Skill aspect
Prior this year a trial took place in Israel to see if the game of backgammon was more skill based than luck based. The trial was supervised by a professor from the statistics department of Bar-Ilan University, Israel. 16 players participated in the trial: 5 were top level (information taken from Play65 site), 2 middle and 9 with weak abilities.
The results showed that 3 out of the 4 finalists were top level and in the finals itself both players were high level.
The purpose of this trial was to offer empiric datum for quantities basis to argue the question: 'Does a backgammon player with capability and practice have a considerable benefit over a player with missing practice and/or weak capability'.
In other words- the more you play the better you expand a strategy that will beat the opponent and the more skilled you become, the more chances there are for you to succeed. Giving that some people see backgammon as a game of chance or luck, this trial would seem to disprove that hypothesis conclusively for as soon as a player stabilizes himself as a strong player; it is possible to forecast with very high probability his repeating winnings over a player who stabilized himself as a weak player.
This is verification that skill is essential to make possible the outcome of a backgammon game, match or tournament.
The next time you play and are branded as a lucky player, you can say with some self-assurance, luck has nothing to do with it, it is all down to skill and that is a verity, whether you play on or offline.