I am going to assume this is a genuine post although I have my doubts :-) that being said it is an interesting topic so is a good post.
My personal opinion is Yes online poker is at least as valid as live. I would consider a larger percentage of online players more "proper" poker players than live players, a lot of whom are just people gambling in a casino (which is fine if they enjoy it) whereas a far higher percentage of online players have a genuine understanding of concepts like bet sizing, fold equity, board texture, ICM and shoving/calling ranges. Just to add most online players also play some live events and some live players occasionally play online. Generally speaking online players will have played a massive number of hands compared to live players and will have come across the same common situations far more often and, for example, can recognize when their bottom set is beaten on certain board textures or when their AA has been outdrawn whereas live players just do not get away from that kind of spot and end up spewing cash/chips due to the difference in pure experience of playing hands.
There are slightly different skillsets in both games and you find good and poor players in both, most people would say live players are better at live tells but online players are better at the game theory and maths, the skills of the online player are far more important most of the time whether you are playing online or live. To use a massive generalization online players are more technically savvy than live players and are more likely to use things like Skype groups, Poker Forums, online training sites to improve their game. Using tools like poker tracker and other online tools helps you gain an insight to how certain types of player react to certain type of situation which helps with both online and live play.
Out of interest you say online players "sit at their computer clicking a mouse and believing that they are poker players". So do you believe they are not poker players? If so what would you say is the difference why are live players poker layers and online players not so? I would be interested to hear from people with different views.
Welcome to the forum by the way :-)
