Stu Ungar’s 1997 WSOP Comeback: The Kid’s Third Title

In May 1997, Stu Ungar won the World Series of Poker Main Event for the third time, beating a record field of 312 players for the $1 million first prize at Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas. According to the Las Vegas Sun, the win made him “The Comeback Kid,” because the years between his titles had not been kind to him. Eighteen months later he was found dead in a Las Vegas motel at age 45.

The story of Ungar’s 1997 victory is one of the most retold in poker, and it is as much about what happened away from the table as at it. This article uses contemporary newspaper reports, WSOP.com records and Card Player coverage, flags details on which accounts differ, and treats his addiction and death as documented facts, not entertainment.

Stu Ungar Before 1997: Two Titles and a Long Fall

Ungar was born in Manhattan on September 8, 1953, according to WSOP.com, and grew up on the Lower East Side, where his father ran a social club that doubled as a gambling establishment. WSOP.com says he made his name in underground gin rummy games before moving on to poker.

His first Main Event, in 1980, ended in a title. WSOP.com says that he had never played hold’em before the tournament, that Doyle Brunson remarked he had never seen a player improve so quickly during an event, and that Ungar beat Brunson heads-up. He repeated as champion in 1981, becoming one of only four players to win the Main Event back to back, according to WSOP.com. The Las Vegas Sun says he was nicknamed “The Kid” because he was in his mid-20s.

The years after 1981 were hard. The Sun’s 1997 report says that he won often, but that a million dollars “does not go far” at the stakes he gambled, and it says he purportedly lost $1 million in a single craps session. It also reports that he often played while ill with stomach ailments and colitis, once with an abscessed tooth and a 102-degree fever. A 1998 Las Vegas Sun report adds that he had battled a cocaine addiction for many years and had talked about it openly in a national magazine.

Entering the 1997 Main Event

He nearly missed the tournament. The poker site MacPokerOnline says Ungar entered the 1997 Main Event after borrowing money from his friend Billy Baxter, and that he was worn out from staying awake more than 24 hours trying to find enough money to play. His first day was difficult, it says, but he came back on the following days with a huge chip lead. The Las Vegas Sun adds that about half of the eventual $1 million prize was earmarked to repay his backers.

He had a field of 312 to get through. The $10,000 buy-in event drew a record 312 entrants, according to the Sun, and WSOP.com’s results page lists him first of 312. Card Player reports that at one point on day two he sat at a table with four other world champions: Doyle Brunson, Bobby Baldwin, Berry Johnston and Phil Hellmuth. Brunson, whose own career is told in Doyle Brunson’s career profile, finished 16th for $25,440, according to WSOP.com.

Ungar was the chip leader going into the last day. The Sun reports that he was second in chips after day two and held a huge lead of $1,066,000 going into Thursday’s final round. Because he registered late, Ungar said, he started in the satellite room, away from the cameras, and the early days did not feel like the World Series to him.

The Final Table on Fremont Street

The final table was played outdoors. Card Player reports that the final six played down to a champion outdoors on Fremont Street, the first and only time in Main Event history, to accommodate a crowd that had come to see whether Ungar could become only the second three-time champion. ESPN taped the final for broadcast in August, according to the Sun. The table below shows how the final six finished, as listed on WSOP.com.

The Sun identifies runner-up John Strzemp as the president of the Treasure Island hotel-casino, and says fifth-place Bob Walker and sixth-place Peter Bao, a UNLV student, were cashing in the World Series for the first time.

The Bluff Against Ron Stanley

Ungar bluffed fourth-place finisher Ron Stanley. Card Player describes a hand on a board of A-9-6-8, where Stanley bet 25,000 and Ungar raised to 60,000, and Stanley called. The river was a king, Ungar bet 225,000 holding Q-10, and Stanley folded 9-7, a hand that would have won. Card Player calls it a stone-cold bluff, and says it started a slide for Stanley, who went out in fourth place.

The Final Hand

Ungar won the title with A-4 against A-8. According to Card Player, with the blinds at 10,000-20,000 and a 2,000 ante, Ungar raised to 60,000 from the button with A-4 and Strzemp called with A-8. The flop came A-5-3, Strzemp bet 120,000, and Ungar thought for a long time before moving all in, according to Phil Hellmuth in Card Player. The 3 on the turn left Ungar needing a deuce. The river was a 2, completing a straight (a five-high straight, or wheel), and Ungar was champion.

Accounts differ on the chip counts. Hellmuth says Ungar had more than 2 million and Strzemp fewer than 1 million, Mike Sexton recalls roughly $2 million to $800,000, and Card Player’s recap says 2.5 million to 600,000. All agree that Ungar held a big lead, and Card Player’s recap says the heads-up match lasted just six hands.

Ungar called his own performance perfect. After the win he said, “I just played so perfect — so perfect.” Gabe Kaplan, who was commentating for ESPN, told the Sun: “He went through some rough times the last 15 years but now is playing better than ever.”

What Happened After the Win

Ungar never played the WSOP again. Card Player says he ducked out just minutes before the 1998 Main Event began. The Independent reported that he was so ill that he never left his hotel room at Binion’s that May, and that he had gone through his million in two months.

He died on November 22, 1998, at age 45. The New York Times reported that he was found dead in a motel on the Las Vegas Strip, with about $800 in his pocket and no physical trauma. The Las Vegas Sun says he was found at the Oasis Motel, and that police found no evidence of foul play. Two days earlier, the Sun reports, his friend Bob Stupak said he and Ungar had signed a contract under which Stupak would assume his debts, manage him and provide his tournament stake money.

The coroner ruled the death accidental. The Clark County Coroner said the cause was accidental death by coronary atherosclerosis, according to the Las Vegas Sun. Cocaine, methadone and Percodan were found in his system, but the coroner said no one drug alone was enough to cause his death, and he declined to release the amounts. Ungar was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2001, according to WSOP.com.

Why the 1997 Comeback Still Matters

It tied the record for Main Event wins. The Sun says his third title equaled the three won by Johnny Moss, who won the no-limit title in 1970, 1971 and 1974. WSOP.com credits Ungar with five bracelets, and Card Player’s recap calls the 1997 Main Event “the ultimate story in poker redemption.”

It was a landmark of poker’s pre-boom era. The 1997 field of 312 was a record at the time, according to the Sun. Six years later, in 2003, Chris Moneymaker’s win produced the hand that sparked the poker boom.

The Other Side of the Comeback

A redemption story has a darker second half. His death followed the win by about 18 months. The Sun reported that among other gamblers his death was not unexpected, and its reports describe years of addiction, not a single bad stretch.

Big wins are the exception, not the rule. The Sun says Ungar won and lost as much as $10 million over his career, and that half the 1997 prize went to his backers. Even one of the best players in the game’s history ended his life with $800 in his pocket, and a career like his is not a typical outcome of playing poker. Addiction, whether to drugs or gambling, is a serious problem, and legal age and the legality of real-money poker vary by state and venue.

Myths About Stu Ungar’s 1997 Win

Myth: he was the only three-time champion. The Las Vegas Sun reported that his third title equaled Johnny Moss’s three, so Ungar was the second player to win three, not the only one.

Myth: the final hand was pure luck. Strzemp’s A-8 was ahead before the river, and Ungar needed a deuce after the turn, according to Card Player. Mike Sexton argued in Card Player that Ungar played the hand precisely and should not be considered lucky, while others describe the river as a lucky card.

Myth: drugs alone killed him. The coroner said no single drug was enough to cause his death, and gave the cause as coronary atherosclerosis, though he added that the attack was brought on by his lifestyle, according to the Sun.

Sources & References

• WSOP.com — Stu Ungar player profile
• WSOP.com — 1997 World Series of Poker Event #22 results
• Las Vegas Sun — Ungar wins World Series of Poker finale for 3rd time
• Card Player — WSOP History: 1997 Recap
• Card Player — Stu Ungar’s Final Hand in the 1997 World Series of Poker
• Card Player — Final Hand of the ’97 World Series of Poker
• MacPokerOnline — 1997 WSOP Main Event
• The New York Times — Stu Ungar, 45, Poker Player Who Won Big and Lost Big
• Las Vegas Sun — Professional poker player Stu Ungar found dead in hotel room
• Las Vegas Sun — Autopsy yields no clues to cause of gambler’s death
• Las Vegas Sun — Las Vegas news briefs (coroner’s ruling)
• The Independent — To live and die in Vegas