Was Stu Ungar really a great poker player?

Smoothcall · #1 07-03-2005, 11:46 PM

I was reading a old cardplayer where Mike Sexton was discusisng how great Stu Ungar was. That he was the best ever. And we have heard this from many people. My question is how much is truth, and how much is urban legend?

I mean i don't know his whole life as a card player but this is what i do know. He won the main event in 80 and 81 i think. then there's a huge gap where he didn't make the final table unitl he won in 97. One year in the early to mid 90's he just missed the final tv table coming in 8th i think. I think it was the year Matloubi won.

Ok so what does this mean? Well i don't know exactly but it makes me wonder if he was as great as he was built up to be. I mean what happend through all those years in between? And what about otehr wsop event thorugh all those years? Did he play them? Did he play the main event every year through the 80's and 90's? How come he doesn't have aton more bracelets for other events? How many does he actually have?

Now lets discuss his live game? This i don't know too much about other than hearing through the years that he was a fish in big live games. Now i don't know how true this was or if it was only if he played when he was intoxicated in some fashion. But If he is the greates poker player of all time like he is percieved to be. He should have crushed the big games. And why was he broke all the time? I know he had a drug and gambling problem. But if he was the greatest poker play of all time you think he would still have a few bucks in his pocket from beating every poker game he played.

I wonder how Barry Greenstein would rate him? Would he be considered one of the tournament players that gets famous but was drawing dead in his game? Or would he say Stuey was the best or one of the best? Maybe he has commented and someone will give me that answer. What about Doyle and chip? I wonder if they laughed through the years hearing about stuey getting all the fame but they collected all his money in the big games. While they hear talk about how he was the greatest and everybody else was in a different league. Was Stu Ungar the greatest of all time? Or was he the Gus Hansen of the 80's and 90's?

ClaytonN · #2 07-03-2005, 11:48 PM

Dude, you have easily been a member here for more than a year and a half. Search the archives, this topic has been covered infinitum.

Smoothcall · #3 07-03-2005, 11:54 PM

Well i did not see it. So i'm making a post that i would like to discuss. Is that ok dude?

Blackdirt12 · #4 07-03-2005, 11:57 PM

The man is on record to have won ten of the thirty major tournaments he entered over his lifetime.

Mikey · #5 07-03-2005, 11:57 PM

he made the final table of the ME in 1990.

Matt R. · #6 07-04-2005, 12:04 AM

My understanding is that he was a phenomenal NL tournament player, and not nearly as good at cash games. Since cash games are where most of the best players' profit comes from, I don't think you can consider him the best poker player ever. But I doubt there can be too much argument against him being the best ever at tournaments.

Paul Phillips · #7 07-04-2005, 12:08 AM

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The man is on record to have won ten of the thirty major tournaments he entered over his lifetime.

[/ QUOTE ]

That would be "on record" as in "totally unverifiable claim that is wildly more likely to be false than true, but has been repeated so many times that it has become gospel in the minds of many."

Or, conversely, you have someone in mind who knows for certain exactly which tournaments he entered and didn't cash.

People are such suckers.

BabyJesus · #8 07-04-2005, 12:14 AM

They have a movie out about him, It's called Highroller (the stu ungar story). It will probably answer some of your questions. There are some insane stories about him. ie. playing a guy heads up freeze out for like....many thousand dollars, i'm drawing a blank. Long story short he puts his opponent on 45 or 46 an calls his all in on the river with ten high. Don't know of any other player that can make that call.

Paul Phillips · #9 07-04-2005, 12:48 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Long story short he puts his opponent on 45 or 46 an calls his all in on the river with ten high. Don't know of any other player that can make that call.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a great story, I love that story too.

But have you ever stopped to wonder how many times he called with ten high and lost?

Dynasty · #10 07-04-2005, 12:50 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Long story short he puts his opponent on 45 or 46 an calls his all in on the river with ten high. Don't know of any other player that can make that call.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a great story, I love that story too.

But have you ever stopped to wonder how many times he called with ten high and lost?

[/ QUOTE ]

How many times do you need to call and be right for it to be profitable?