I think that's a really interesting post Chris. I believe that some of poker is intelligence, for example when it comes to calculating pot odds it helps to be good at math obviously. Also a good memory helps when it comes to recalling your opponents actions in similar hands. However, I believe that's as far as it goes. Once you get the basics down from reading books and experimenting w/ different tactics I think it's pretty much all up to you to determine how good your gonna get. By that I mean the more hands you play in poker the better you'll become. You'll just develop a knack for the game, because your understand what different cards mean in different situations. Also, your ability read opponents just becomes natural as you deal w/ the same type of opponents over and over again. Basically Poker skill definitely isn't just intelligence, but it helps to be more intelligent. Most of the best players out there like Jesus, Howard Lederer, and Barry Greenstein are extremely intelligent, but you've also got guys like Phil Ivey, Hellmuth and Daniel Negraneu who'd tell you that they definitely didn't graduate at the top of their class.