Poker: A lot of luck, A lot of skill ?

On day 2 of the $10,000 Mixed Event 12, they played from 194 players down to 20. The top 24 players get paid out. Brandon, my brother, was eliminated at 28. This is so unfair. Look how he is eliminated:


It sure was fun to keep up with though. They play until the early hours of the morning and of course I am on eastern time which is 3 hours later than in Vegas. He stayed within the top 15 or so in chip count for most of the night and I thought he had a pretty great chance of hanging in there through the end of the day which would have put him "in the money" as they say. He was SO close. I hate how much luck goes into poker. If it was all about skill, I think Brandon would be in the money every time! He is one of the smartest players in the game. We just have to figure out a way to take that luck component out of the game. What do you think? How much luck and how much skill goes into these games in the WSOP?

Tune in for the next event. I will keep you updated.

Here's an old video from the WSOP where Brandon quotes Kenny Tran, "Can't beat luck at the poker table."