The Life Of Stu Ungar (Part 3)
Stu Ungar was a gambling prodigy: breaking records, defeating champions, and becoming the best at every card game he ever played. However, his private life was in shambles. His father died when he was a young boy, he grew up mean and tough on the streets, and in 1986, even his marriage to long-time love Madeline...
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The Life Of Stu Ungar (Part 2)
Stuey the Kid (also called Stu Ungar) was one of the best poker players in history. However, his interest in poker was actually prompted by his genius in gin rummy. He was so good that casinos banned him from playing, because nobody wanted to join a table where he was seated. This led him to start playing poker. He...
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The Life Of Stu Ungar (Part 1)
He was called “Stuey the Kid”, and was one of the best poker and gin rummy players in history. Unfortunately, his skill at the tables was matched only by a string of poor personal decisions that left him in debt. When he was found dead in 1998, at just 45 years old, he had lost all of the $33 million...
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Doyle Brunson: “It’s A State of Mind”
Of course you have all heard about Doyle Brunson, right? One or two of you guys out there probably even idolize this poker great – I sure do. Well, I ran across something he wrote just the other day at Poker Player. Coming from a man of his great experience, the thoughts expressed in the article were really...
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Phil Ivey – The Tiger Woods Of Poker
If Taylor Caby is the Harry Potter of Poker, then Phil Ivey is the Tiger Woods of this game. This young man earned this moniker because of the classy way he plays. At a very young age of 8, Phil Ivey learned the basics of poker from his grandfather who would deal him hands of penny-ante Five-Card Stud. Ivey’s...
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Kirill Gerasimov – Russia’s Top Poker Player
At a young age of 35, Kirill Gerasimov has reached a level of popularity that many aspiring poker players have dreamed of. This young poker player was born in Moscow and used to be an insurance salesman. Whether or not that day job had any bearings on his poker skills, it is clear that Gerasimov is one of the...
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Julian Gardner – The Wriggler
Poker has been around for as long as almost anyone can remember. As such, there are many poker players that have made the ranks of the “greats.” I wrote about some of them a month or so ago. Last post, though, I featured a young poker player who has made his name in the world of online poker. As poker continues...
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Taylor Caby (Green Plastic) – Online Poker Pro
So far the players I’ve featured were offline pros. Let’s take a look at a very young man who is well known in the online poker world as Green Plastic. So what do we know about Taylor Caby? He was born in 1983, studied Finance at the University of Illinois, and is known to be one of the best heads up players...
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Doyle Brunson – Texas Dolly
One of the members of the Texas Rounders, Doyle Brunson is a name legendary in the world of poker. Anyone who is really into the game will certainly know who he is. Also known as Texas Dolly, Doyle Brunson was born on August 10, 1933 in Longworth, Texas. It seemed at first that Doyle Brunson would live a “normal”...
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Amarillo Slim – The First Poker TV Star
Amarillo Slim wasn’t always known by this name. Born Thomas Austin Preston, Jr. in December 21, 1938 in Johnson, Arkansas, the first time he won the Main Event of the World Series of Poker was in 1972. Yet before he became famous for his tournament poker skills, Amarillo Slim was already quite well known in...
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Stu Ungar – Gambler, Addict, Loser, Legend
If you chance upon a cluster of people at a party chitchatting about great poker players, there would be no doubt that you would hear the name Stu Ungar come up at least once. There are a lot of people in the poker world who actually consider Stu Ungar the greatest poker player of all time – second to none....
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Scotty Nguyen – A Poker Legend
Born as Thuan Nguyen in October 28, 1962 in Nha Trang Vietnam, Scotty’s life is reminiscent of thousands of other young children in the 70s. This was the time when the communists had a firm foothold on Vietnam and refugees from this country were spread all over the world – from other Asian countries to the...
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Jamie Gold – Poker “Talent” Wins $12 million
Jamie Gold, former Hollywood talent agent, pulled an Oscar-worthy acting job and bluffed his way to winning the World Series of Poker in the 2006 event. He won $12 million. Gold was a sterling example of good psychological warfare. By convincing Paul Wasicka—a former restaurant manager—he had a weaker hand,...
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Johnny Chan – Living The American Poker Dream
Johnny Chan is one of the greatest poker players of all time. He has 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, and became world champion twice. And look at how much the man’s won—over four million dollars from career tournament earnings, not counting what he’s earned from cash game winnings. He’s always at the...
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Andy Bloch – A Poker Millionaire
When Andy Bloch first started playing poker in 1992, he was a law student looking for a way of relaxing between midterms. Then he started getting serious about it, joining small weekly tournaments about once a month (paying an entrance fee of $35, which he saw as an “investment”). As Bloch’s skills grew,...
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Poker Alice – The First Great Female Poker Player
Poker was a popular pastime in the days of the Wild West, and Hollywood pays homage to this sport in many films that either revolve around poker or feature it in one of its scenes. What Hollywood doesn’t tell you is that not all the poker players were men. Sure, it was a macho society where gambling was almost...
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