Stu "The Kid" Ungar was born in New York in 1953 and was only 10 years old when he won a local gin tournament. By 1974, he was considered to be one of the best players in New York. He eventually had to leave New York and travel to Las Vegas due to gambling debts at the local race tracks and because his reputation as a Gin player made it impossible for him to find anyone who would play against him.
In Vegas, Ungar won so many gin tournaments that several casinos requested that he wouldn't play in them because players were not willing to enter the tournament if they knew Ungar was playing. He is famous for saying: "Some day, I suppose it's possible for someone to be a better no limit holdem player than me. I doubt it, but it could happen. But, I swear to you, I don't see how anyone could ever play gin better than me."
He played in the 1980 World Series of Poker and won the main event, defeating poker legend Doyle Brunson, and became the youngest WSOP champion ever (but he would later be surpassed by Phil Hellmuth in 1989). He also won the 1981 WSOP.
After his early success Ungar wasted all of his winnings on drugs, sports betting and horse racing. He went from broke to a millionaire four times.
In 1997, after years of battling drug addiction, Ungar was deeply in debt. He managed to get the $10,000 to enter the WSOP main event from a friend. Ungar clearly had suffered physical damage from addiction, most notably to his nasal membranes. However, he showed that his mental abilities were still intact and won his third WSOP win.
In November 1998, Ungar was found dead in his room at the Oasis Motel in Las Vegas. He is still regarded by many poker pros as the greatest pure talent ever to play the game; in his life, he is estimated to have won over $30 million playing poker. He is the only player to have won 3 WSOP main event tournaments.
No comments:
Post a Comment