Stu Ungar

#1 7th June 2009, 10:02 PM

So because of the years he was playing in (no pocket cams), no one knew how he played, what hands he was holding or what his strategy was and why it worked so well? No one knows why Stu could dominate NL hold em the way he did? I heard he was good with numbers, did he play completely mathematical or what do you think.

#2 7th June 2009, 10:07 PM

Read the book "One of a Kind" and you'll know why. He did talk strategy a lot, with his old buddy Mike Sexton.

#3 7th June 2009, 10:24 PM

What do you want?

#4 7th June 2009, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brandonnj

How do you play so well sir?

Well....

#5 7th June 2009, 10:38 PM

Here is an interesting analysis of a hand he played in 1990 against the 1990 WSOP winner Mansour Maloubi.

Stu did not win himself that year due to an unfortunate cocaine-related overdose. He was, however, so far ahead that they continued to post his blinds, he made the final table and came in 9th.

http://www.pokerverdict.com/WSOP/Classic-Poker-Hands/4535/stuey_ungar_v_mansour_matloubi.html

This hand is from a heads up match he played against Mansour Maloub after he had recovered.

#6 7th June 2009, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stu_Ungar

Here is an interesting analysis of a hand he played in 1990 against the 1990 WSOP winner Mansour Maloubi.

Stu did not win himself that year due to an unfortunate cocaine-related overdose. He was, however, so far ahead that they continued to post his blinds, he made the final table and came in 9th.

http://www.pokerverdict.com/WSOP/Classic-Poker-Hands/4535/stuey_ungar_v_mansour_matloubi.html

This hand is from a heads up match he played against Mansour Maloub after he had recovered.

Thats probably the best hand ive ever read in my life, the way its explained is just so crazy and imaginative, but at the same time it seems so simple after you read it.. Yet I dont know if id ever read a hand like that.

#7 7th June 2009, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Read the book "One of a Kind" and you'll know why. He did talk strategy a lot, with his old buddy Mike Sexton.

This best descibes it all.
Stu Unger was even a better gin rummy player than he was at nlhe.
He is considered the best gin player to ever live.

Quote:

Here is an interesting analysis of a hand he played in 1990 against the 1990 WSOP winner Mansour Maloubi.

Stu did not win himself that year due to an unfortunate cocaine-related overdose. He was, however, so far ahead that they continued to post his blinds, he made the final table and came in 9th.

http://www.pokerverdict.com/WSOP/Classic-Poker-Hands/4535/stuey_ungar_v_mansour_matloubi.html

This hand is from a heads up match he played against Mansour Maloub after he had recovered.

Great article thanks for posting it stu.

#8 8th June 2009, 4:22 AM

WOW! Just WOW! I can't imagine myself making that play. Just unimaginable. Truefly a master play on that hand. SUCH A SHAME he had drug problems.

#9 8th June 2009, 4:51 AM

I read that and almost died. Incredible analysis by Phillip Tuck. Just shows we can all be as smart as Stu, only once we've seen it in retrospect of course :P

Great post!

#10 8th June 2009, 6:21 AM

Stu Ungar knew what you had; and he made you believe what you thought he had. When it came to playing the person and not the cards, he was an absolute master at it. That article is only one example out of hundreds, of him reading the person perfectly.

#11 8th June 2009, 12:38 PM

Seeing as everyone enjoyed the analysis of that hand, here is his winning hand from the 1980 WSOP against Doyle Brunson.

http://www.pokerverdict.com/WSOP/Cla...e_brunson.html

I think this hand really sums up Stu Ungar.

Had he won only the 1980 WSOP and then not been heard of since, this hand would have been considered just a lucky hand where he peels a gunshot on the turn.

However, as he won 3 WSOP titles, we have to look a little deeper and ask, why did he make this play and what was his thinking.. rather than OMG how lucky is this guy.

It sums Stu Ungar up because he was both a genius and a compulsive gambler. If he saw an edge, however unlikely, he would take it. The edge is the implied odds he is getting on this gunshot. He believes that Doyle has hit his Ace hard and that if he leads out big on the turn (asuming this gunshot hits) then Doyle will stack off. Also the call is expensive, but not so expensive that he is left crippled if the GS dosen't hit.

#12 8th June 2009, 12:50 PM

Yeah, great call...

-

#13 8th June 2009, 4:35 PM

Erm... the analysis of the Matloubi hand makes no sense. Unger bets $6000 into a $3200 pot on a 3-3-7 board, Matloubi calls, and the analysis is:

"There is only one (other) group of hands that warrants a flat call on the flop - the gutshot straight draw"

In what universe does a five or six-high naked gutshot "warrant" calling that overbet?!?

#14 8th June 2009, 5:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OzExorcist

Erm... the analysis of the Matloubi hand makes no sense. Unger bets $6000 into a $3200 pot on a 3-3-7 board, Matloubi calls, and the analysis is:

"There is only one (other) group of hands that warrants a flat call on the flop - the gutshot straight draw"

In what universe does a five or six-high naked gutshot "warrant" calling that overbet?!?

Well there has to be an explanation for it as Ungar correctly stated that Matoubi's hand was either 45 or 56 and then called an all in with ten high.

#15 8th June 2009, 5:08 PM

No doubt there is an explanation - I'm just saying that one was wishful thinking at best.

#16 9th June 2009, 1:20 AM

Stu Unger is my idol. Ive watched all the vids I can find on him and read up on him a lot. I have no doubt he would be on the top of the food chain if he were alive today. But tragedy happens, real loss for the poker world. And those hands you posted, amazing how he can make those dicisions in the moment, would take a mortal like us at least some time to try and analyze the play. calling all in with 10 high.. just crazy.

#17 9th June 2009, 4:24 PM

I feel like this is not nearly as impressive... I think a lot of people make plays like that and understand implied odds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stu_Ungar

Seeing as everyone enjoyed the analysis of that hand, here is his winning hand from the 1980 WSOP against Doyle Brunson.

http://www.pokerverdict.com/WSOP/Cla...e_brunson.html

I think this hand really sums up Stu Ungar.

Had he won only the 1980 WSOP and then not been heard of since, this hand would have been considered just a lucky hand where he peels a gunshot on the turn.

However, as he won 3 WSOP titles, we have to look a little deeper and ask, why did he make this play and what was his thinking.. rather than OMG how lucky is this guy.

It sums Stu Ungar up because he was both a genius and a compulsive gambler. If he saw an edge, however unlikely, he would take it. The edge is the implied odds he is getting on this gunshot. He believes that Doyle has hit his Ace hard and that if he leads out big on the turn (asuming this gunshot hits) then Doyle will stack off. Also the call is expensive, but not so expensive that he is left crippled if the GS dosen't hit.

#18 9th June 2009, 7:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamesdadeliverer

I feel like this is not nearly as impressive... I think a lot of people make plays like that and understand implied odds.

A lot of people understand these kinds of principles these days due to the amount of literature which is published.

28 years ago there was very little to go on. You either had to be taught this stuff by a pro or figure it out for yourself.

The combustion engine isn't all that amazing these days, the average teenager has an idea of how it works. This does not mean that the average teenager would be capable of inventing it had history taken a different course.

#19 9th June 2009, 7:51 PM

He could read people better than anyone else in the game. He could not only read your mind & what you were holding but he could read through your soul. He was the greatest IMO

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