Stu "The Kid" Ungar, the World's greatest poker player

L'instant historique

Je me suis beaucoup intéressé à la vie de Stu Ungar, j'ai lu beaucoup de livres, sites web racontant sa vie et ses talents aux jeux de cartes.

Foreword by Mixe Sexton
Stu Ungar was a legend in the gambling world. He had an aura and mystique about him that turned heads in every room he entered. Ungar craved action and bet on everything. Whatever he gambled on, whether it was poker, gin, blackjack (if they let him play -- he was barred from just about every casino on the planet because he was too good), horses, sports or golf, he was the highest of high rollers. Stu Ungar stories are legendary.
Physically, Ungar was small; but mentally he was a giant. He had the quickest mind of anyone I've ever seen. When it came to cards, Ungar had no equal. He was a genius and had a photographic memory. His raw talent was overwhelming. I still smile when I think of some of the plays he made in big tournaments, with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line. And I have tears in my eyes thinking about what could have been.
Ungar was known for being fearless and aggressive -- two traits that are easy to talk about but almost impossible to display on a daily basis. Simply put, Stuey Ungar was the greatest gladiator in poker history. He took command of every table he played at and dominated his oponents heads-up.
For years, the second-largest poker tournament in the world (before the World Series Of Poker) was Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker. Only one player in history has captured the $10,000 championship event in both the World Series of Poker and The Super Bowl of Poker. That man was Stu Ungar. And he won each three times.
Remarkably, as great as he was at it, poker wasn't even this best game. Gin rummy was. He originally came to Las Vegas to play gin, not poker. Soon, however, after beating everyone, he couldn't get any games.
Unless you had seen Ungar play gin rummy, or talked to those who played against him, it would be difficult to imagine his artistry at that game. I've never met or talked to any people who played him who didn't consider Stuey to be far and away the best player they had ever seen. After one or two discards, he could place virtually every card in your hand. As the Poker Hall-of-Famer Doyle Brunson once said about Ungar's expertise at gin rummy, "It's scray to watch him play".
Not long before he died, Ungar said to me, "Fifty years from now, I supposed it's possible that a better poker player may come around, but I can't see how there will be ever a better gin player. I really mean it. Michael Jordan won -- what -- four or five MVPs? If they gave an MVP for gin rummy, I would have won it every year since I was sixteen years old.


Considéré comme le meilleur joueur de poker au monde, Stu "The Kid" Ungar est le seul à avoir remporter 3 fois le main event des WSOP.
Il n'est venu au Poker qu'après avoir balayé toutes les tables de Gin. C'est simple, il était tellement fort que dès qu'il s'inscrivait dans un tournoi, plus personne ne voulait jouer.
- "They told me that they didn't want me to play. The excuse they used was that people were not entering the tournament because when I played they didn't have a chance. I would see that the other players didn't like having me there"

- There was this guy. His name was Gus. They said he had won 6 major gin tournaments. He leaned over and looked at me straight in the eyes and said "What kind of deal do you want to make?"
"What kind of deal I want to do?"
"Yeah! What do you want to do?"
"How's this: let's play the match winner take all. Let's put both first and second-place money into the pot and let's play for the whole fucking thing!"
When I said that, it completely shattered him.
They would announce the score -- "Stu Ungar 112-0, Stu Ungar 114-37, Stu Ungar 105-81." Yeah, sure, right. I'm going to chop the prize money with a guy who ain't a chance in hell of beating me. It was like a joke to me.

- "Some day, I suppose it's possible for someone to be a better no limit hold 'em player than me. I doubt it, but it could happen. But, I swear to you, I don't see how anyone could ever play gin better than me."

Stu Ungar By Phil Hellmuth
Back in 1992 at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), World Champions Mansour Matloubi and Stuey Ungar faced off in a series of $50,000 buy-in heads-up freeze outs.
The game they were playing that day was no-limit Hold'em, and the blinds were $200-$400 when the following hand came up. Stuey opened for $1600 in the small blind, and Mansour called with 4-5 off suit. After a flop of 3-3-7 rainbow (no suits), Stuey bet $6,000--he started the hand with $60,000 to Mansour's $40,000--and Mansour called the $6,000 bet. On fourth-street a K came off and both players checked. On the river a Q came off to make a board of 3-3-7-K-Q, and Mansour, smelling weakness in Stuey, bet his last $32,000 or so. Stuey looked "right through" Mansour, and within ten seconds he said, "You have 4-5 or 5-6, I'm gonna call you with this." Stuey then flipped up 10-9, and called the $32,000 bet with merely ten-high! Wow, what an unbelievable call! Stuey can't even beat a jack-high-bluff with his hand, never mind any pair. In fact, Stuey could only beat 4-5, 4-6 or 5-6 in this scenario.


Les gains de Stu Ungar au poker sont estimés à plus de 30 millions de dollars. Il n'a joué que 30 tournois avec un buy-in supérieur à $5,000 et il en a gagné 10 d'entre eux !

Stu Ungar Winning WSOP 1981


Stu Ungar Winning WSOP 1997


Documentaire sur Stu


Sources:
- One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey "The Kid" Ungar, the World's Greatest Poker Player.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stu_Ungar