grunch
I asked this question about 5 and a half years ago and it spawned what I thought was some interesting discussion:
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/3...+great+players
I find it interesting to go back and read what I wrote 5 years ago in light of my improved overall understanding of the game 5 years later.
Poker is all about making the right decision - is the right decision to call or fold, or bet or raise, and (if you play PL or NL) how MUCH to bet or raise? So any poker "talent" that someone may or may not have has to be a "talent" for making the right decision. Being good at math is a "talent" that can help you make the right decision. Having a great memory is a "talent" that can help you make the right decision because the more information you have available the more likely you are to make the right decision. Having great emotional control is a "talent" because it stops you from doing stupid things when you're mad or bored.
I'll make a derail for a moment and talk about chess. About 14 years ago I became addicted to chess. I bought books, I took lessons, I played in the Dallas Chess Club yada yada yada. I routinely got beat by kids, some of whom were as young as 9 years old. I guarantee you I outworked and outstudied a lot of the people who were beating me, and I can guarantee that no matter how long I worked or trained, I would never be able to play blindfolded chess on even one board. I simply didn't have a "talent" for calculating a whole board on the spot the way the people who were beating me did. My mind just didn't work that way.
The point? For a game like chess, the people with natural talent, i.e. for memory, for calculation, for patience, are ALWAYS going to have a HUGE advantage over the people who are just driven to study a lot.
Back to poker. Where poker differs from a game like chess, IMHO, is that in poker it's simply never necessary to think more than a few "moves" deep. Your opponent just raised you on the river - should you fold, call or reraise and how much? Well, think back through the hand - what were his actions on each street, what are the hands he would do these with, what are the probabilities he has each hand etc. and make your decision.
IMHO, in a game like chess, no matter how hard an average player works, he will never be able to compete with a talented player who can play 3 simultaneous blindfolded boards. But in a game like poker, if a player works, studies, plays hundreds of thousands of hands, and diligently works to plug holes in his own game and exploit holes in the villains' games, then at the moment it's time to make a decision, that player will have "almost as much" information upon which to make the decision as the android described above who is a human calculator with perfect memory and total emotional control.
Hope that made sense and actually answered the OP's question.
Last edited by DalTXColtsFan; 01-29-2018 at 11:00 AM.