Stu Hungarian

Stu Hungarian
Stu Ungar (1980)
Personal information
Date of birth	September 8, 1953
place of birth	New York City
date of death	November 22, 1998
Place of death	Las Vegas
Nickname	The kid
Live Poker Tournament Achievements
Highest prize money	$ 1,000,000
Total prize money	$ 3,675,321
World Series of Poker
Bracelets	5
Cashes	16
Best main event	Victory ( 1980 , 1981 , 1997 )

Stuart "Stu" Errol Ungar (born September 8, 1953 in New York City , New York , † November 22, 1998 in Las Vegas , Nevada ) was a professional American poker and gin rummy player.

Hungary's nickname was The Kid because it was very successful at a young age. Because of his small and slim stature, he always looked younger than he was. He won the largest poker tournament in the world - the Main Event of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas  - three times: in 1980 , 1981 and 1997 , making him one of the four to make it twice in a row alongside Johnny Moss , Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan to win this competition. In total, Ungar secured five bracelets in this tournament series. As part of the 50th edition of the World Series of Poker , he was named one of the 50 best players in poker history in June 2019 .

Youth and Gin Rummy

Ungar grew up as the son of Jewish parents in Manhattan . He was a highly intelligent, hyperactive kid with a photographic memory that enabled him to become an incredibly good gin rummy player. At the age of ten he won the first tournament he ever took part in, and at 14 he defeated the best gin players in New York. After his father, a bookie, died of a heart attack, Ungar dropped out of tenth grade and became a full-time gin rummy player to help fund his mother and sister. After winning more gin tournaments, he gave his mother some of the money and gambled the rest away with horse betting on the racetrack.

Because of his gambling debts, he moved to Miami and Las Vegas . There he later married his wife Madeline, who gave birth to his daughter Stefanie. In Las Vegas, Ungar also successfully played gin rummy for high stakes.

Poker career

Career

Since Ungar was such a good gin rummy player, soon nobody dared to play against him and many casinos asked him not to take part in their tournaments. So he gave up his gin career and turned to the poker variant Hold'em . In 1980 he took part in the World Series of Poker Main Event at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas for the first time without really having experience in No Limit Hold'em . He defeated poker legend Doyle Brunson heads-up and received a prize of 365,000 US dollars and a bracelet . At the age of 26, Ungar became the youngest winner of the WSOP main event at the time. Because of this, and because of his youthful appearance, he was nicknamed The Kid by the press . The following year he won a tournament in Deuce to Seven Draw at the 1981 WSOP and defended his title in the main event . Ungar secured his fourth bracelet at the 1983 WSOP in Seven Card Stud .

The money that Ungar had won with gin and poker he quickly gambled away on sports betting or horse racing. He lost his entire fortune at least four times and then became a millionaire again. In addition, there were drug problems, which is why his wife Madeline divorced him in 1986, and took their daughter. On the third day of the 1990 WSOP Main Event , which Ungar was only allowed to attend because a friend loaned him the $ 10,000 entry fee, he was found unconscious with a cocaine overdose on the floor of his hotel room. Although he could not finish the tournament, his chip lead was so great that he finished ninth.

In 1997, Ungar made another comeback. Again, he borrowed the $ 10,000 entry fee for the WSOP main event from friend Billy Baxter . He won the tournament and dedicated the victory in front of the cameras to his daughter Stefanie. Throughout the tournament, Ungar wore sunglasses with round blue lenses designed to hide the damage cocaine abuse had done to his nose. Famous is his last interview after the win, during which he held the picture of his daughter, which he carried with him during the tournament, into the camera and answered Gabe Kaplan's question whether he would now consider changing his lifestyle in the long term : “Nobody has ever been able to defeat me with the cards. The only one who could ever beat me is myself. ”This was Hungary's last public appearance.

In his career, Ungar earned almost $ 3.7 million in poker tournaments .

Bracelets

Ungar cashed 16 times at the WSOP and won five bracelets :

year	Buy-in (in $ )	competition	Attendees	Prize money (in $)
1980	10,000	No Limit Hold'em World Championship	073	0.365,000
1981	10,000	Deuce to Seven Draw	019th	0.095,000
	10,000	No Limit Hold'em World Championship	075	0.375,000
1983	0.5000	Seven Card Stud	044	0.110,000
1997	10,000	No Limit Hold'em World Championship	312	1,000,000

death

In the months after his last WSOP win, Ungar again lost all of his prize money to sports betting and drugs. At the request of his daughter, he began several attempts at withdrawal, but only remained drug-free for a short time. Ungar could have borrowed again for the 1998 WSOP , but felt too tired and too bad to take part. In the months that followed, he asked many of his poker friends for money to start a new comeback. However, he spent the money again on drugs until hardly anyone was willing to lend him anything.

On November 22, 1998, Ungar died of a heart attack in a motel room .

There are now several books (the best known: One of a Kind ) and a film ( High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story ) about Hungary's life.

Web links

Commons : Stu Ungar  - Collection of Images

• Stu Ungar in the Hendon Mob Poker Database (English)
• Stu Ungar in the database of the World Series of Poker (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ WSOP Reveals List of 50 Greatest Players in Poker History , pokernews.com, accessed August 4, 2019.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Stu Ungar in the World Series of Poker database, accessed on August 10, 2019 (English).
3. ↑ Stu Ungar in the Hendon Mob Poker Database, accessed on August 10, 2019.