The % luck mostly depends on your playing ability. It isn't the same percentage for everyone. If the rake is around 10% then we must be at least a 55/45 favorite to win. Yes you can get unlucky if you the percentages dont fall your way and you can be lucky if you are behind and win, but you can't ask for much more except to be ahead most of the time.
I feel like the only "
gambling" activity worth taking part in is poker. I try my best to stay away from the table games, although
blackjack can be beaten, but then again counting cards is illegal. Look at Stu Ungar- his biggest downfall was sports/dog betting. If he only played poker he would be a big winner, but like most gamblers he chased his money away doing stupid -ev gambling. Right now I am a losing player. I have confidence I can become a winning player, but I think I will take bad beats to go broke just like most people because my edge will never be that big. It is too easy to burnout in this "sport" especially if you play poker for a living. I would think the only way to be a winning player is to final talbe or win a big $10k buy in event like the main event. Even then it would be hard not to go broke playing high stakes cash games after the big score. Isn't that the outcome of most gambling, that we always want more? How did we get going in the first place??
I don't think I will ever make much playing tournaments because the buy-ins are so high. However, if I satty into a big event and cash that would humble me. I would be star-struck to ever see one of the tv pros and in the end I am a recreational player so I would be more than happy to get back to even. As a rec player my goal is still to win, but I am not just grinding to make a living. This site has shown me than poker is beatable even for a amateur, and that is pretty much the story of poker since 2003(moneymaker).
If I am going to seriously play winning poker, at some point or another I see going on a hot streak online to be a necessity. I love both online and live play, as well as home games and the occasional prop bet. I am a golfer and certainly see myself continuing to gamble on the course. There is nothing smarter than betting on oneself.
To close, luck is what keeps the fish coming back. There is obviously a little luck needed to win, but in the end, the best players are going to win more and lose less than the average player. If you can't handle the swings than maybe poker isn't for you.