Why'd they write a book about Stu Ungar?

[DFSPON]

I read the book. Unger was a nasty prick towards dealers. He had NO social skills whatsover. He dressed like a loser and couldnt do [censored] except play poker and gin. Whats amusing is he used to ridicule other people at the poker table for being losers when he was the real LOSER. A total degenerate who died a miserable lonely death drugged out on coke and heroin in a seedy motel. Yeah a real winner.

DFSPON

[MicroBob]

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this guy isn't worthy of no book

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So you're saying that he IS worthy of a book?


Retard - are you a gimmick account?
You want to talk about trying to do something in the world perhaps you could start by working on your spelling. It's really stunningly bad (this is assuming that English is your first language. It's kind of hard to tell).

[Dynasty]

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Why do you think that someone who was able to find an optimal strategy, that is used by so many successful players today, would be unable to adjust in a game today (of course assuming he was alive and not so coked up he could make it to day two of tournaments)?

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All the anecdotal evidence I've heard says he wasn't able to adjust his strategy to the live cash games of his time. His LAG style was a one-trick pony. So, why would he be able to adjust to anything today?

Also, it might be giving too much credit to say he found an optimal strategy. It seems his personality drove him to play a certain way and he was lucky to stumble into a poker variant (NLHE tournaments) which rewarded that style.

[nath]

man I hope "Retard2007" is a gimmick account, because that would make this thread awesome

[KSOT]

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You obviously missed the moral of the book which in a nutshell is "man's inhumanity to man". One may look deeper and make the supposition that Unger was just a pawn used by the ogliarchs to further the symbolic deconstrution of capitalism throughout western Europe.

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First two replies were classic and so was this.

Don't forget that Stu was also a Gin champion before he ever played hold 'em. He had a sick photographic memory and was able to tell opponents their entire holdings halfway through some matches. Obviously regardless of his poor lifestyle he was a truly gifted card playing machine.

[Crane]

Stu Ungar was a phenomenon. No one could beat him at gin, so when that dried up he turned to poker. He could win at will if he wanted to, but he had too much gamble in him--so he ended up going off a lot.

He could read people like a book.

Then the drugs hit. That ruined him, but he still showed some of his original genius now and then.

He was a math prodigy. Had a near photographic memory.

The book was a good read.

I only played with him one time. In a $1000 satellite for Slim's 84 Super Bowl of Poker. He busted out early in the Satellite. In the tournament he got real low in chips due to some bad luck, and during the break we were on the elevator together and he was literally crying. He was really emotional, because he wanted to win the tournament so badly.

He ended up beating Ralph Morton in the heads up battle for the 10K title.

When he was on you couldn't beat him. When he was off it was Christmas.

And so it goes.

[samsdmf]

He won donkaments with 5 man fields, great
But a good book anyway

[Army Eye]

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Stu was the first person who just played like a complete lag. He was a fish in the cash games but it worked in tournaments because no one could adapt against him. This is going on hearsay of course, but a ton of sources say the same thing. Years ago, people did not raise from middle position with nearly the wide range of hands you would do so today. Stu was the first one to really go after the antes and blinds as much as people do today. That's why he was successful. As a straight up NL holdem player he wasn't even near the best.

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I'm not buying that this was all there is to this success. The guy won main events in '80, '81, several other major tournaments throughout the 80s, like the Super Bowls of Poker he won) and then the main event again in '97? Poker players sure are slow to pick up on stuff!

[Lord_Strife]

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You are a moron. The guy is the best tournament poker player of all time. So what if he was a junkie? Kurt Cobaine died because he was a junkie, that doesn't make him a loser. They couldn't control their demons, but you are a moron. Go die in a grease fire.

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man that's like the third grease fire reference today... did I miss a headline story of some sort?

[buddypup]

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It's not that he was bad at ALL faucets, it's just that he was tapped out a lot, although his life definitely did go down the drain eventually. Oh well, water you gonna do.

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HILARIOUS!