Stu ’the Kid’ Ungar’s is a name that’s treated with awe in the poker world. A New York hustler with underworld ties, Ungar was working out odds for bookmakers by the time he hit puberty. He was the world’s greatest Gin player and many afford him the same accolades for no limit Hold ’Em. He was weaned on the gambler’s lifestyle, enjoying its highs and suffering its lows.
Ungar’s rise saw him take two consecutive World Series main events before succumbing to the realities that often accompany instant wealth. Not that he didn’t see it coming: When asked how he’d spend his winnings after the first win in 1980, he replied "I’ll probably blow it." He eventually did, right up his nose.
While cocaine dominated his last few tragic years, Ungar returned from his hiatus to take one last title before passing away in 1997. Self-destructive, brash, care-free and brilliant, his will be a story that’s retold as long as poker is part of our pop-cultural landscape.
To his supporters in the know, the thing that really separated Stuey from the crowd was his capacity for spot on reads. Cynics will tell you they’ve never heard a story about a great Ungar lay down, but in part, that’s because one never got the full information from those hands before the lipstick cam came into vogue. Today’s Hand of the Day is an example of one of those reads.
Playing against fellow Main Event winner Mansour Matloubi at the final table of the 1991 4 Queens Poker Classic, Stuey bet $6K on a flop of 337, which Matloubi called despite holding 45o. After both players checked a turned King, Matloubi sensed weakness in Ungar and bet his last $32k when a queen hit the river. It was an incredibly aggressive bet, maybe too much so: With the pot as small as it was, Ungar saw this for what it was; a transparant attempt to compensate for a poor call on the flop.
Almost immediately, Stuey sized up his opponent, saying, "You have 4-5 or 5-6; I’m gonna call you with this." and turned over T9o, giving him 3-3-K-Q-T to Mansour’s 3-3-K-Q-7. The read gave him the tournament, adding to his remarkable record: Of the thirty $5K+ buy-in tourneys Ungar entered, he won ten of them.
