Poker Web Watch / Marcus Bateman / 03 December 2008 / 2 Comments

This week marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Stu Ungar - who was arguably the greatest poker player who ever lived (even if not the best poker player, he was certainly the greatest gin rummy player ever).

Although he lived an extremely troubled life, his talent at all card games was truly astonishing, and some of the tales of his play are legendary. From the fact that out of the thirty $10,000 buy in no limit hold'em tournaments that he entered, he won ten of them, including three world series main events (two of them back to back), all the way to making a $30,000 river call with just ten high, his near telepathic skills truly set him apart from all the players around him.

For all his strengths though, at his heart Ungar had major flaws. He was a compulsive gambler and drug addict, who would regularly burn through millions at the race track and the drug dealer. Although he made a reported $30 million at the card tables over the course of his career, he died broke and alone in a cheap hotel room in Vegas.

Ungar is perhaps the greatest ever example of the problems in defining the best players. Ungar was probably the most gifted player when at the tables, but when thinking about the factors needed to be successful off the tables, such as money management, steam control and discipline, he was a terrible player. Compare Ungar to a player like the late great Chip Reese, who although keeping a low profile throughout his career (mainly through not entering many tournaments due to better cash games running), made - and held on to - millions of dollars through being able to keep himself composed and calm at all times.

Who is the better player out of these two? The one who can basically see your cards at times, yet who loses millions when on tilt or down their bad habits? Or is it the one who just grinds you away, never tilting, always playing within their roll and slowly making millions from anyone who sits down with them? In my opinion it is Chip Reese, for although Ungar was one of the greatest actual players of the game, he was no way near being one of the best professional poker players - as that requires so much more than just skill at the tables.

For all his faults, Ungar was one of the true great personalities of poker. His generosity and heart were legendary, and his death was a great loss. To put his character in perspective, I will leave you with a story from Doyle Brunson about Ungar's generosity. While walking down the street together a man came up to Ungar and asked him if he could borrow some money. Ungar immediately pulled out $100 and gave it to the man. As they carried on walking, Brunson asked Ungar how he knew that man. Ungar said 'Know him? If I had known him I would have given him $200'.

Related Entries

Who's the best? - Marcus Bateman
WSOP History (1997): The Kid Dazzles Fremont Street - WSOP
Best Ever? - Ungar vs Hellmuth - Betfair Poker
Stu Ungar's Famous 10-high Call - Poker News

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