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Monday, November 23, 1998
Professional poker player `The Kid' Ungar found dead
Friends fear that a fast lifestyle led to the death of the three-time winner of Binion's famed tourney.
By Joe Schoenmann
Review-Journal
World-renowned poker player Stu Ungar, who won Binion's Horseshoe World Series of Poker three times and earned millions gambling, was found dead Sunday morning in a motel on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Stu "The Kid" Ungar was found in a single room of the Oasis Motel, 1731 Las Vegas Blvd. South, with about $800 in his pocket, some documents and no physical trauma, motel manager Peter Napoli said.
Ungar's ex-wife, Madeline, said late Sunday that no drugs or paraphernalia were found in the motel room.
"Nothing was in the room other than himself," she said. "No nothing."
Las Vegas police confirmed late Sunday that the death was being investigated.
The 45-year-old poker master was alone when he checked into a $58 room Saturday night at the "adult-movie motel," as Napoli described it. Ungar signed his name in the motel log book but left no home address. Instead, he wrote a phone number for The Mirage.
He was found by motel employees about 11 a.m., shortly after checkout time.
Friends and colleagues feared Ungar's addiction to illegal drugs finally killed him. Among other gamblers, his death was not unexpected.
"It's ironic, because when Ted Binion died, I remember saying, 'Well, I guess we're going to hear about Stewie next,' " said David Sklansky, who has written six books on gambling theory. "I didn't think it was going to be this quick."
One of Ungar's favorite places was Binion's Horseshoe, where his photograph adorns the casino's walls. He won the casino's poker tournament three years, in 1980, 1981 and 1997. In 1997, he defeated more than 300 competitors to take home a $1.1 million pot.
After the third victory, the casino produced collector's edition gambling chips with Ungar's face imprinted on one side. The chips are on sale via the Internet.
The frail and thin poker expert was so well-known that phone calls from around the country began to flood the Review-Journal and other gamblers in Las Vegas late Sunday.
Pug Pearson, another renowned poker player, was philosophical about Ungar's death.
"Stewie was like a lot of other people we meet in this world," he said. "The forces compel you to do certain things. The brain triggers the forces, and the human animal is one of the most addictive of all animals.
"Stewie was a great guy in one respect, but he was his own worst enemy in others."
Ungar was the second major figure associated with Las Vegas gaming to die in three months.
In mid-September, Lonnie "Ted" Binion died unexpectedly at his Las Vegas home. While it appeared Binion, a longtime heroin user, died of an overdose, the exact cause of his death remains undecided.
Ungar's death came two days after his longtime friend Bob Stupak said he and Ungar had signed a contract to go into business together. Stupak agreed to assume Ungar's debts, manage Ungar and provide the stake money for Ungar to enter major poker tournaments.
Stupak said part of the deal included Ungar entering a poker tournament at Donald Trump's Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J., in December.
"He was the best," Stupak said Sunday. "You can't expand on that. The best says it all."
Sklansky agreed, saying that "when he was at his best, he seemed to play almost perfectly."
"I don't know if he had a photographic memory, but awful close," he said. "He could calculate very quickly and did (instinctively) all the things I write about."
Ungar also was the two-time winner of the Super Bowl of Poker, that takes place at various casinos, sources said.
Though he became a millionaire several times in his life, sources said he was often broke.
Stupak said several of Ungar's poker friends are going to pay for the funeral, which is tentatively scheduled at Palm Mortuary. Ungar's ex-wife lives in Las Vegas with a teen-age daughter.
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Stu Ungar holds the 5-high straight to win the World Series of Poker in May 1997 at Binion's Horseshoe. The victory was Unger's third title.
Photo by Jeff Scheid.
Professional gambler Stu Ungar, 45, who won $1.1 million in the 1997 World Series of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe, was found dead Sunday morning in a room of the Oasis Motel on Las Vegas Boulevard South. His friend, Bob Stupak, builder of the Stratosphere tower in the background, said he had signed a contract Friday with Ungar to play in poker tournaments.
Photo by Mike Salsbury.
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