[5] Despite Ido's attempts to keep his son from gambling after seeing its effects on his regular customers, Stu began playing underground gin rummy and quickly made a name for himself.

Following his father's death, and with his mother virtually incapacitated by a stroke, Ungar drifted around the New York gambling scene until age 18, when he was befriended by reputed organized crime figure Victor Romano.

[8] He had the ability to recite the spelling and definition of all of the words in the dictionary and apparently shared a penchant and interest for calculating odds while gambling as Ungar did.

"[9] However, his relationship with Romano gave Ungar protection from various gamblers who did not take kindly to his crass attitude and assassin-like playing style.

He dropped out of school to play gin rummy in the 1960s full-time to help support his mother and sister after his father died, and began regularly winning tournaments which earned him $10,000 or more.

[11] Ungar later said in his biography that he loved seeing his opponent slowly break down over the course of a match, realizing he could not win and eventually get a look of desperation on his face.

But, I swear to you, I don't see how anyone could ever play gin better than me.In 1980, Ungar entered the World Series of Poker (WSOP) looking for more high-stakes action.

In an interview for the 1997 Main Event Final Table, Ungar told ESPN TV commentator Gabe Kaplan that the 1980 WSOP was the first time he had ever played a Texas hold'em tournament.

Binion's son Jack interceded and convinced his father to let Ungar play, citing the media attention that the defending champion would attract.

He defeated professional poker player and multi-WSOP bracelet winner Dewey Tomko in the $5,000 Seven Card Stud event, winning $110,000.

[13] In 1977, Ungar was bet $100,000 by Bob Stupak, an owner and designer of casinos, that he could not count down half a six-deck shoe and determine the last three decks (156 cards).

The casino said that Ungar "capped" a bet (put extra chips on a winning hand after it was over to be paid out more), something he vehemently denied.

Ungar believed that his memory and card counting ability were natural skills and thus he did not need to cap bets or partake in any form of cheating.

In his biography, Ungar claimed he was consequently so exhausted from travel and court proceedings that he was not able to successfully defend his WSOP main event title.

However, he had such a chip lead that even when the dealers kept taking his blinds out every orbit, Ungar still made the final table and finished ninth without playing another hand, pocketing $25,050.

[6] His addiction took such a physical toll that in an ESPN piece, many of Ungar's friends and fellow competitors said that they thought that he would not live to see his fortieth birthday.

However, he would receive the $10,000 buy-in to the WSOP Main Event from fellow poker pro and friend Billy Baxter moments before the tournament started and was the last person added to the roster, mere seconds before the signup closed.

Ungar was so highly regarded at this point that local bookies made him the favorite to win the tournament over the entire field, an extreme rarity.

After his victory, which was taped for broadcast by ESPN, Ungar was interviewed by Gabe Kaplan, and he showed the picture of his daughter to the camera and dedicated his win to her.

Ungar was dubbed "The Comeback Kid" by the Las Vegas media because of the 16-year span between his main event wins as well as his past drug abuse.

[4] During the 1997 WSOP, Ungar wore a pair of round, cobalt blue-tinted sunglasses to, according to co-biographer Peter Alson, "hide the fact that his nostrils had collapsed from cocaine abuse.

"[19] Among his possessions was $800 of a $25,000 advance from Bob Stupak, who earlier in the month Ungar had signed a contract with to pay off debts and finance his tournament play in exchange for future winnings.

[4] Several of Ungar's financial backers have commented that he could have earned an immeasurable amount more over his career had he been more of a "hustler", giving his opponents the false belief they could beat him and thus be willing to risk more money trying.

In his biography, Ungar also noted several opponents who offered to pay him to lose a gin match on purpose in order to collect a large side bet.

The agent was going to call the police and have Ungar arrested for attempting to bribe a public official before his fellow poker players stepped in and smoothed things over.

Through a slit in the doorway, Spilotro's son Vincent witnessed his father beat Ungar brutally, not for losing money or not having reported, but for the disrespect of bringing a gun into his home.

He would race in to the restaurant, shovel the food down as fast as he could, throw cash for the entire meal plus a generous tip on the table and be ready to leave, even if the rest of his party had just barely started on drinks or appetizers.

When he was on a hot winning streak, he sent his longtime sports betting friend Michael "Baseball Mike" Salem enough money to pay for several months of his mortgage.

That night, he took all his close friends out to a strip club and paid for the entire evening, which included numerous girls, Cristal champagne and a VIP booth.

[28] His biography, One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey 'the Kid' Ungar, the World's Greatest Poker Player by Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson was published in 2005.