Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm brand new to poker!
Why do pros seem so inconsistent in their winnings? For example, a pro could be #1 or #2 in one tournament and then they will be #50/300 or #200/1000 etc in their next tournament. Is this just because of the hands they are dealt on the day? Do they focus more/play differently at bigger events? Is poker just about doing your best each tourney and eventually, if you're good enough, you'll win big? I'm just really curious as to how someone who is able to be #1 can be #300th in their next tourney.

Unlike chess, luck does play a part in winning tournaments and even the worst possible starting hand still has a chance to win the pot. The luck part is having your hands hold up when you're ahead, the skill part is being able to consistently identify situations when you're favored to win the pot and taking advantage of them.

We can't conclude anything about a player's skill just by looking at the results of one or two tournaments. It's possible for a player who knows nearly nothing about the game to go on a massive heater and actually win a large-field tournament over more seasoned players. However, they will not be able to repeat this consistently over the long run.

Sometimes situations like this one also occur and it's just 100% bad luck for the losing player. This tournament also had a $1,000,000 buy-in.

You Tube

If a pro participate in 10 tourneys in one season and get itm in 2, maybe winning 1 he will already be on the positive

because poker unlike chess which is a 100% skill game, has a lot of luck involved so even if you make the best decisions most of the time you can still lose money in the short run or even for a long period of time if you are running really bad.

First of all, it is impossible to win every tournament you participate in. Professional players play not 2 or 3 tournaments a day or 2-3 tournaments at the same time. I've noticed that professional players play stupid and overly aggressive in the first 20-30 minutes to increase the stack and create an advantage for themselves. When you have the opportunity to play a lot and nothing restricts you, it expands your possibilities very much... Of course, in big live tournaments, the game is completely different. You have almost no room for error and you can not compare online and live games, especially games on pokerstars

In one tourney you might get the aces and your opponent gets dealt kings and next tourney its the other way around And sometimes you might get dealt aces but there comes a king on the board and out of your seat you go

Professional players play a lot of tournaments and it is what distinguishes them from amateurs that some of them are successful. The point is that, for example, in 10 tournaments they played, they reached 3 final tables. In the next tournaments, the next few wins, and in the long run, they are in good position in many tournaments. It is known that they will not always succeed, because not all of these skills, but also luck. Let's remember that there are many professional players and they can always hit one another.