Stu Ungar is considered by most to the greatest No Limit Texas Holdem Poker player ever.

The three times World Poker Champion was born in New York in 1953 and began playing poker before reaching his teens.

The young gambler started out playing gin and at the age of 10 had won his first gin rummy tournament, while on holiday with his parents. By the age of 14 the little poker maestro had turned professional and dropped out of school.

In 1954 Stu Ungar entered the record books by winning $10,000 in a gin rummy tournament without losing a single hand, a record which still stands in New York today.

The fast talking wiz kid has been compared, in poker terms, to sporting greats such as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Stu Ungar had a real talent for playing poker but despite his successes in Texas holdem poker, he preferred playing gin.

Stu once said that there might some day be a better No Limit Texas Holdem player than him but he could not see how anyone could ever be a better gin player.

In 1980 Stu Ungar was put on the world map as one of the best Texas Holdem Poker players in the world when he was crowned World Poker Champion for the first time. Extraordinarily it was the first time he had entered the tournament.

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The following year he dismissed any suggestions that it had been a fluke, by successfully defending his crown. And in 1997 Stu set the record by winning his third World poker championship.

But this poker legend also struggled with drug abuse and a year after winning his third title Stu Ungar past away in his hotel room. According to doctors, he had died from a heart attack which was brought on by his lifestyle.

Stu Ungar had started with nothing but his skill and talent for the game which made this poker great a millionaire many times over.