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Author: MasterBets
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Great Poker Players: Stu UngarStu Ungar was nicknamed "the Kid" and he blazed a trail across the poker skies that was as brilliant as it was brief. He was a card-playing savant, a man whose unmatched ability at gin rummy and poker was ultimately dwarfed by his inability to control his addictions to drugs and limitless betting action. Ungar was a genius; a true wunderkind unlike more recent "precocious" talents like Hellmuth or Ivey, who always seem to be playing a well-studied part and must pale in comparison.
Stu Ungar was the greatest No Limit Hold 'Em player of all time, in the opinion of such luminaries as Mike Sexton. His record speaks for itself. He won the WSOP three times, including back-to-back victories in 1980 (where he eliminated Doyle Brunson heads-up) and in 1981 -- both victories were achieved long before Stu turned thirty. The last time he played in the WSOP, 1997, he won it again. He died not long afterwards, alone and broke in a dingy Vegas motel. All in all he captured 10 major No Limit championship events, including three victories at Amarillo Slim's Superbowl Of Poker, which is twice as many as anyone before or since, and to put this stat in its proper context Ungar only played in roughly 30 of these tournaments in total!
Most frightening of all, poker was not even his best card game. He was unplayable at gin rummy, and only turned to poker when he ran out of willing opponents. His first No Limit tournament was the 1980 World Series, which he won as a rank outsider. After he repeated as champion the following year, unwillingly he held a press conference. He was asked when he first started gambling. He replied that he was seven or eight. The son of a bookmaker, Unger grew up playing cards and gambling in New York. His IQ was said to be 185 but he only used it to play cards and compute odds. When he first moved to Las Vegas he had never had a bank account before and he thought that it was necessary to go to the bank every time he wrote a check. He won millions at cards in his first two years there, but lost it all gambling on sports, craps and every other kind of action.
For example: Stu was a terrible golfer. He used to play off a tee for every shot, regardless of position. Even with this concession he would still shoot in the three figures, yet he bet hundreds of thousands on each round. The first time he ever set foot on a golf course he dropped $80,000, and that was before his first drive. He managed to lose a bet with fellow poker legend Jack Strauss on the putting green. It was this level of compulsion, combined with a lifetime of drug abuse, which ensured that "the Kid" would bankrupt himself on numerous occasions and finally die without a cent to his name.
In that press conference following the 1981 championship the assembled journalists asked Stu Ungar what we would do with all the money for first prize. Giggling, he replied "lose it."
But what made Ungar such a brilliant poker player? First of all he was absolutely fearless. He had no respect for money; it was merely the instrument with which he gambled. He also understood that for most poker players money, and more specifically a fear of losing money, dictates their play. Stu Ungar knew that anyone could bluff once, but very few people had the stones and the heart to bluff twice in the same hand. He would have fired a third time if need be. He was also blessed with a photographic memory for cards and a wonderful instinct. He once played a hand of seven-card stud in Vegas where the final bet to him was seven hundred dollars -- large in the context of the game. Ungar was only holding a pair of threes, but he called the bet straight away and in the same motion began to rake in the pot. As his opponent dutifully mucked his cards, Stu Unger exclaimed that all the man had in the hole "was dreams."
Besides his instinct, Unger was known for his relentless aggression and his determination to win. "Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser," was one of his famous lines. He also controlled every table he sat down at with his style of betting; raising most pots and coffee-housing dealers and fellow players. This was not a persona designed to psyche out opponents, it was unfortunately his character and it also led to his downfall. However, adopting these methods is a key to successful poker at the highest level. An obnoxious, loud personality with a good instinct for the game can produce results, and this is exactly what intelligent players like Phil Hellmuth are so good at doing. Stu Ungar was the real deal, though, a true gambler who never flinched in the face of a big bet, but rather craved it like any other artificial high. That kind of talent must by its very nature burn out quickly whereas the new generation of smart, frenetic players whose arrogant actions are deliberate, and who control their adrenaline, will have a measure of longevity that Stu Ungar wouldn't even have known what to do with.
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| 7/1/2008 12:04:13 PM |
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