Help me get the big picture (possibly long)

[Kurn]

I am afraid what I have finally learned is you can't learn enough to win, it actually is more a game of luck than any of us want to admit, and that sucks.

The best players are the best because they do not underestimate how much luck there is in poker. The whiny low limit table coaches are the ones who think poker is a game of skill the way chess is a game of skill. It isn't. The large luck factor in poker (about 35%) is what makes the game profitable. If the best players always won, there would be no long term profit.

Look at this as an example. If you had a 10 person tournament, with each player being highly skilled and each player playing their A game 100% of the time, the winner would be determined entirely by luck. That doesn't mean there's no skill. It means that skill can negate skill. You don't win most of your money in poker from your own skill, you win it from your opponents' mistakes. They have to luck out when they make mistakes about 1/3 of the time to keep coming back and continue making them.

Don't curse the luck. Embrace the luck.