing out on, aside from feeling superior because you feel live poker is so much better but can't come up with a reason.
Meanwhile brick & mortar players who are drawn to the convenience of online poker are appalled at what is considered "solid play" online.
Umm, no they're not. They may be appalled by the bad play online, just as they are at the bad play live. If they play high enough stakes live to see a lot of solid play, I'm pretty sure that level online is pretty damn solid.
The outlook is very good though. This situation is what top players and professionals around the globe want to perpetuate. The net is a fish farm, and no amount of online experience makes a player ready to hit the live games.
Why is that? Because you play live and just want to make wild claims about how superior you are? I have several friends who play online and I don't even think they make money online (sort of thing how they don't keep track, sort of mumble something about being on a bad run), yet they absolutely destroy the casino poker and tell me about all kinds of horrible play. Another kid who just learned the game this year, I helped him out a bit getting started, sent him online money for cash, and he didn't do half bad, was making a small but steady profit at 10nl. Over Spring break last week he went to a casino up in
canada where the age limit is 19, and told me about how he bought in at a $1/$2 table for $100, started off really scared with so much money on the table, but basically once he got comfortable just ran over the game, and profited over $200.
So you can sit and talk about how the internet players are all fish and how the live players laugh at them, but apart from that last part, it's simply not true. You happen to catch Brian Townsend aka sbrugby on high stakes poker? He didn't do anything spectacular but he played with the best players in the world and I think he ended up with a profit. That was one of the first times he'd played live poker ever, he made all his profit online. Although he didn't look real comfortable there, he sort of seemed really quiet and nervous, he definitely settled in and held his own. OK I've given some facts, your turn.