Stu Ungar is thought to be by many to the very best NL Texas hold em Poker player ever.
The three time World Poker Champ was born in New York in ‘53 and started wagering poker prior to becomming a teenager.
The young gambler started out playing gin and at the age of 10 had won his 1st gin rummy tournament, while on holiday with his mother and father. By the age of fourteen the little poker genius had turned professional and dropped out of school.
In 1954 Stu entered the history books by succeeding 10 grand in a gin tournament without dropping a single hand, a record which still stands in New York today.
The quick speaking wiz kid has been likened, in poker terms, to athletic superstars such as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Stu had a real skill for wagering poker but in spite of his successes in Holdem poker, he favored wagering gin.
Stu once said that there may some day be a greater No Limit Texas holdem player than him except he could not see how anyone could ever be a greater gin gambler.
In 1980 Stu Ungar was put on the world map as one of the finest Texas hold em Poker gamblers in the planet when he was crowned World Poker Champ for the first time. Astonishingly it was the first time he had entered the tournament.
The right after year he dismissed any thoughts that it had been luck, by effectively defending his title. And in 1997 Stu set the record by winning his third World poker championship.
Except this poker master also struggled with drug abuse and a year following succeeding his third title Stu Ungar died in his hotel room. According to doctors, he had died from cardiac arrest which was brought on by his lifestyle.
Stu Ungar had began with absolutely nothing but his ability and natural talent for the game which made this poker excellent a millionaire quite a few times over.