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Stu Ungar - Poker Legend
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Stu "The Kid" Ungar is rated by many as the greatest poker player who ever lived. A new biography, "One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey "The Kid" Ungar, the World's Greatest Poker Player" sheds light on this troubled genius. Ungar is the only three-time winner of the ultimate prize in poker, the World Series of Poker Championship. He also led a self-destructive life tormented by various addictions (gambling and drugs were the top two on his list), and he died a pauper in a seedy Vegas hotel room.
Ungar won millions and he lost millions with equal ease and brilliance, he died with $800 on him and that was all his money in the world. He annoyed a lot of people and was loved by his friends. He was incredibly precocious and obnoxious; generous to a fault when he had it to spend, and a ruthless adversary at a poker table. Ungar had a child-like sensibility, and an inability to function in the real world, but give him a deck of cards and he was truly a genius.
His no-limit poker tournament record will never be matched by another player. He won the World Series Of Poker Main Event three times, including consecutive wins in 1980 and 1981. He defeated Doyle Brunson to capture the title in 1980 in a dazzling heads-up display. Both of those Championships were won before Ungar was thirty years of age. Stu Ungar only played in a total of approximately 30 high-stakes no-limit tournaments over the course of his life and he won a phenomenal 10 of those events!
Poker was not even Stu "The Kid" Ungar's favorite card game. He was the greatest gin rummy player that the gambling world had ever seen. The only reason he started playing poker in the first place is because no one would play him gin rummy for money anymore. The very first time he played in a No Limit poker tournament was the 1980 WSOP, which he duly won even though he was a complete unknown at the time.
There were several reasons as to why Ungar was such a tremendous card player in general and poker player in particular. First of all he was fearless when it came to betting. Money held very little power over him. When he won it he spent it, and when it came time to put his chips on the table there was never a moment of hesitation. He was a very aggressive player, and he had an instinct for all card games that made him well nigh unbeatable. He could also annoy his opponents just by being himself. There will never be another character quite like Stu Ungar, a true poker legend, and his new biography is well worth the read - a fascinating journey into the mind of a poker genius.
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> Joe Hachem - Instant Poker Legend
> Phil Ivey - Poker Legend
> Mike Matusow - Poker Legend
> T J Cloutier - Poker Legend
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