sweetwonk

Stu Ungar – possibly the best gin rummy player in the world and a World Series of Poker champion.
Stuart Errol Ungar (September 8, 1953 – November 22, 1998) was born and raised in Manhattan, New York in a Jewish family. Stu learned card games as a child while hanging around at his father’s club, Foxes Corner. His father, Isidore ("Ido") Ungar, was a bookmaker and loan shark and was opposed to young Stu playing cards, after seeing the effects of gambling on his regular customers. Somehow Stu managed to begin playing gin rummy underground. Stu won his first gin rummy tournament at the age of 10. Stu was making a name for himself in the game was when he was still in primary school.

When Stu was 14, his father died suddenly, and soon after his mother had a stroke and needed a lot of help at home. Stu had to drop out of school. He started playing gin rummy full-time to support his family. In his late teens, Stu became friends with organized crime figure Victor Romano. Victor was regarded as one of the best card players of his time. Victor shared an interest in calculating odds while gambling as Stu did. The two developed a close relationship, with Victor serving as a mentor and protector.

Stu began winning tournaments quite regularly, making $10,000 or more at a time. By 1976, still in his early 20s, Stu had already become one of the best-known rummy players in New York. Stu later moved to Miami searching for more rummy action. Unfortunately, his skill and reputation as the top rummy player made his opponents wary, so they started refusing games with him for fear of losing! Stu moved on to Las Vegas hoping to find more games. However, after having defeated the best gin rummy players of his generation, he had become well-known as an unbeatable player. Since the sight of him drove away potential players casinos asked him not to enter their establishments.

This drying up of opportunities for rummy forced Stu to take up poker. In Vegas, he defeated Billy Baxter, a professional gambler, for $40,000. Stu entered the World Series of Poker in 1980 and won-becoming the youngest player in history to do so. Stu defended his title successfully in the 1981 World Series of Poker. After his win in 1997, Stu would become one of only 2 players in the world to win the World Series of Poker 3 times.
Stu went through a divorce and struggled with cocaine addiction. By 1997, he was in debt and his health had declined due to drug abuse. His friend Billy Baxter helped arrange his $10,000 by-in to allow him to play in the 1997 World Series of Poker won the title once more, and the media dubbed him ‘The Comeback Kid’, due to the 16 years gap between his previous victory in 1981.

Stu died of heart problems a year later, in 1998, at age 45. Despite having won an estimated $30 million during his poker career, he died with no assets to his name.

reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stu_Ungar
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also read:
Fishman, Steve. (1999). The End of the Game. New York Magazine online. Retrieved 8/7/2021 from: https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/914/
quote from the article:
"Tiny Stuey Ungar of the Lower East Side was born to a bookie; grew up with gangsters; and, in Manhattan’s illicit gambling clubs, became “the Mozart of the card table.”