Obviously skill/poker ability helps, but I'm not so sure that luck is a requirement for a deep run. A little nice luck is welcome, but you can play well even if the cards don't hold up to a certain degree.
Some
freerolls I've won had me super low and then an amazing streak of luck with doubling up and winning flips before winning the entire thing. However, other events have me just at a good start, slowly chip up consistently, and never really having moments with flips or luck needed.
I hear the similar for many other players too. You really don't have to play luckiest or best to win; Phil Ivey says he has "never played a perfect session" because there are always so many spots where he wonders if he did this differently, could he have done better etc.
Just in my opinion, a little luck is almost always a factor in short-term, but long-term is virtually all poker ability. The same poker pros consistently get deep runs because of things they do - not because they are luckier than we are
Rather than thinking about luck, I just try to keep working on my game and things that I can influence. I can't give myself the luck for my QQ to win against AK (I don't believe in good luck charms impacting this), but what I can do is keep learning more with poker so I can make better-informed decisions at the table
In some sense, I hear ya; if only there was an easier way to win consistently
On the other side of the coin, if there was an easier way, then others would do it too and might make us winning even tougher lol
