A Stu Ungar Story

I believe Stu Ungar was the greatest no-limit hold'em player of all time. His record (10 titles in major championship events) speaks for itself. He was relentless and had the ability to put an opponent on a hand like no one I've ever seen. To attest to his greatness, here are some things that actually happened in the 1990 Fours Queens Classic $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em championship event.

Todd Brunson (Doyle's son and a poker sensation himself) was playing in his first big buy-in no-limit hold'em championship event, and as luck would have it, he drew Stu Ungar's table. To make things worse, he had the unfortunate distinction of drawing the big blind when Stuey had the button.

I was sitting two tables away from theirs, right next to Doyle Brunson. About two hours into the tournament, Todd came running over to our table, saying, "I can't believe Stuey. He's unbelievable! He has raised my big blind every time it's been his button since the tournament started. I threw my hand away every time. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore, and when he raised, I came over the top with a reraise. What do you think he did? He moved all in on me and I had to throw my hand away!"

Stuey happened to be staking me in this tournament. I was still in with about $4,700 in chips when half the field was gone ($10,000 in chips was about average at this time). We were playing $300-$600 blinds with a $50 ante when Don Williams moved all in from early position for $4,500. I looked down and found two queens. I decided to go all in, as well. The chip leader at the table (with about $25,000) was on the button, and he went all in with us.

Doyle, who knew Stuey was staking me, hollered out, "Stuey, your man's all in!" Ungar jumped out of his chair and came racing over to our table. He started rubbing his hands together and saying, "What have we got? What have we got?"

Needless to say, my heart was pounding like crazy as my tournament life was on the line. Both of my opponents turned over a pair of tens and I turned over my two queens. Joy to the world – it was like a dream come true. I couldn't get my money all in any better than this, and it looked certain that I was going to triple up. Stuey put his hands on my shoulders and bellowed out, "All riiiiight!"

The flop came down J-9-2 rainbow. A 7 came on the turn and an 8 on the river. Disaster. They made a jack-high straight and chopped the pot. Doyle blurted out, "Wow. I've been playing poker for 40 years and I've never seen that." I felt like a sledgehammer had hit me in the head. With that horrendous beat, I was eliminated from the tournament.

Stuey just stared at the board. He didn't say anything – not "Tough luck," "That's too bad," "What a sickening beat," nothing. He walked briskly back to his table and just continued playing. Hours later, when the final table was assembled, he was the chip leader.

Ungar did something in that final that was amazing. He broke every player at the table (in perhaps the fastest final table ever), defeating Huck Seed heads up to win. Ironically, when Ungar captured his third world championship in 1997, Huck Seed was the defending champion. This Four Queens victory was another incredible performance by the legendary Stu Ungar.

Who knows, had I won that three-way pot with the two queens, Stuey might not have added this championship to his record.

Take care.

Mike Sexton is the host of PartyPoker.com, a commentator on the World Poker Tour (which can be seen every Wednesday on the Travel Channel), and the author of Shuffle Up and Deal (which made The New York Times best-seller list and can be purchased at www.CardPlayer.com).