Any time one player is successful and the other player is not, there is a tendency for the loser to blame the victory on luck.  While this isn't entirely inaccurate, there are many more forces in action than just plain simple luck.  Saying that someone was lucky to win at the poker game is like saying you were lucky not to get into a car accident on the way home.  The odds are simply with you, providing that you have the ability and skills to operate a motor vehicle, that you will arrive at home in one piece.  This analogy can be suited to the poker player, whose skills and abilities bring him to the end of the match with victory in his grasp rather than a loss.  Considering luck's role in the events of the poker match is fruitless, as this is the one quantity that cannot be controlled.  But a skilled player can win a match with a weak hand just as quickly as he can with a strong hand, as the playing of the cards has less to do with what's in your hand than it does with what's in your mind.

Staying strong on the cards means staying in the game, playing to your strengths and waiting for the luck to come along.  The skilled poker player will understand this highly unstable nature of luck, that it can happen to anyone, and that he should take immediate advantage of it should it come along.  For several factors, if you blame luck for someone winning, then you must also understand that luck can happen to anyone at the table. The odds are equal of each player getting good cards as well as bad cards, and so, in this nature, luck is as objective as it can possibly be.  Your chance to be on top can come just as quickly as any others, but knowing what to do with a sudden windfall and how to play the cards should you get such a lucky hand has a lot more to do with winning than pure luck.  You can be lucky and still lose, this is proven every day by players who fold when they could have walked to the finish with ease, simply because the player did not understand the strength of his hand and how to play it.

This tendency to blame luck can go both ways.  Luck certainly happens, but keeping in mind that if can hit anyone at anytime with equal odds of success can keep the poker player on their toes and ready to jump in action should the luck cycle happened to land on them.