Barstool Sports Book Report

Barstool Book Report: “One of a Kind”

Prior to July 2005, I had a very limited knowledge of the life of Stuey “The Kid” Ungar. I did know, of course, of his remarkable achievements at the World Series of Poker, and of his untimely death at age 45. But other than a piece on Sportscenter and a God-awful scene from the made-for-TV blockbuster “Stuey”, featuring Michael Imperioli (“Christopher” from The Sopranos) and Pat Morita (“Mr. Miagi”), my familiarity with the man Mike Sexton once called the “greatest player to ever grace the green felt” was insufficient to say the least. And that, I decided, needed to change.

How I could play so much f’n poker, yet not be able to talk fluently about the greatest whoever played? It was embarrassing, frankly. It would be like a hockey player not knowing about the exploits of Wayne Gretzky or a porn star neglecting to watch Jenna Jameson’s “True Hollywood Story”. So, when I saw Norman Dalla and Peter Alson’s “One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey ‘The Kid’ Ungar, the World’s Greatest Poker Player” on Amazon.com earlier this month, I immediately made the purchase.

Three things struck me after finishing the autobiography-turned-biography.

First, I finished the book. And considering my gnat-like attention span and propensity to doze off in mid-page, this was no small accomplishment in and of itself, and a testament to the storytelling of authors, Dalla and Alson.

Second, when discussing Ungar with my friends and co-workers, I instinctually began referring to him as “Stuey”. It was like he was an old buddy from high school, as if we used to cut class and go to Jai-Alai together “back in the day.” After reading “One of a Kind” I felt as if I “knew” Stuey Unger, and in some respects was actually able to relate to him, which is scary, but again, a credit to the authors.

And three, as I alluded to earlier, “One of a Kind” was originally intended to be Stuey’s autobiography (co-written with Dalla), but after his death in late 1998, well, things changed. Namely, the different point’s of view in which the story was told. The book has a unique balance of first and second hand accounts which, in my opinion, provides a much more compelling depiction than a “straight” biography would have.

Without spoiling or giving too much away, what I enjoyed most about the book were the gambling stories – and not just gin (his best game) and poker. What I never knew about Ungar was that he was a complete and utter degenerate gambler. I thought he was just an East New York card wiz who got hooked on blow. Uh-uh. This son of a bookmaker redefined the term “degenerate”. All the millions of dollars he won at the card table he’d promptly throw away either at the golf course, the track, or the sportsbook. (And later, to drug dealers.) If you’ve ever placed a few wagers in your life, you can’t help but empathize with the guy after hearing about some of the beats Stuey suffered in his gambling career. “One of a Kind” is filled with classic Stu Unger gambling stories that would make even the most hardened gambler shake his head in disbelief.

Case in point: In March of 1990, after blowing nearly all of his $1.8 million earnings from a Pick 6 win at Santa Anita just 6 months earlier, Stuey bet $70,000 of his remaining $70,300 bankroll that the Julio Caesar Chavez/Meldrick Taylor fight would go the full 12 rounds. Talk about a bad beat?! In one of the most controversial endings in boxing history (with Stuey in attendance no less) referee Richard Steele prematurely stopped the fight with 2 seconds left in the 12th round costing Taylor the title, Steele his reputation, and Stuey 70 grand. Busted except for $300, Ungar called it the “worst beat I ever took in gambling”.

Now, as much as the gambling stories provided both the entertainment value as well as the ability to relate to Stuey, as an amateur poker player what fascinated me most were the other-worldly plays, described in “One of a Kind” that Stuey made at the card table. I love this shit. And we’re not talking about $25 bluffs on Partypoker where you start doing the “Dirty Bird” around your apartment after the guy in the baseball cap folds. Most of the plays Stuey made were during the highest of high stakes’ games with his entire bankroll on the line.

One of the most famous poker reads of all time (as told in “One of a Kind” by Phil Hellmuth, who was there) was a call Stuey made to win the 1991 “4 Queen’s Poker Classic”. Stuey was heads-up in a $100,000 No-Limit Hold Em’ event against Mansoor Matloubi when the following occurred: After a flop of 3-3-7 rainbow, Stuey bet $6,000 of his remaining $60,000 chips, which Matloubi called holding 4-5 offsuit. The turn brought a King and both players checked, and on the river came a Queen making the board 3-3-7-K-Q. Matloubi, correctly sensing weakness, bluffed “all-in” for his last $32,000, a sizeable bet. Stuey, with $54,000 left, looked “right through” Mansoor and within 10 seconds said, “You have 4-5 or 5-6; I’m gonna call you with this.” He turned over a mere 10-9 for 10-HIGH, which beat Maltoubi’s 4-5 and won the tournament.

Who on earth would make that call with 10-high? The answer, in short, is nobody.

Hellmuth went onto say that “Stuey could only beat 4-5, 4-6, or 5-6 in the given scenario”, and that “Stuey’s hand can’t even beat a Jack-high bluff, never mind any pair.”

Afterwards a distraught Matloubi said, “When a guy makes a call like that against you, you just give up.”

But more than a story about a legendary gambler and the greatest poker (and gin) player of all time, “One of a Kind”, in the end, is a sad chronicle of a human being who ultimately could not control his addictions. To see such a brilliant mind self-destruct in the last years of his life is almost painful to read. According to Dalla, Stuey had irreparably hurt most of the people who loved him and by the end, “was nearly incapable of functioning in normal human ways.”

“One of a Kind” is also a lesson about being the best, and the pressures and sacrifices that come with the title. When it came to playing cards – sure, he was as good as there ever was, probably the best. But as far as the things that count most in life, Stuey failed miserably.

Who knows how Stu Ungar would’ve fared if he survived just a few more years to see poker in its post-Moneymaker era? Instead of spending week after week alone in a hotel room getting high and watching TV, I wonder what would Stuey could have done with a laptop and a high speed connection. I also would’ve been interested to see how he would’ve held up against WSOP fields over 10 times the size of when Ungar won his last bracelet in 1997. Stuey had trouble lasting 3 days, let alone 8. Unfortunately, we’ll never know the answers.

My only criticism of Dalla and Alson’s book was that I wanted more. When I finished “One of a Kind” it was like hearing “last call” at a bar 3 hours before you expected it. I wanted more stories about Stuey on the golf course, Stuey at the racetrack, Stuey at the craps table, and of course, much, much more about Stuey making plays at the poker table that nobody in the world could or would make. But the more I thought about Dalla and Alson’s subject and how his life turned out, maybe that was the point.