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Real Casinos > Poker Player Profiles > Stu Ungar
Stu Ungar
Few
stories are more tragic than that of Stu Ungar and his rise and fall from
greatness. Born on September 8, 1953,
Ungar was known as not only a world class poker player but also the best there
was at gin rummy. There was little that
Ungar could not accomplish as he was known to be highly intelligent and the
best at what he did. The sad fact being
that he was also very self destructive in the process, a fact that would bring
about his ultimate demise. Ungar did not
think that he was the best poker player but did say that no one would ever be
better at gin and that very well may be true.
The fact remains that he was making a good living working the gin
tournaments around the country before he made it to Vegas to take up
poker.
1980 brought him his first World
Series of Poker main event win and the following year he would win again. His main claim to fame was his memory. He had the uncanny ability to count a six
deck chute of cards and he won over one hundred thousand dollars betting a
casino owner that he could count the last three decks in a six deck chute. Because of this ability he was banned from
playing Blackjack anywhere in Vegas.
Following his divorce he began to use cocaine and other drugs
heavily. He was playing in the World
Series of Poker when he was found in his room unconscious. Despite this he still managed to rank 9th
and take home over twenty thousand in cash.
Over
the next few years his drug problem got worse and he also became the worst kind
of gambler, the kind that never knew when to quit. Even though he could easily win more than
enough to live on in poker he still bet sports and horses and he lost nearly
everything several times. Several more
tournaments and he had to be staked by someone else but he managed to win. The last time he was to play he decided
against it at the last minute.
In
1998 Ungar was found dead in his apartment.
Despite the fact that he had won several million dollars over the course
of his career he was found to have only eight hundred dollars to his name and
be heavily in debt. His daughter was
honored by starting the 2005 tournament.
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