Why'd they write a book about Stu Ungar?

[Victor]

" His mind was so supercharged he became bored far more easily than most anyone. He needed action all the time. This is probably why he wasn't nearly as good at limit as he was at no limit. "

limit has far more decisions per hand. ungar should have been awesome and sh and esp hu lhe.

[bigdaddydrew]

I have decided that the gimmick is an A+.

Greatest gimmick poster since the well-spoken black man.

[Johnny Hughes]

Nolan Dalla and Peter Alston are two of poker's top writers. It is a great book. This is pretty much what I posted the last time this came up.

In my humble view, Stu Ungar would not make a list of the top fifty poker players. A poker player has to have a little bit of management about them. He was broke all the time. He died coked up and broke a few months after winning the World Series. Pathetic form of loser's suicide.

I was there the year he won the big one and it was very uplifting. The Comeback Kid. Great press. Stuey kept a small picture of his daughter behind his chips to remind him the money was real. I started doing that. To determine who is great over time, you must look at players that stay in money. Some people are playing poker for the glory, rebuying way too many times and entering every possible tournament.

I can think of four World Champs whose early demise could partially be attributed to alcohol and/or drugs.

I think you have to be a great gambler not just a great poker player to make anyone's top anything list. What are your personal leaks? One of the top players can be found very early in the morning shooting craps. He lowers his eyes in shame when old gamblers amble by. Many bet sports. When all the big players were betting golf higher than a hawk's nest, Stuey asked Treetop Strauss, also a World Champ, to teach him to play. Treetop beat him out of $58,000 on the putting green. The first time I met Treetop, I challenged him to play me head up which is a normal greeting in the Lone Star State. He drew out. When I see him not long after in Las Vegas, he is broke from his sports betting leak. I admire the colorful characters with leaks and I am one, however I see this wonderful web site as a way to speak to the newer, younger, serious players.

Many of the people reading about poker are trying to make the decision whether or not they can make it as poker players. Some have a serious plan to learn and grow and move up in limits. All of this discussion is about what to do at the table. You have to really manage yourself.

I love Vegas but I wouldn't want to die there.

Poker is the best and hardest job. It is the hardest easy money you will ever make. Stuey is sitting there with this picture of his daughter on the table. It was a very human thing that captured the imagination of the press and the crowd as the "Comeback Kid" dusted out one player after another until he was sitting behind a pile of chips once more. Where did all that money go?
Up his already damaged nose.

What are your leaks? You need to walk through a casino thinking that you are one of the few people who will be taking the best of it. There's only one place you might, just might, get the best of it...the poker table. You cannot get the best of it at any casino game. You cannot get the best of it drunk. You cannot get the best of it at the sports book. You cannot get the best of it high.

What are your leaks? Either you can make it as a poker player or you cannot. It's all about leaks.

Stuey died in a scary sleazy rundown hotel in Las Vegas, alone, sad, and with a skinny bankroll. He was an all time top gin and poker player but he could not handle cocaine.

What are your leaks?

Your bankroll and poker skills are the tools of your trade. Money is ammunition. It is all one long poker game. If you are put "out of action", that is a sign that you are not really to be included in any list of the greats. A carpenter has his tools, hammer, saw, and most important a level to see that everything is in balance and squares up. To destroy your bankroll over and over is like a carpenter destroying his tools or allowing them to rust. To have the cocaine problem and leaks of Stu Ungar is like a carpenter building something without a level.

Poker is different than any other sport and is in some ways like rodeo in that you must post an entry fee. Broke folks can't play.

Poker is really not what Stu Ungar is known for or going to be known for when the movie comes out. It is his ups and downs and tragic needless death that compels our attention.

When someone as talented and likable as Stu Ungar
dies young, it has to be a warning for all the young people suddenly getting their hands on a whole lot of money.

Stu Ungar was a card playing genius.

I stand corrected. He died of prolonged drug use. He was a great tournament player and a terrible gambler.

In light of this discussion, I re-watched the l997 World Series video. Phil Hellmuth heaped great praise on Stu and said the final table was a battle for second. Stu had it locked up.

I am not putting Stu down or judging him. To me, these forums are a way to talk to the young players. In the post game interview, Gabe Kaplan is asking about Stu's bad habits. Addiction is an illness. He had demons he just could not overcome. When you are in gambling, this is the human weakness business. There are temptations everywhere and self-control is the central issue.

I've lost dear friends to the wild life style and am damn lucky to be alive myself. Some of you are wondering why someone has not shot me by now.

When I was just starting out, I played lucky to have the kind advice and teaching of older gamblers. In the Lone Star State, this advice always took the form of ribbing. The humorous put down. When these brilliant young twenty somethings suddenly come into millions, every hustler on Fremont Street is after them with props galore. Stu Ungar's story is a cautionary tale. He was lovable, warm hearted, and he obviously loved his daughter whose picture was behind his chips. He was a good man but cocaine...the most addictive substance known to man...got him. It beat him. What about you? I wrote this not for Stuey but for you. Do you have the self discipline for this lifestyle?

Johnny Hughes

[RichGangi]

Great post Johnny. TY.

[ReidDeCardes]

Johnny, great post. You wrote about more than poker, you wrote about life. Your post was an arrow from a Zen archerer.

I come from a family that has had its share of addicts, heroin and alcohol for the men, codependency for the women. I grew up with this and your writing hit me like a brick.

Thank you.

[Mongoosey]

I enjoyed the read Johnny, ty.

[plzbenice]

his record on the www.thehendonmob.com is insanely good though.

[bustedromo]

I usually enjoy a Johnny Hughes post, but this one, at least as it applies to Stuey, is really kinda silly.

First off, the '97 WSOP didn't go up Stuey's nose. He had blown most of it at the sports book within 48 hrs. But that's a minor detail.

Key point: Stuey was done for long before the '97 Series. In one sense, it's almost irrelevant to his greatness that he won, because by that time he had clearly lost control of his life, lost the desire to live. But it's an indication of his brilliance that he could pull out a win.

I disagree that one's greatness should be judged over the course of their entire life. For some, the light shines brightly for many decades; for others, the thrill of living is only around for a short time.

Stuey was at the top of his powers, a phenomenal success, and in control of his life at a very young age. The light shown brightly inside, but then it burned out early.

Cocaine didn't bring him down. Cocaine was just a symptom of a hollow core, a man who didn't want to be here any more. Even his genuine love for his daughter couldn't bring him out of it and he deliberately hardly ever saw her.

Why ? Who knows ? Maybe his heart wasn't really that of a gambler. Maybe the early strong association with organized crime twisted him in a way he wasn't meant to go. Maybe his early family life was all wrong. Seriously. Who knows. This is the stuff shrinks spend years or decades trying to sort out for people.

Ungar is not a hero of mine, and neither is Cobain, but I believe that geniuses experience life differently than you or I. I try not to judge them for I do not know their demons.

[TPR]

[ QUOTE ]
I just read his book "one of a kind".... after reading it the only way i could describe this guy was LOSER. this guy isn't worthy of no book in his honor. the guy was a loser in all faucets of life. no life control, no BR managment, ect. here's why they wrote the book. HE WAS BROKE AGAIN IN 98 WHEN THEY WERE WRITING IT AND NEEDED MONEY!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

I read the book, and it was a fabulous read. The authors did a tremendous job of describing how a superbly talented No-Limit tournament champion could be such a dispicable human being. His love of gambling and drugs, simply devastated his life. I believe that the suicide of his step-son, took such a toll on him, due to his inward belief that he was somehow responsible, was the crowning incident that drove him to self-destruction. His life and death should be a lesson to all of us. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[player]

[ QUOTE ]
I just read his book "one of a kind".... after reading it the only way i could describe this guy was LOSER. this guy isn't worthy of no book in his honor. the guy was a loser in all faucets of life. no life control, no BR managment, ect. here's why they wrote the book. HE WAS BROKE AGAIN IN 98 WHEN THEY WERE WRITING IT AND NEEDED MONEY!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

You are a retard!