Stu Ungar is thought to be by many to the greatest No Limit Holdem Poker player ever.
The 3 time World Poker Champ was born in New York in 1953 and began betting poker before becomming a teenager.
The young gambler started out betting gin and at the age of ten had won his first gin tournament, while on vacation with his mother and father. By the age of fourteen the small poker maestro had become a professional and dropped out of school.
In ‘54 Stu Ungar entered the record books by succeeding 10 grand in a gin rummy tournament without sacrificing a single hand, a record which still appears in New York today.
The fast speaking superstar has been likened, in poker terms, to sporting greats such as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Stu had a real skill for playing poker but in spite of his successes in Texas hold’em poker, he preferred wagering gin.
Stu once said that there may several day be a improved NL Texas hold em gambler than him but he couldn’t see how anyone could ever be a much better gin player.
In ‘80 Stu Ungar was put on the world map as one of the very best Holdem Poker players in the planet when he was crowned World Poker Champion for the very first time. Amazingly it was the very first time he had entered the tournament.
The subsequent year he put aside any thoughts that it had been luck, by effectively defending his crown. And in 1997 Stu set the record by winning his third World poker championship.
Except this poker legend also struggled with drug abuse and a year following succeeding his third title Stu Ungar past away in his hotel room. According to physicians, he had died from a heart attack which was triggered by his lifestyle.
Stu had began with practically nothing but his skill and talent for the casino game which made this poker wonderful a millionaire a lot of times over.