Posted by Dan on January 23, 2011
Stu Ungar was born September 8, 1953 and raised on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. His father ran a bar which doubled as a gambling joint and it was here that the young Stu was introduced to gambling at a young age and quickly made a name for himself while still technically “at school”.
Stu Ungar
Stu Ungar won a local gin tournament at age 10 and dropped out of school to play gin rummy in the 1960s full time to help support his mother and sister after his father died, and began regularly winning. By 1976, he was regarded as one of the best players in New York.
The fresh faced Ungar destroyed anyone who challenged him including a professional gin player, Harry “Yonkie” Stein. Ungar beat Stein 86 games without losing once!
Ungar became a victim of his own success, soon no-one would play him at rummy, he was just too good, but poker offered up a whole new world.
Technically brilliant with cards Ungar had a genius-level IQ and eidetic memory which contributed to his card counting (and remembering) skills, so much so he was frequently banned from playing (blackjack) in casinos. With poker he was noted for his ultra-aggressive playing style and well-timed bluffs, but was also incredibly obnoxious to play against and was often down right rude to opponents.
Cocaine entered Ungar’s life at around the time his mother died in 1979. The drug was originally helpful, keeping Stuie up and at the table, wired and jittery but still winning.
In 1980 Ungar entered the World Series of Poker (WSOP) looking for some action, he claimed it was the first time he had ever played a Texas Hold’em Poker tournament. Ungar promptly won the main event, defeating Doyle Brunson to become the youngest champion in its history, and took the nickname The Kid along with the title.
Ungar won his second bracelet in 1981 in the $10,000 Deuce to Seven Draw event, defeating 1978 world champion Bobby Baldwin and took home $95,000 and in the 1983 WSOP, Ungar won his fourth bracelet and $110,000
When Ungar had money, was one of the most generous people to be around. He feely gave large amounts of money to friends on bad streak, associates on a losing run, chatty taxi drivers, random dealers, pit bosses, local strippers and even complete strangers.
But Ungar, was never “good” with money, he never had a bank account in his own name, had no concept of how a bank account even worked and paid for everything in cash. This child like attitude to currency was mirrored in his infantile enthusiasm for drugs.
A telling example is that during the third day of the WSOP main event in 1990, Ungar was found passed out on the floor of his hotel room from a drug overdose when he should have been at the table. Yet, he had such a bankroll at the table that even when the dealers kept taking his blinds Ungar still finished 9th in absentee.
By 1997 Ungar was drowning in debt, but received the $10,000 buy-in to the WSOP main event from fellow Poker Professional (and friend) Billy Baxter moments before the tournament started. And then went on to win the main event for the record-setting third time.
The comeback was short lived; around 1998 Ungar disappeared from the public view. He was slumming it in cheap hotels and was seen around various Las Vegas poker rooms begging for money. The money fed Stu’s new addiction, Crack.
On November 22nd Ungar was found dead with $800 cash on him, in a cheap motel room. The medical examiner concluded that he had died of a heart condition brought on by is incessant drug use.
Despite having won an estimated $30 million during his poker career, Ungar died with just $800 cash to his name, and a collection had to be raised to finance his funeral.
He was a genius with the cards, a winner at the tables, ill equipped for life away from the tables and ultimately offers a cautionary tale of obsession.
Comments:
Posted by pokerguru on June 6, 2009
One common theme throughout these multi-day tournaments is the frustration that you see start to show on players that are not mentally ready for the grind. Most players are used to their home games or the single day tournaments that they play at their local casinos. When they get into this kind of a field and have to play for 3 or 4 days, it starts to wear on them. The last day of Event #7 was proof positive of how that frustration can cost someone a tournament.
Steve Karp was in this poker tournament the whole way until the last few hours. Travis Johnson literally bullied his way to the bracelet as his aggressive play frustrated and wore down Karp. It became more noticeable in the last hour as Karp had seemed to have about enough of it and looked like he just wanted to go to bed. He got his wish and Johnson got the bracelet. Here is the final hand recap.
Karp had the button and limped in and Johnson immediately applied more pressure and pushed all in. Karp took no time at all to make the call. The cards were rolled and Karp had 55 to Johnson’s AQ. Karp managed to dodge the flop with K-10-4, but more outs had been added for Johnson. The Q in the turn but him behind to a 2 outer and the river J buried him.
In other tournaments….
We had already mentioned Phil Ivey’s win in our last post, but it definitely deserves another blurb. Ivey play phenomenally all night long and against a very good player and showed why always feared at a table. The only shame of it all was that he had already bought in for the $10,000 mixed event and did not get over there until very late and ended up busting out on the first day. I am sure the bracelet and the 7 figure side bet winning will help him get over that though. He said that he plans on taking a couple of days to get himself back together and then will be right back at it. Ivey seems poised to have a great series.
Event #9, the Six Handed $1,500 NL Hold’em event did not get to the final table, but they are pretty close. There are only 8 players left and play will resume today through to the bracelet winner. We think the two players to watch out for here are Peter Gould and Praz Bansi. They are both hurting a bit for chips here, but one good run and they can start to put some pressure on. Here is your chip count and standing for the day:
1) Charles Furey (1,690,000)
2) Bryce Yockey (1,489,000)
3) Carmen Cavella (1,059,000)
4) Peter Gould (780,000)
5) Bryn Kenney (656,000)
6) Praz Bansi (630,000)
7) Ken Aldridge (411,000)
8) Manny Minaya (339,000)
Event #10 concluded its second day with only 29 players remaining. The ever annoying Hevad Khan still has chips and we all know how lucky this guy can get. Daniel Makowsky has the chip lead and also some WSOP experience with a second place finish under his belt. Hopefully we will not have to endure the little rain dance that Khan has become so infamous for.
Event #11 finished day one in much the way the other tournaments have, by railing over 85% of field on the first day of play. This one started out a little slow and then it just took off as player after player was sent packing. The name to look out for here is the always dangerous Phil Hellmuth. He has chips and the money is sneaking up on the players. Chip counts were still up in the air on this one, but it would appear that one of the wonder kids is leading the pack as Scott Hall as about 140,000 in his stack.
All eyes are now on Event #12, the$10,000 World Championship Mixed Event. Play was a little slow as there is still about 60% of the field standing, but this was a late starting tournament and they did not have the full day to play. Already out are Phil Ivey, Greg Raymer and Mike Matusow. However, the story is the players that are atop the leader board. We are still loaded with some significant pros and Kid Poker leads the pack. Negreanu has a grip on the overall chip lead and it is hard to imagine him giving it up. It has been a while since he has had a strong showing in the WSOP and hopefully this can get him turned around. There is nothing better in poker than watching Kid Poker on a final table.
Two more events get kicked off today and all in all, we will have 6 tournaments going and hopefully 2 more bracelets getting awarded.
Comments:
