"Why is poker special? Hmm... WPT. WSOP. PPT. All the other poker television shows."

They have mahjong on TV in Japan, plus manga, anime and an amazing amount of pornography. And there were fish at poker decades ago.

"Tens of thousands of people have happily made large deposits at poker sites around the globe because of the dream."

Then why are so many sites that target US players rock gardens? And why are the sites that ban Americans such fish tanks?

Many people who want to goof off will download the .net version of the software and never even see a real money money table, at least in the US.

"Poker Acadamy is relatively costly and only bought... to get better at poker."

PA is what? $120? That's not alot compared to a decent deposit, which is kinda what I was saying.

"Every arguement [sic] you make is from an ivory tower of idealism"

Uh, I'm the skeptic. AOK is the idealist. I think poker is hard.