Critical skills?

I strongly disagree, jyms. not only with the sexism, but also with the cynicism.

I've been here less than a year, and I have been taking as much advantage of the articles, conversations, and advice as I can. I have built my initial deposit up to 5x what it originally was and am rolled, but not ready, to take shots at 25NL. All of this with no HUD and no rakeback.

My point is:
The game is not dead. At least not at the levels I've played.

Also, FTR has a huge benefit over 2+2 in that it is a much smaller community and as such the dialogue is more consistent and the trolling is minimal (in the poker threads, at least).

EDIT: All communities need to bring in new personalities to keep it fresh and dynamic. Our tight-knit bunch here at FTR is not for everyone, and as such, we'll expect most new-comers to leave... but some great peeps will stay.