The biggest improvement you will see in your game is one thing: wealth.

Not being afraid of losing the money you have in play is the biggest advantage you can ever have.

I think natural skills like emotional control are very under rated. From listening to a bunch of Joe Ingram podcasts, a ton of top guys when talking about the subject of tilt end up saying something along the lines of "I can't really relate, I've rarely dealt with these issues compared to others"

I believe the "Natural Talent" is something along the lines of this :

Having correct set of strengths such as understanding how people think, fast decision making under pressure and being analytical/ good at pattern recognition etc.

The main thing separating the average regs from the crushers is that the crushers understand your range better than you understand your own range as well as exploit your leaks efficiently. They also study solvers in a productive way and put in the work.

Continue to build your game trees with help from solvers that are simplified for humans in order to practically maintain long-term, as we are mere apes after all and its impossible for us to consistently play close to things like pio recommendations. Even if we could, it would often be not highest EV play anyways until 500z+ perhaps. Work from most common situations from top to bottom, then simplify and fit into your inner game trees. Knowing how often/when to deviate from your typical ranges and make a best educated guess when unsure, usually leaning to nitty side at 100z/200z and below and stationy side at 500z+

That all said, most people do not need solvers and or use them incorrectly or even harmfully when playing lower stakes. Focus on exploitative poker until you're playing against some of the best players in the world on a consistent basis, or just enjoy it. IMO.

There is so much that goes in to winning at poker:

Bankroll
Bankroll management
Sources of income during losing streaks (backers, sponsors, etc)
Ability to travel (being a citizen of a first world country)
Discipline to stop playing when you are in a -EV situation due to having a headache, playing with a high rake, etc
Family situation that allows you to relocate if local games are no longer profitable
Ability to be surrounded by degens without becoming a degen yourself. Plenty of top pros losing millions betting on -EV bets

There is also an obvious natural ability to have great instincts. While thinking for a while about poker decisions can overcome a lack of instincts, you will have trouble playing high stakes cash games against fish.

Nick Schulman

If being the best was based on minute differences in theoretical winrates that in reality are never realized you could make a better case for talent mattering. As is the people recognized as the best are the guys who meet some minimum level of competency (and not a high one) and put in the hours. The bar is very low.

I don't get how people are comparing poker to actual sports where either strength, size, coordination (or all of the above) along with hard work obviously gives you a natural edge over someone who has none of that but just works hard.

With that said though obviously every single person's brain works differently through both learned behavior and innate genetics.

What is there even to debate? also had a laugh that apparently back in 2009 matusow is one of the best players in the world, who knew.

Yes, I think some people are better naturally in analytical thinking and understand patterns easier, but it doesn't mean someone couldn't learn these through hard work and studying. I think it all comes down to how well you study and what you study and who you know. Good group of people can lift you up.

I think its worth mentioning that, when faced with multiple options in a hand, and not knowing which is optimal, there is a degree of luck in choosing the correct option. In this case someone may appear as a natural.

There are definitely people who naturally suk at poker, that's for sure.

I think natural talent comes in having a brain that works up to par which is both genetics and education but also in having a brain that is wired for very little stress response. If you have an anxiety condition that floods your brain with stress hormones every time you have a big hand you're at a huge disadvantage where your IQ is constantly dipping after big pots.

It's hard to stay at the top of your game in a single session when you're intoxicated by cortisol and you drop 20-30 IQ points in seconds. Even if you have a tiny bit of stress response you're gonna be at a disadvantage against the person who has almost no stress response. It's kinda funny cuz in nature the being with little to no stress response is the 1st to be made an example of when it comes to Darwinism.

Now a days no there is no such thing as natural talent in poker in NLH maybe u can reach small stakes with said talent, back in the day possibly yes.

Ofc, it's called high IQ.

Poker is a series of problems and probabilities, the faster you can pick up closer to optimal solutions, the better off you'll be.

There are different areas of intelligence measured by IQ, usually memorization is good to keep track of dynamics/remember gto lines. Logic is also very important in explo poker while dealing with people who deviate from optimal play a lot.

But imo the strongest of all things in poker is controlling tilt. Even if you study a lot and is smart, if you are tilting you cant be +ev.

having a genius working memory can't hurt.

I'm not a great player myself, but what I've noticed from really bad players is their inability to consider multiple variables at once (ie. their own stack sizes vs. everyone else's, their hand strength, position, etc.).

Yes, a lot of it can be learned, but I have a feeling for some players they are just limited intellectually from being able to think of that many variables at once.

matusow was being bumhunted all the time on fulltilt back in 2009, he was far from one of the best

Is it proven that the stress response drops IQ 20-30 points? Fascinating point but I am wondering if this is scientifically proven true?

stress impacts performance, this is universally true

Positively or negatively ?

I doubt a laid-back gazelle is a genetic favorite versus his stress-activated kin on the plains of the Serengeti

From what I've read long term stress can actually put the prefrontal cortex in a bit of a dormancy state. It was either by a psychiatrist or neuroscientist and was pretty interesting but read it a while ago. Just think of a time after a high stress event like a car accident or a physical fight where you can't really think, you can't really talk right, you're brain just goes to crap. Cortisol and adrenaline are powerful intoxicants.


There's supposed to be something about living in high stress areas too like living in a violent ghetto or violent househould that effect I think IQ, intellect, critical thinking and so on.

Fascinating. I know adrenaline blocks thought processes but never thought of Cortisol. Jared Tendlers book talks about anger related adrenaline also blocking proper thought processes. I have in turn been like a monk at the table (s) and making sure I breath and pay attention.

Of course there is natural talent in poker

But it's also something you must learn

Someone naturally smarter,good with math with good emotional control is going to do better in poker than someone who studies just as much but doesn't have as high a level as these important qualities.

if you have millions of players trying a random strategy variation some proportion of them will stumble on the correct one.

What we know about psychology probably makes us more stupid, if possible. You get duller in high-stress situations?