Stu Ungar is thought to be by most to the finest No Limit Hold em Poker player ever.
The three time World Poker Champ was born in New York in ‘53 and started playing poker before reaching his teens.
The young gambler began playing gin and at the age of 10 had won his initial gin tournament, while on vacation with his parents. By the age of fourteen the small poker genius had turned pro and dropped out of school.
In ‘54 Stu Ungar entered the record books by succeeding 10,000 dollars in a gin tournament without losing a single hand, a record which still appears in New York today.
The quick talking superstar has been compared, in poker terms, to athletic greats like Joe Namath and Kobe Bryant. Stu had a actual skill for wagering poker but despite his successes in Hold’em poker, he favored wagering gin.
Stu once said that there might some day be a greater No Limit Hold em player than him except he could not see how anyone could ever be a far better gin player.
In ‘80 Stu was put on the global map as one of the greatest Holdem Poker players in the entire world when he was crowned World Poker Champion for the 1st time. Astonishingly it was the very first time he had entered the tournament.
The following year he put aside any thoughts that it had been luck, by successfully protecting his title. And in ‘97 Stu set the record by succeeding his third World poker championship.
But this poker legend also battled with substance abuse and a year following succeeding his 3rd title Stu past away in his hotel room. According to physicians, he had died from a heart attack which was triggered by his lifestyle.
Stu Ungar had started out with nothing except his skill and talent for the game which made this poker fantastic a millionaire several times over.