Stu is thought to be by many to the very best NL Hold’em Poker player ever.
The 3 time World Poker Champ was born in New York in 1953 and started betting poker before becomming a teenager.
The young gambler started out playing gin and at the age of 10 had won his first gin rummy tournament, while on vacation with his mother and father. By the age of fourteen the small poker maestro had become a pro and stopped going to school.
In ‘54 Stu Ungar entered the record books by winning 10 grand in a gin tournament without sacrificing a single hand, a record which still remains in New York these days.
The fast speaking wiz kid has been compared, in poker terms, to athletic superstars like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Stu had a genuine talent for playing poker but regardless of his successes in Texas hold’em poker, he preferred wagering gin.
Stu once said that there might some day be a much better NL Texas hold’em gambler than him except he could not see how anyone could ever be a far better gin player.
In ‘80 Stu was put on the world map as one of the best Hold’em Poker gamblers in the entire world when he was crowned World Poker Champ for the first time. Astonishingly it was the very first time he had entered the tournament.
The right after year he dismissed any thoughts that it had been luck, by successfully protecting his crown. And in ‘97 Stu set the record by winning his 3rd World poker championship.
Except this poker legend also battled with drug abuse and a year following succeeding his third title Stu died in his hotel room. According to medical doctors, he had passed away from cardiac arrest which was triggered by his lifestyle.
Stu had began with practically nothing but his ability and expertise for the casino game which made this poker wonderful a millionaire a lot of times over.