Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, some people got together, or one person was playing many accounts, and cleaned the amateurs out. Similar, novel strategies does not imply a bot net.
I'm glad you're playing devil's advocate, and you're not wrong in that a single player could have multiple accounts, this was especially true on the Ongame network, as it provided the platform which sites could whitelabel to run their own poker room, with individual promotions/branding etc, while leveraging the benefits of a large shared player pool. The thing that stood out was the length of the sessions played by t…
The players I knew were very much into theory and the math of the game. It wouldn't surprise me if one, or multiple, of them were who you were playing against.
Of course, great bots can be made and run easily.