4 ms·

Fascinating character. I ended up reading the whole Wikipedia article [1] because of your comment. Sounds like he was very skilled and continuously getting bet

Fascinating character. I ended up reading the whole Wikipedia article [1] because of your comment. Sounds like he was very skilled and continuously getting better -- which is of course impressive. At the same time, his overall life story turns out to be tragic. Two choice quotes from the article really jumped out for me: > Ungar told ESPN TV... that the 1980 WSOP was the first time he had ever played a Texas hold'em tournament. Poker legend Doyle Brunson remarked that it was the first time he had seen a player improve as the tournament went on. > Ungar is regarded by many poker analysts and insiders as one of the greatest pure-talent players ever to play the game. But on the topic of his life, Stu’s long term friend Mike Sexton said “In the game of life, Stu Ungar was a loser.” [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stu_Ungar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stu_Ungar

RockyMcNuts 4y ago
there's a (so-so) movie - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338467/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338467/ when the show Billions did a poker game they used a famous Stu Ungar hand https://somuchpoker.com/calling-with-ten-high-stu-ungar-vs-mansur-matloubi-1990/ https://somuchpoker.com/calling-with-ten-high-stu-ungar-vs-m... (but OMG that game was so cringey for so many reasons, you don't get to call time and go talk to your therapist in the middle of a hand)
xhevahir 4y ago
After reading that Wikipedia article I'm reminded of a episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent that was almost certainly inspired by Ungar's life: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0799186/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0799186/ . The character appears in two episodes, although the second one isn't that great.