[GreywolfNYC]

Hi Marlow,
The two previous posters were right. It simply isn't true that most of the top pro's were immediately successful. Phil Ivey used to play 1-5 stud in AC. Howard Lederer admits it took him two years before he became a winning player in a 1-2 game (that's dollars, not hundreds or thousands of them.)
Studying, playing and having a coach or a very good player to discuss hands with can bring you along very quickly. Beyond the strategy that, for example, Sklansky and the better poker writers can teach you, its mostly experience, game selection and your own temperament. And I dont think the last of these can be stressed enough.
Assuming you've read the better strategy books, read Inside the Poker Mind by John Feeney and by all means read Barry Greenstein's new book. I think those books can explain what I'm talking about in ways that can vastly improve your game.