[kiddj]

To qualify for Mensa, one must score in the top 2 percent of the general population on an accepted standardized intelligence test. This doesn't necessarily qualify one as a genius, but it definitely indicates a higher intelligence.

Let's look at this from an EV-like perspective: Assume a population of 1,000,000. The top 2% in IQ would be 20,000, leaving 980,000 as "non-genius". Let's say the top 5% of the "non-genius" population are making the big money. That's 49,000 people. Even if ALL the smart people were making a lot of money, they would still be dwarfed by the less intelligent by about 2.5 to 1.

Every statistic I've ever seen indicates higher intelligence and/or higher education is directly proportional to higher income.

Back to poker. A major portion of standardized IQ tests involves PATTERN RECOGNITION. Just because the tests concentrate on shapes and other such things, this doesn't mean that pattern recognition can't be applied to people as well. People, poker hands, emotions...all have patterns that can be recognized, evaluated, and exploited. Other parts include mathematics and time-limited problem solving. A good poker player uses all these things every hand. I actually see no difference between street smart, people smart, or math smart people. They each can succeed in their own way... and make money.