Loading ...MFPP : Esfandiari – Ungar
Hi there poker nit !
It has been a while, I know. But I was very busy trying to explore all the different online poker rooms out there. I can assure you that there are many, as you know yourself. You must see which poker room offers you the best deals, the best first deposit offers and of course the best and most variated program. That’s a bit my problem at FatBet poker because there are just a little players, and mostly fish which is very nice, but there aren’t any good tournaments or sit and go’s. I’ve noticed that I’m not very lucky on the online cash games. Maybe my play is better suited for an online poker tournament as I’ve noticed in the past. I think that I just miss a little bit of aggressiveness to be successful at the cash games, especially when I don’t hit flops for a while. But that’s certainly not a problem for the next two players…
(14) => ANTONIO ESFANDIARI
> Amir Esfandiari
> born 08/12/1978, Tehran (IRA)
> resides now in San Francisco, California (USA)
> Nickname : ‘ The Magician ‘
> won 1 Bracelet (’04 Pot Limit Hold’em)
> became 24th at the WSOP Main Event in 2009
> won 1 WPT-title (LA Poker Classic ‘04)
> has Live Tournament Earnings of over $3,500,000 (until 2009)
Antonio moved to the United States, San José in California, with his family at the age of 9. He changed his first name in Antonio at the age of 19 and became a professional magician. He was being introduced in poker while he was performing magic. He’s well-known as a great, funny and complete poker player who made different final tables at WPT and EPT and has excellent results at the big cash games. He became 2nd at the third season of Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament and appeared on each season of GSN’s High Stakes Poker and NBC’s Poker After Dark. As a former magician, he’s famous for his chip and card trick techniques and his classy, fluorescent shirts. He co-starred with his best friend Phil Laak in the Tv show I Bet You and they’ve created the table game ‘What Johnny Lodden Thinks‘ together. Antonio is one of the few players who doesn’t like online poker and rarely plays. According to Phil Hellmuth, Antonio has been his worst nightmare at the poker table for years.
(13) => STU UNGAR
> Stuart Errol “Stu” Ungar
> born 08/09/1953 in New York City (USA)
> died 22/11/1998 of a heart condition in a Motel room.
> was married to Madeline and had 2 kids, Stefanie and Ritchie.
> Nickname : ‘ The Kid ‘ or ‘ Stuey ‘
> is the only player who won the WSOP Main Event 3 times !! (’80,’81,’97)
> won 2 other Bracelets (’81 2-7 Draw/ ‘83 Seven Card Stud)
> was being introduced into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2001.
> won an estimated 30 million dollar in his career.
Born to Jewish parents, Stuey started to gamble very early in the bar of his father playing gin and won his first local tournament at the age of 10. He was a gifted and genius kid who was always busy calculating odds, just like his mentor Victor Romano. Stu quickly dropped out of school to play gin rummy full time to support his mother and family after the death of his father. He took up poker in 1974 when he moved to Vegas. He entered the World Series in 1980 as his second Texas Hold’em tournament and won after beating Doyle Brunson in heads-up play. He became the third player, next to Brunson and Johnny Moss, the year after who was back to back world champion of poker. Stuey was infamous for his arrogance and criticizing talk at the table. But his memory and card counting ability was immense which made him also a feared blackjack player for the casinos. Years later he became a cocaine addict, which badly influenced his results, but not his game. He loved the action and was always ready to gamble and bet on anything. He won the WSOP Main Event in 1997 after he received the buy-in from his good friend Billy Baxter as Stu was deeply in debt due to his gambling and coke addiction. He wasted his earnings in the following months on crack and sports betting and saw every Vegas gutter, despite several offers from his close friend Bob Stupak. Stuey also won Amarillo Slim’s Super Bowl of Poker 3 times in ‘84,’88 and ‘89, when it was considered the world’s second most prestigious poker title. There came a movie in 2003 based on his life called: ‘ High Roller: The Stu Ungar story‘. His biography was published in 2005 and ESPN’s Emmy winning documentary about his life was broadcast in 2006 which proved that he’s still a true poker legend. Mister Stu Ungar is wildly considered as the greatest and most talented Texas Hold’em and gin rummy player of all time.
See you next time for two of the best online and real life players on this planet, as we’re closer to the magical top Ten. Beware of the bad beats !
Cheers,
J.M.
You should really mention in the Stuey bio something about how he had an INSANELY high “win” rate when it comes to the 40 or so “major” $10k+ tournaments he played in (this was back in the days when there were only like a dozen or so each year) — IIRC Gabe Kaplan was doing commentating on HSP or something, or maybe chatting during a Poker After Dark game he was in, and he mentioned that almost every Final Table that Stuey reached, he won … and it was a really high # of FTs that he made, compared to the # of tournaments total. Wish I could find the exact stats, or at least a summary of what Gabe was talking about…
update:
from http://www.online-poker-insider.com/articles/opi-stu-ungar-poker-legend.html …
“His no-limit poker tournament record will never be matched by another player. He won the World Series Of Poker Main Event three times, including consecutive wins in 1980 and 1981. He defeated Doyle Brunson to capture the title in 1980 in a dazzling heads-up display. Both of those Championships were won before Ungar was thirty years of age. Stu Ungar only played in a total of approximately 30 high-stakes no-limit tournaments over the course of his life and he won a phenomenal 10 of those events!”
which apparently is summarized from this:
http://www.pokerpages.com/articles/pokergreats/stu-ungar01.htm
“Ungar is a three-time World Champion (with five WSOP bracelets). He won ten major No Limit Hold’em championship events (in which the buy-ins were $5,000 or higher). The next two guys in line, T.J. Cloutier (all-time leading money winner at the WSOP) and Johnny Chan (two-time World Champion), have won half that many. Amazingly, Ungar only played in about 30 of these championship events in his life!”
So it might have been Sexton I remember talking at the Poker After Dark table. That actually sounds right, come to think of it.