He came, he saw, he conquered
In 1980, 27-year-old Stu first learned about a new game called Texas Hold'em when he tried it in the Super Bowl of Poker, where he finished 34th out of 41 players. Not discouraged by this setback, Stu decided to jump straight into the WSOP Main Event, which was only the second poker tournament of his life. Despite this, Stu held his own against a 73-player field and even beat the legendary Doyle Brunson in heads-up play to claim the most valuable poker title of all, along with a $365,000 prize. What's more, as a 27-year-old, he became the youngest-ever champion of this tournament, a feat only surpassed by Phil Hellmuth in 1989. Years later, Doyle Brunson still recalled the feat, saying it was the first time he had seen someone improve incredibly in a single tournament.
Stu Ungar: The Doubtful Genius Who Had No Competition in the Poker World (Part 1)
The following year, Stu was nearly eliminated from a tournament when he spat in the face of a dealer after losing a big pot from nerves. Stu was saved in the tournament by Jack Binion, who persuaded his father Benny that Stu was a great advertisement for the casino. Jack didn't know how right he was - Stu managed back-to-back wins again, adding another bracelet from the $10k 2-7 Draw tournament where he beat the legendary Bobby Baldwin in heads-up play. Well, that's when, also due to his young appearance, his nickname The Kid was coined (some players joked that he had to sit on a Coca-Cola crate to see the table).
This incredible back-to-back wins coupled with Stu's unique personality immediately created a media buzz, which Stu further confirmed in 1983 when he won his 4th bracelet. He managed to win it in a $5,000 Seven Card Stud event, where he defeated multiple WSOP champion Dewey Tomko. But rising fame and success brought with it a flip side to success....
Family relationships and the road to drugs
In 1979, Stu's mother died and he came into contact with cocaine for the first time. As well as chasing away his grief, cocaine helped him recharge his energy and keep him sane during long poker sessions. It didn't take long for the occasional use to become an addiction, which, moreover, worsened with Stu's rising fame.
In 1982, Stu married Madeline Wheeler, with whom they had a daughter, Stefanie, that same year (Stu also married Madeline's son from his first marriage, Richie, with whom they had a warm and affectionate relationship - Richie even took Stu's last name). The marriage, however, could not withstand Stu's demanding lifestyle, and by 1986 his wife had left him because, in her words, he was "unhealthily obsessed with finding any form of gambling". Stu's above-average IQ allowed him to easily count cards in blackjack, and it didn't take long for him to get banned from every casino in Vegas.
In 1982, Stu was fined by an Atlantic City casino, which claimed that Stu had additionally placed a bet during a game (he should have put extra chips behind the line when the game was already decided). Stu vehemently denied the allegation, and although the casino fined him $500, he did not pay it. In his own words, paying the fine would have meant admitting to cheating, which he did not. So he took the whole thing to court, which took several months. It is estimated that the court costs cost Stu more than $50,000, which he was willing to invest, so that eventually the court ruled that he did not have to pay the $500 fine. In his autobiography, Stu wrote that these court skirmishes and travels so drained him that he was unable to win back-to-back-to-back-to-back titles in the 1982 ME.
The inevitable fall into the abyss
Stu's life situation continued to deteriorate and friends were rightly worried about him. Stu himself indulged in several days of drug "trips", after which he spent a long time getting himself together. In 1989, his stepson Richie committed suicide shortly after graduating from high school, which affected Stu extremely. Stu already looked like a wreck, and many of his friends said they thought he would not live to see forty. Stu himself expressed that the only thing that kept him alive was that he was determined to see his daughter grow up.
Many progressive friends, whether Mike Sexton or Boyle Brunson, talked him out of drugs and suggested rehab. Mike offered to pay for his rehab at any facility in the world, but Stu always refused, saying that he knew many who had been to rehab and gotten drugs easier there than on the street. Doyle stepped in forcefully, taking Stu to his ranch, where for three weeks his wife Louise cooked him home-cooked meals, spent every day in prayer, and showered him with family love. Although Stu looked better day by day, he quickly slipped into his old ways after returning to Vegas....
In the next installment, we'll take a look together at the 1990 WSOP Main Event, in which Stu could have attacked back-to-back-to-back-to-back wins, but was thwarted by Stu's demons. But even that didn't stop him from challenging the champion for heads-up for $50,000, which ended with one of the most legendary hands in poker history!
Source - Wikipedia, One of a Kind book, PokerNews, VegasSlotsOnline, YouTube
