[johnc]

You're not going to find an concrete answer, it's too open ended. It's not really possible to draw a clearcut correlation betweeen good skills such as memorization, etc and natural ability. Take for example two world class players : Chris Ferguson, & Stu Unger. Both are incredible and share combined talent but each has relied more (not entirely) on different approaches to the game. Ferguson's inhuman abilty to memorize every concevable combo, outcome, probability, and odds scenario at the table is has brought him much of his success, whereas Stu Unger placed much more emphasis on his ability to read players and put them on cards, and even accurately predict their actions. So, my point is, there really isn't a specific formula or guideline to follow to success in poker. If there was, there would be little reason to play, because everyone could be "good".