Stu Ungar

At an early stage of his poker playing career, Ungar was apptley nicknamed "the Kid". He was considered the Elvis Presely of poker, a true genius however his drug addicition was considered his major downfall. He was thought to be one of the greatest No Limit Hold 'Em player of all time, in the opinion of players such as Mike Sexton for example. Stu Ungar won the World Series of Poker 3 times, including consecutive victories in 1980 where he beat Doyle Brunson heads-up. On both occassions, Ungar was still not even 30 years of age. The final WSOP win came in 1997. Unfortunately he died soon after his WSOP victory.

Ungar was conisdered un-beatable at gin rummy, and only turned to poker when he ran out of challenging opponents. Ungar won his first No-limit tournament in the 1980 WSOP, which he won as a wild card entry. At the time, ungar was asked when he first started to gamble a lot. He replied saying that when he was 7 or 8 years old as he was the sone of a famous bookmaker in New York. Stu Ungar was not a very good golfer. He used to play off a tee for every shot, regardless of where the ball was on the golf course. He was known to bet hundreds of thousands of dollars on each round of golf and the first time he stepped onto a golf course he went down $80,000.

It was this level of addiction, together with severe drug abuse, which ensured that "the Kid" would bankrupt himself on numerous occasions and finally passaway without one cent in the bank.