I pretty much think success in everything is based on a certain amount of natural talent (intelligence), effort, and luck (luck different from the luck of a genetic lottery). I think it depends on the field which one is the most important.

I will say this. I used to think natural talent wasn't as important as effort, and most people can achieve most anything they really set their minds to (yet they don't as most people are very lazy, and when they do "work" it's usually half-assed rather than truly applying themselves and using their time to the fullest). I've since kind of been converted, and now think all three are pretty close with luck slightly behind in importance of the other two.

I actually really disagree with people being able to be "smart" and not good at poker, other than with a few very rare exceptions. If you're naturally intelligent it tends to appear in vnearly everything you do, whether it's playing poker, pwning some n00bs in 1v1 at warcraft, writing a paper, taking a test, expressing your point of view, etc. I would even go as far as to say being funny, which most people would instinctively say is personality and view separately from intelligence, depends mainly on intelligence more than anything else. After all, who really doesn't want to be funny/witty if they have the option to be?

Wow I am writing long post today.

Cliffnotes: I used to be all "work hard and follow ur dreams they'll come true lolz!!!11" but now I think you gotta also run hawt in teh genetics and teh life.

I think EQ is way more important in poker than IQ

I think it goes beyond what everyone is talking about with IQ. What do we consider smart? Part of what makes a smart person smart is the ability to adapt what they already know to a new situation, the ability to remember previous information, and the ability to quickly recall information they have already seen, smart people also tend to seek information and learning that is a large part of what makes them seem intelligent in the first place. Finally a lot of the most intelligent people have ego's about being intelligent, they dont like to appear stupid at anything so they study and put in work at everything they do. Obviously all these traits lean towards success at a poker table, there are obviously a lot more stuff that goes into into, like mental control, patience, etc. So not all intelligent people are good at poker but there is a very strong correlation between intelligence and success at poker.