One of the great things about attending the World Series of Poker is the opportunities it provides to speak with those who know. If its been printed about poker, I’ve probably read it, but for every printed story about the game, there are a thousand that only exist in the vacuum of the felt; this is the place where I can get those stories to paper.
In the last 36 hours, I’ve spoken with Doyle, Hellmuth, Mike Sexton, Phil Gordon, Jen Harman and dozens of others, the people who did the deeds I write about. It’s been an illuminating experience in strategy, storytelling and hypocrisy, this hob-knobbing with legends. The conversation I enjoyed the most, though, was with Nolan Dalla.
You may not know Nolan’s name. He works for Harrah’s, one of the driving forces of the WSOP. He ascended to that post through years of work for pokerpages.com, Harrah’s, Poker Player and assorted other publications. He authored the definitive book on the life of Stu Ungar, and while the conversation covered myriad topics, that was the one that produced our hand of the Day.
Ungar was playing in the Four Queens Poker championship in 1991 when he went headlong into a very young Huck Seed. The then-22 year old Seed would go on to win the 1997 World Championship, drawing comparisons to a young Phil Hellmuth and Ungar himself, and in this hand, he had the lead.
On the river, as Dalla tells it, Seed made a big move and Ungar, having missed his flush draw, sat and pondered for a couple of minutes. Finally, his contemplation complete, Ungar mucked his hand. A few hands later, Ungar got up from the table and was asked what he was considering, his fold obvious.
"The amazing thing" Dalla said "Was that Stuey was sitting there considering what to do two hands from then. In chess, thinking ahead on hands is a common tactic, but poker tends to be a game that focuses on the present and the past. That Stuey was thinking that far ahead just showed how out-of-the-box his game was" In a game of infinite possibilities but very finite structure, the ability to go above an beyond the informational boundaries was what made Stuey a special player. The next time you’re playing, try to figure out how you’re going to play a hand you won’t be seeing for the next three minutes. Then you’ll understand why this was so special.
Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com
