A High Roller’s Life – The Stu Ungar Story
A friend of mine recommended I watch this film, knowing that I am passionate about cards and Texas Hold’em, in particular. I must admit I was a bit skeptic, since most films about poker, gambling, and gamblers that I have watched were, imho, pretty thin and lacking substance. But imagine my surprise when I watched the trailer – I told you I was skeptic and found that this could just as well be the greatest poker film of all times. I say this because this motion picture has everything you would expect: the character’s family ties and his upbringing, his father’s inconsistency in educating him, how our hero met his savior and protector and a whole lot of money, drugs and sex. Not to mention that it’s based on a true story and the storyline was kept true to the letter. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here and start from the beginning.
Our character was born Stuart Errol “Stu” Ungar, to Jewish parents and he was raised in Lower East Side, Manhattan. His father was a loan shark and owned a social club, where the main attraction was gambling. Thus, our hero was exposed to gambling and card games at a very early age and, despite his father’s attempts of preventing it, Stu was quickly recognized as a very talented, almost unbeatable gin rummy player. Following his father’s death, one of the most respected figures in organized crime – Vincent Romano, took him under his wing.
By 1976, at a young age of 23, he was regarded as the best gin rummy player in New York. However, his bad habits quickly got the best of him and he would start losing at the racetrack all that he won at cards. On top of that, his lack of money management skills led him from one bad decision to another, taking unnecessary risks for the sake of gamble. Following another huge loss at the racetrack, he was forced by Vincent Romano to go to Las Vegas and win a tournament worth $100,000, to pay back another figure of the crime world that he had indirectly borrowed money from. Stu then decides to pay his debt and remain in Las Vegas.
I will only say that we have almost reached the best part of the film, but I have no intentions of spoiling it for you. I will let you discover the rest of the plot by yourself, but I have to tell you that this masterpiece reminds me of a friend of mine. After his bachelor party totally wasted, he went in a casino and gamble with the honeymoon money on the roulette, not having the slightest clue what he was doing. The truth is, he is a card player, much like Stu was, and that’s what he knows and that’s what he should do. If you want to try another game, you need to know it well before you hit the high stakes.
For example, I found this excellent UK online roulette site, where you can not only learn a lot about the game, but you can also find useful information, like how to use progressive betting systems, which casinos have the best game selection and so on. And once you feel comfortable enough to raise the limits, the site also includes information about where to play roulette for the highest stakes and how to go about it.
Strangely enough, my friend skipped all of the above-mentioned steps and not only did he get his honeymoon money back, but he even doubled it. Go figure! Oh, well, I guess some people simply have a natural talent, just like our hero – Stu Ungar.