Stu Ungar
Stu Ungar is considered to be the best poker talent of all time
(by many respected poker insiders). Ungar started gambling at a
very young age and at 10 he won his first gin rummy tournament while
vacationing at a resort with his parents. Around the age of 14 when
his bookmaker/bar operator father died, he was considered to be
a professional. Stu ditched school at age 15 and at that point his
gambling career really took off. Shortly after, and after whooping
up on pro gin rummy players in NY, Stu moved down to florida where
a larger variety of gin rummy games could be found. Stu Ungar continued
to excel at the game but more often than not would lose back all
his winnings to his second love(s), sports betting and horse betting.
Stu eventually moved out to Las Vegas (1976) to play gin rummy
as he'd beaten nearly everybody he could on the east coast. He become
such a big name in the game that it became difficult for him to
find players to play outside of tournaments.
Stu was also very proficient at blackjack. In fact, he was a legend
at counting cards and knowing which cards were left in the deck.
We're talking multiple deck as well as single deck. Some say Stu
Ungar may be the reason many Vegas casinos switched away from single
deck to mult deck games. His memory was photographic and HE WAS
THAT GOOD. Shortly thereafter, he was banned for life from almost
every casino he played at for being what many casinos called "an
unbeatable player."
Stu then shifted his sharp mind over to the Texas Hold'em world.
With almost zero experience, Ungar entered the 1980 World Series
of Poker and won the whole thing. Many called his feat a fluke,
he spat in their faces by coming back in 1981 to win the event back
to back.
Simply put, Stu Ungar became known as one of the best players of
all time. It seemed as if though he could master any game of strategy
with shifting variables using his mind boggling on the fly decision
making and ability to decipher the best possible move at the most
critical time.
Many aren't aware, but this guy also won the Super Bowl of Poker
three times as well as winning the WSOP 3x (his third WSOP win came
in 1997) (Had 5 WSOP bracelets)
His name layed low for a long stretch until that 1997 win. That's
when his life really began to unravel. Ungar's lifestyle outside
the poker room included heavy gambling on horses, sports, and a
plethora of other lifestyles and habits that aren't conducive to
a long life, the worst being drugs.
Longtime friend and casino owner Bob Stupak supposedly stepped
in and offered Ungar an opportunity to clean up his life. It was
said that Stupak offered to clean up Ungars debt, back him in major
poker tournaments, and even gave ungar 2 dimes pocket money. Two
days later, Ungar was found dead in his Binion's hotel room due
to coronary atherosclerosis which is . Cocaine, methadone and the
pain-killer Percodan where found in his body. Coroner Ron Flud said.
"No one drug by itself was enough to cause Ungar's death. The
heart condition developed over a period of time. The attack was
brought on by his life-style." Ungar was 42 at the time of
his death. Ungar left behind a wife and a 15 yr old daughter.
Friend and poker professional Mike Sexton said it best: "Ungar
never had a job in his life. He was always a gambler - and I mean
an ultra high-stakes gambler at everything - poker, gin, sports,
horses, golf - you name it. He never had respect for money. Money
was simply a tool to gamble with (the more he had, the more he bet).
For most of his life, money came easy to him. It also disappeared
quickly. Ungar was a high roller and a big spender. (He was also
a big tipper whether he had money or not). He went from being broke
to a millionaire (and broke again) at least four times. Gambling
was his life. Ungar craved action. He always had to be in action.
He was hyper and couldn't sit still. If you went out to eat, he
couldn't sit through a meal. He would always pay for it, but he
couldn't sit through it. He had to get back to the action."
Nobody will ever know what may have become of Ungar had he not
gotten hooked on the bads. One thing can be said for sure, Stu Ungar
was a King of King's when it came to the game of Poker.
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