was randomly reading some wsop stuff and found some interesting facts about stu. it is already known that he was the best gin rummy player in the world and likely the best nl holdem player in the world. but heres some facts you may not know that just solidify his legacy:

-won back to back world series main events in 80, 81, but due to extensive travelling and court appearances to fight a cheating claim, he was exhausted in 82 main event (he woulda won)

-won the super bowl of poker main event 3 times (10k buyin, no big deal there)

-in 1990 wsop main even he had a chip lead goin into final day but didnt show up cuz he was cracked out and passed out, he finished 9th blinding out (woulda won)

-1997 wsop main event, hes broke and in debt, gets staked, and WINS the whole thing...

-1998 doesnt even show up to main even to defend his title ( woulda won)

crazy to think about how good this guy actually was. hands down the best nl holdem player ever

You log quite a few hands with him to know he's the best?

He was obv a freakish talent.

Learned this past weekend that he once peed on a dealer, that was a new one to me..........

-1998 doesnt even show up to main even to defend his title ( woulda won)

Why? Did noone else turn up either?

how big fields plz?

y does everyone take things so literally??

http://youtube.com/watch?v=o5XrYFIEoPM

There is a book Called "Stu Ungar: One of a Kind" If you think hes interesting i highly reccomend the book, he was an incredible talent.... much superior than any online donk.

Wins the main event 3 times and Amirillo's Super Bowl 3 times.... he the only one who ever won both, let alone 3 times a piece. Definetly a degenerate gambler. But also a bonified fkn legend.

It does not matter how big the fields were, he was the best.

Dont know how he would won in 83..... maybe, he was good. but not definetly.

The year he got 9th, he left the tourny on the 2nd day with almost half the chips in play, and blinded out till the final table (he overdosses and is in the hospital during the main event)

what a sicko.

This is from wikipedia:

<SPAN class=mw-headline>Tales</SPAN>

Growing up with street smart wiseguys such as Romano often presented Ungar with some interesting situations later on in his adult life. Ungar was once at an airport attempting to fly out of the United States to Europe for a poker tournament with several fellow pros. All Ungar's friends had passports, but he did not. In fact, Ungar did not even have a Social Security number until after his 1980 WSOP win and that was only because he was forced to in order to collect his winnings.

Upon telling the airport customs agent he needed the passport immediately to leave the country, the agent replied that for a small fee, they could push the necessary forms through quicker for him. Ungar misconstrued this as meaning the agent was requesting a bribe, something he was used to back in New York when with Romano. Ungar had no problem doing this and slipped the agent a $100 bill. However the agent was actually referring to a small "expedite fee" that was common for all passport applicants. The agent was going to call the police and have Ungar arrested for attempting to bribe a public official before his fellow poker players stepped in and smoothed things out.

Despite owning several expensive cars, Ungar rarely drove. He preferred to take a taxicab virtually anywhere he went, even from his home in Las Vegas to the casinos which was only a short trip. Ungar was known to be a large tipper to cabbies and casino employees, regardless of whether he was winning. Mike Sexton once noted that "Stuey spent what most people make in a year on cab fares."

The fact he rarely drove could have possibly come from a time when Ungar purchased a brand new Mercedes sports car and drove it until the vehicle ran out of oil and broke down. Ungar brought it back to the dealership and was told by a mechanic that it had no oil and thus would not run. Ungar replied, "Why the hell didn't you tell me you had to put oil in the car?"

Ungar's friends often said he "ate like a wild animal." Ungar saw eating as something that had to be gotten over with so he could get back to gambling action. He would often call restaurants ahead of time and place an order for himself and everyone in his party so it was ready at the same time his table was when he got there.

Sexton noted that because Ungar would pay for everyone in his dining party, regardless of how expensive the meal was, it was impossible to argue with his method. Ungar would race in to the restaurant, shovel the food down as fast as he could, throw cash for the entire meal plus a generous tip on the table and be ready to leave, even if the rest of his party had just barely started on drinks or appetizers.

The same friends however also noted that Ungar, when he had money, was one of the most generous people they had ever met. He was known to always be willing to help out a friend. Ungar was once on a hot winning streak and sent his longtime sports betting friend Michael "Baseball Mike" Salem enough money to pay for several months of his mortgage. Salem did not ask for the money and had only mentioned offhand to Ungar he was in the midst of a nasty losing streak.

Ungar's own attorney recalled a time when Ungar asked him how he was doing. He responded that he was OK, but struggling a little financially. Ungar immediately took $10,000 cash out of his pocket and gave it to him, saying "Take it. It's yours. Pay me back when you can. And if you don't pay me back, that's OK too."<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-Stuey_0-2>[1]</SUP>

In fact, Sexton and Ungar became friends when Sexton was suffering a losing streak and was nearly broke. Ungar was playing in a high limit seven card stud game and had to use the restroom. Ungar told Sexton to "pick up a hand" (play the next hand) for him while he went. This is generally not allowed in card rooms today but for top pros like Ungar, rules were much more lax back then.

Sexton made a straight on the first five cards he was dealt however played cautiously at first, not wanting to be overly aggressive with another man's money. Ungar returned from the restroom in the middle of the hand, at which point (to Sexton's surprise) was thrilled that his money was involved in such a giant pot. Ungar's attitude made Sexton more comfortable with playing the hand aggressively and he ended up winning a large amount. Ungar saw another stud game going on across the room and gave Sexton $1,500 to go play in it. Sexton did and won an additional $4,000, of which he gave Ungar half and began to rebuild his bankroll.

Ungar also once won a large amount of money (over $1.5 million) on a series of horse races. That night, Ungar took all his close friends out to a strip club and paid for the entire evening which included numerous girls, Cristal champagne and a VIP booth. Sexton estimated the night cost Ungar $8,800 and he never once asked or expected any of his group to pay for a single penny of it.

Personal hygiene was also something that tended to be lost on Ungar. He rarely washed his own hair, opting instead to pay a professional stylist at The Dunes casino to wash it for him twice a week and cut it when necessary.

Ungar never had a bank account in his own name, preferring to keep his money in safe deposit boxes in hotels across Las Vegas. He dismissed the notion of a bank or checking account. "You mean I can't go there at midnight and get my money out?", he asked (this was before the advent of ATMs). "That's ridiculous."

Immediately following the 1992 World Series of Poker Stu Ungar faced off against Mansour Matloubi in no limit hold'em at the $50,000 buy-in heads-up freeze out event. The final hand of the game had a board of 3-3-7-K-Q.

Matloubi tried to bluff Stuey all-in for $32,000. Ungar thought for a few seconds and told Maltoubi "You have 4-5 or 5-6 so I'm gonna call you with this" and flipped over a 10-high hand to win the pot and bust Maltoubi, who in fact held exactly what Ungar said he did.<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-6>[7]</SUP>

One time Ungar was walking through Las Vegas with Doyle Brunson. A man stopped him and asked for some money. Ungar pulled out a $100 bill and gave it to the man. Brunson asked Ungar who the man was, to which Stu replied, "If I had known his name, I would have given him $200."<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-Stuey_0-3>[1]</SUP>

for me a top class man no doubt

Stuey= Live Poker Superuser Account

the most interesting post on here i have read.

I don t learn much about poker on here a most of it is a matter of opinion

However it is very interesting to see how others look at it

yep

People that slam folks like Stu for 'wasting their lives' are the bulk (99.99%) of the people in the world - dull, vapid white-bread nobodies that will never live anything but uninteresting lives.

True genius almost always comes with some baggage, so what if there's a few bugs in the cake, the cake is still delicious.

"Matloubi tried to bluff Stuey all-in for $32,000. Ungar thought for a few seconds and told Maltoubi "You have 4-5 or 5-6 so I'm gonna call you with this" and flipped over a 10-high hand to win the pot and bust Maltoubi, who in fact held exactly what Ungar said he did" haha, that rules.

He was a major coke fiend. Snorted so much he burned his nose off.

Money had a very different meaning to him than it does to the rest of us. And consider this...when you have $500 in chips in front of you at a casino table, doesnt it feel different than if you have $500 in your checking account?

The WSOP where he cracked out and blinded out in 9th he probably wouldve won...the others dont count (he didnt show up but he wouldve won if he had? come on...)