Stu Ungar, Anybody Ever Play With Him

[FortunaMaximus]

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At least Matusow still has his entire nose attached to his face.

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Along with the rest of his flesh. Point?

[JCCARL]

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AaronBrown's post should be manditory reading for all Ungar fans, I think he nailed it.

TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

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[blackjack777]

Point? Stu had half his face missing late in life do to coke use.

His fingers were bascially missing fingerprints do to holding hot crack pipes as well.

Fact.

[Lawman007]

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Point? Stu had half his face missing late in life do to coke use.

His fingers were bascially missing fingerprints do to holding hot crack pipes as well.

Fact.

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Give Matusow a few more years. He'll end up nose-less and fingerprint-free, too, if he lives that long.

[lwlee]

Another thing I don't think was mentioned is that while Doyle was one of the original thinker to emphasize aggression, I think Stuey really bought it to next level. His super aggressive style of play was really ahead of its time.

He would have been very much at home with todays' internet hyper-aggression. With his quick mind and fast reflexes, Stuey would probably 10 tabling it and crushing the games.

[GardenaMiracle]

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From everything I've heard about Stu Ungar, he's made out to be like a child prodigy for cards. Everything I've read says that nobody was ever on his level, but that drugs prevented him from ever dominating his competition like he could have. My question is, has anyone here ever actually sat down and played with Stu? If so, how can you describe his instincts and ability to play cards? How tough was he to play against? Was he as good as he was made out to be, or just good in tourneys and not so good in cash games? I just think he's a fascinating poker legend and just wondered if he really was the once in a lifetime player like he's made out to be, or if he was just a good player.

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Yes, I played poker and Panguingue with him. I spent many hours next to him at a 10k buy in tournament in '89 as well as several cash games short handed in the 80's. We became friends from that. Yes, he was great, and you knew it. Did he win all the time? No.

[Lawman007]

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We became friends from that.

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Did he ever share his coke and hookers with you?

[smbruin22]

interesting thread... things i would add or stressed based on my reading.

anthony holden said that stu (and johnny chan) were incredibly observent. watched for any kind of tell, even when they weren't in the hand. apparently they took it to an art form.

remember the top pair quote. basically playing his top pairs very hard.

i think he's taking advantage of people afraid to crash out. and i think that would still be effective today. perhaps more effective (obviously winning with 8,000 people is much, much tougher)... how many people will turn up slight +EV to last longer at WSOP? my guess is alot.

[Blair Rodman]

I think the answer is that Stuey was an incredible talent whose ego and need for action got in his way.

I remember playing in a game with him in the early '80s at the Nugget. It was 100-200 mixed games. Sarge Ferris, Eric Drache and some others I don't remember were in the game. What I do remember is that he played EVERY hand. Even in games like stud 8-or-better you couldn't get him out of a pot on third st. In limit hold'em, it was ridiculous. He thought he could outplay everybody and couldn't stand to be out of a pot. You just had to wait for good hands.

[Kimbell175113]

The "top pair" quote was from Doyle at Stuey's first WSOP; the context was that he was referring to Stuey's inexperience with NHLE. I don't know anything about the guy, but I'd assume that sometime in the following 18 years he might have learned to get away from top pair (though obv he's more famous for brilliant calls than laydowns).