Tanks Article!!!!!!!!!!!

[Karabiner]

Well he was certainly a great tournament player, and they say that he was the best ever at gin-rummy.

Perhaps he was just another great tournament player who consistently lost in cash games.

[thetank]

He was one of the greats because he was good at poker, full stop. Okay, so he did all of his money on drugs and so on, but that's not bad money management in terms of the game, and just isn't poker related.

It's not so much the drug problems, or the sports betting, but that when he had some money to his name, he would often times play over his head. Game selection is where he falls down in my eyes and why I would consider him for "most feared" player, but not "greatest."

How is game selction not poker related?

[thetank]

The very fact that every poker player knows who Stu Ungar was is testiment to his greatness.

There was an Austrian artist once who moved to Germany and got mixed up in politics. Everyone knows who he is, but that doesn't make him a great painter.

[Newmanseye]

It was a long weekend for me, and I finished reading The man behind the shades, Withing the first few pages of the book i was captivated and unable to put it down, To say i was riveted by the meteoric rise Stuey had from his humble beginnings in New York would be an understatement.

The authors captivated the greatness of a cardplayer that Stuey was, as well as his shortcomings as a father, and his weaknesses in his character, showing how neglecting and selfish he could be, without realising he was doing anything wrong until it was too late.

The book estimates that Stuey won more that $30 million in his poker career, I'd say that impressive for a Gin Rummy player, its just a shame he had nothing to show for it when he passed away, Its also seems inconceivable to me as a father how another father could allow his child to be without the essentials in life when I was earning so much, Yet in Stueys life he had never learned the basics that we as individuals take for granted a common sense, an example would be delayed gratification or the value of money. These concepts were alien to Stuey hence we can see from where his downfall is born.

This brings me back to Tanks article, after completion of the book I got to thinking about this thread, I have to disagree with Tank on the front that Stuey was without a doubt one of the great poker players, as the book suggests, when he was playing poker he could control and maintain a bankroll that is without question, Stueys problems would begin when he was bored, stressed, depressed or generally unhappy. Sure he had a problem with his sports betting, but he just craved the challenge as he found very little challenge in the cardrooms.

What saddened me most about Stuey's story was the way he spent his final months, He was a troubled man who squandered his Gift, his fortune, his friends and most of all his family. Stuey was reduced to begging in order to buys school clothes for his daughter, And when he asked friends for help they turned him down as they had been burned so many times when stuey used good faith money to purchase drugs, I believe his friends like Chip Reece, Doyle Brunson and Billy Baxter found Stueys self destructive addiction hard to watch, as they had all at some point tried in vain to intervene and help straighten Stuey out.

As it turned out Stuey got one last handout, His friends took up a collection at his funeral, in order to pay for the funeral.

I cant understand as a father of children how Stuey could self destruct in such a horrific way, yet as a poker lover and player, I cant deny the guy was one of the all time greats at the game, who else do you know that could call a guy with 10 high and know he was ahead ( unless you are playing flushy, 10 high is usually good enough).

In short, in my humble opinion Stuart E Ungar was one of the all time greats of poker, he was just terribly bad at living life with the important things in perspective.

Well thats my opinion on this subject anyway.

Cheers


Billy