Your chances of winning a tournmanent are directly related to your chip stack size. If you hold 40% of the chips in the tournament, your chances of winning are 40%. If you hold .001% of the chips out there, those are your chances of winning. Sure you may beat the odds, but when they're stacked against you so strongly you're almost sure to lose. This is outlined very clearly in David Sklansky's Tournament Poker for Advanced Players.

Do you understand how these 2 variables are directly related?