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The list of sound defeats is kind of a who's who from back in the day: Black, Hawk, Robison, Klein, Leo the Jap, Price, Stein.

Not nearly as much luck as poker, especially Texas hold ‘em which is almost pure luck with very little room for strategy or calculation.

Hold em has a lot more of a skill factor than the losers of a game want to admit, bit a lot more of a luck factor than the winners do.

> Ungar destroyed anyone who challenged him in a gin match, including a professional widely regarded as the best gin player of Ungar's generation, Harry "Yonkie" Stein. Ungar beat Stein 86 games to none in a high-stakes game of Hollywood Gin, after which Stein dropped out of sight in gin circles and eventually stopped playing professionally.[0]

86 wins in a row against one of the best opponents at the time has to indicate that skill can overcome much of the luck involved.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stu_Ungar