Patience is key. You can finish in the money in these things by winning 4 or 5 medium pots. Wait for solid starting hands, and always come in raising. There will be people that call you down with terrible hands, but raising still gets rid of most of the junk hands. This allows you to go heads up or three way on most pots which works to your advantage. If you have good instincts, you'll realize when someone caught their hand based on their betting. I'm not saying I always catch it, but I'd say 80% I know when I'm beat. I don't have any stats for you, but I finish in the money most of the time.
On an added note, if you are playing Party Poker that is one big reason why you feel luck is involved so much. The blind structure for the SNGs at Party are the worst of any big name site. I used to play there, and did well there also, but now I've found that Paradise and Poker Stars give good solid players a much better chance to win. Take a look at Paradise Poker's SNG structure, then look at Party and you'll see what I mean. The one draw back of this structure is that it takes longer. A SNG on Paradise will take close to 90 minutes as opposed to 60 or less on Party. Party is a good site with a large player base, but Paradise is the best I've played on and I have no affiliation what so ever with any site.
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