True, the way cards come out is chance in a single instance of a hand, but in the long run, over thousands, maybe millions of hands, the cards that you expect to come out will do so more often, and the skillful players will win more often (as opposed to the occasional bad beat). If you are talking about professional basketball then of course there is luck.. at such a high level a few points, basically a basket, can make the difference between a championship and a lost series, but again, we see the best teams (for the most part) every year in the playoffs repeatedly. The same can be said for rec basketball - the closer the skill levels are of the players to each other, the more luck may play a factor.