Book Review: One of a Kind, The Rise and Fall of Stuey Ungar
One of a Kind : The Rise and Fall of Stuey 'The Kid' Ungar, The World's Greatest Poker Player
$15 at amazon.ca
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book. Quite possibly my favourite book of all time.
I found all the stories of gambling with other legends of poker fascinating
(did you know Doyle used to be a bookie?). Â
I'm certain that someone who had no interest in poker would still enjoy this book.
If you dont know who Stu Ungar is, you should.Â
He won over 350 tournaments including 3 WSOP main event championships
and 3 Superbowl of Poker championships. He was unquestionably the best Gin player ever,
and likely the best poker player ever.
The book documents Stu Ungars life from growing up the son of a
New York bookmaker to becoming the most dominant gin and poker player
of his time to his drug addiction and his dieing broke in a cheap motel room.
(His drug addiction actually caused him to sleep through the last two days
of the 1990 WSOP. Even missing the last 2 days, he finished 9th !!!)
I think the best thing about the way this book is written is how the authors
seemlessly weave first-person stories with information gathered from people who knew Stu.Â
Stu actually tells you much of his own life story through the many quotes obtained by
the author during several interviews. Some of the stories made me laugh out loud.Â
Here's an example:
Stuey was playing a $100-$200 seven-card-stud game,
talking a mile a minute and winning just about every pot. All of a sudden he got up
and said "I need to take a piss". He turned around and saw Mike Sexton on the rail.
"Sexton, get in here and pick up a hand for me". Â
Sexton sits down and picks up 9-10 of diamonds, J of diamonds up card. By fifth street,
Sexton had a straight to the Queen. Other players were jamming the pot, it was raised
and reraised before it got to Sexton who made it 4 bets, cutting off at $800. As the dealer
gathered the chips, Stuey ran up to the table and became ecstatic at the sight of the huge pot.Â
"Alright !" he yelled. "Whatta we got, whatta we got?". He moved in behind Sexton, who
obligingly peeled back the tips of his down cards, revealing the straight.  Stuey managed
to keep a poker face as the sixth card and then the seventh and final card were dealt,
with more chips going into the pot each round. There was now a mammoth pile of
black tiger-striped chips in the center of the table. Two players had started out with
three of a kind and never improved. Sexton's straight held up. It took the dealer
three hearty shoves to get all the chips over to Sextons corner of the table.Â
Standing behind Sexton like a proud father, Stuey was only too happy to salt the wounds
of his pissed-off adversaries.
"You guys are so bad, i can beat you while I'm in the shit house," he cackled
I wasnt involved in poker when Stu unger was alive, so i hadnt seen any footage or
read any accounts of the man or his play. This book has plenty of examples that
make it clear how he played. " Go back and look at all the World Series tournaments
I played in. As soon as they reached the level where antes began, when the blinds
first went to one and two hundred, within an hour I had just about every single
twenty-five dollar chip on the table. I went after the antes so much, they had to
go into my stack to make change".
His aggression was only half of his game the other half was an INCREDIBLE ability to read people.Â
(In the movie, he bets $10k that he knows all 10 of his opponents cards in a gin game)
Quite possibly the best ever at it.  A perfect example was the $100,000 winner takes all
heads-up match to regain his lost pride..against Mansour Matloubi
(the guy who won the WSOP that Stu slept through).
Stuey opened for $1,600 in the small blind, and Mansour called with 4-5 off suit.Â
After a flop of 3-3-7 rainbow, Stuey bet $6,000 - he started the hand with $60,000
to Mansour's $40,000 - and Mansour called the $6,000 bet. On fourth street,
a K came off and both players checked. On the river a Q came off to make
a board of 3-3-7-K-Q, and Mansour smelling weakness in Stuey, bet his last
$32,000 or so. Stuey looked "right through" Mansour, and within ten seconds
he said, "You have 4-5 or 5-6. I'm gonna call you with this." Stuey then flipped up
10-9, and called the $32,000 bet with ten-high. Wow, what an unbelievable call!
Stuey can't even beat a jack-high bluff with his hand, never mind a pair.Â
After Stuey called Mansour looked up at the ceiling, " I feel so crushed,
its almost like a bulldozer just ran over me."
$15 at amazon.ca
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book. Quite possibly my favourite book of all time.
I found all the stories of gambling with other legends of poker fascinating
(did you know Doyle used to be a bookie?). Â
I'm certain that someone who had no interest in poker would still enjoy this book.
If you dont know who Stu Ungar is, you should.Â
He won over 350 tournaments including 3 WSOP main event championships
and 3 Superbowl of Poker championships. He was unquestionably the best Gin player ever,
and likely the best poker player ever.
The book documents Stu Ungars life from growing up the son of a
New York bookmaker to becoming the most dominant gin and poker player
of his time to his drug addiction and his dieing broke in a cheap motel room.
(His drug addiction actually caused him to sleep through the last two days
of the 1990 WSOP. Even missing the last 2 days, he finished 9th !!!)
I think the best thing about the way this book is written is how the authors
seemlessly weave first-person stories with information gathered from people who knew Stu.Â
Stu actually tells you much of his own life story through the many quotes obtained by
the author during several interviews. Some of the stories made me laugh out loud.Â
Here's an example:
Stuey was playing a $100-$200 seven-card-stud game,
talking a mile a minute and winning just about every pot. All of a sudden he got up
and said "I need to take a piss". He turned around and saw Mike Sexton on the rail.
"Sexton, get in here and pick up a hand for me". Â
Sexton sits down and picks up 9-10 of diamonds, J of diamonds up card. By fifth street,
Sexton had a straight to the Queen. Other players were jamming the pot, it was raised
and reraised before it got to Sexton who made it 4 bets, cutting off at $800. As the dealer
gathered the chips, Stuey ran up to the table and became ecstatic at the sight of the huge pot.Â
"Alright !" he yelled. "Whatta we got, whatta we got?". He moved in behind Sexton, who
obligingly peeled back the tips of his down cards, revealing the straight.  Stuey managed
to keep a poker face as the sixth card and then the seventh and final card were dealt,
with more chips going into the pot each round. There was now a mammoth pile of
black tiger-striped chips in the center of the table. Two players had started out with
three of a kind and never improved. Sexton's straight held up. It took the dealer
three hearty shoves to get all the chips over to Sextons corner of the table.Â
Standing behind Sexton like a proud father, Stuey was only too happy to salt the wounds
of his pissed-off adversaries.
"You guys are so bad, i can beat you while I'm in the shit house," he cackled
I wasnt involved in poker when Stu unger was alive, so i hadnt seen any footage or
read any accounts of the man or his play. This book has plenty of examples that
make it clear how he played. " Go back and look at all the World Series tournaments
I played in. As soon as they reached the level where antes began, when the blinds
first went to one and two hundred, within an hour I had just about every single
twenty-five dollar chip on the table. I went after the antes so much, they had to
go into my stack to make change".
His aggression was only half of his game the other half was an INCREDIBLE ability to read people.Â
(In the movie, he bets $10k that he knows all 10 of his opponents cards in a gin game)
Quite possibly the best ever at it.  A perfect example was the $100,000 winner takes all
heads-up match to regain his lost pride..against Mansour Matloubi
(the guy who won the WSOP that Stu slept through).
Stuey opened for $1,600 in the small blind, and Mansour called with 4-5 off suit.Â
After a flop of 3-3-7 rainbow, Stuey bet $6,000 - he started the hand with $60,000
to Mansour's $40,000 - and Mansour called the $6,000 bet. On fourth street,
a K came off and both players checked. On the river a Q came off to make
a board of 3-3-7-K-Q, and Mansour smelling weakness in Stuey, bet his last
$32,000 or so. Stuey looked "right through" Mansour, and within ten seconds
he said, "You have 4-5 or 5-6. I'm gonna call you with this." Stuey then flipped up
10-9, and called the $32,000 bet with ten-high. Wow, what an unbelievable call!
Stuey can't even beat a jack-high bluff with his hand, never mind a pair.Â
After Stuey called Mansour looked up at the ceiling, " I feel so crushed,
its almost like a bulldozer just ran over me."
Comments
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Thanks again.
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Correct me if i'm wrong, but Stu Ungar is the only person to have won the WSOP main event 3 times?
PS I did a search and Johnny Moss is another 3 time winner, but the first WSOp winner was by popular vote which Moss won.