People

Stuart Errol Ungar was an American professional Poker, Blackjack and Gin Rummy player. He was widely regarded as the greatest Texas Hold ’em and Gin Rummy player of all time. He is also one of two individuals to have won the World Series of Poker Main Event three times.

Born in Manhattan, New York, in September 1953 and passed away in November of 1998 at the age of 45. Ungar was the son of a bookmaker and loan shark who ran illegal gambling parlours in Manhattan, the Foxes Corner. His father tried everything to keep Stu out of the gambling world, but its allure caught Stu at a young age, and he quickly became a great Gin Rummy Player. Stu, the Kid Ungar, eventually dropped out of school in tenth grade and took up gambling full time. It was the start of a turbulent gambling career.

Stu Ungar’s Gambling Career

He gambled his way to maturity and fell into the crew of Victor Romano, a notorious criminal and a fabled card player. With Romano’s protection, Stu could play just about anyone. He was incredibly talented and won consistently; however, despite winning big, his gambling problem led him to lose all his winnings at the race tracks.

Due to accumulated debts, Stu left for Las Vegas and started gambling against many of the worlds most elite and demolished Harry Stein, a player considered to be the world’s best gin player. After that, he barely got much rummy action as players refused to play against him. In 1980 he transitioned to Poker and became the youngest player to win the WSOP main event title. He continued to win bracelets and was the only Poker player to win the famous Amarillo Slims Super Bowl of Poker on three different occasions.

The End of the Road

Despite Ungar’s massively successful career, his drug addiction kept him from reaching his full potential as he kept relapsing. His death was heart failure due to years of drug abuse, and his funeral got paid by the Poker Community as he left this world the same way he came into it, with nothing.

Students from the well-known Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and other top colleges made up the MIT Blackjack Team.

Bill Kaplan led the Group

After reading books about card counting, Bill Kaplan, a Harvard graduate with an interest in Blackjack, led the Group.

Although he was not the original founder of MIT’s Blackjack Team, he helped turn it into a profitable venture.

JP Massar

Massar (also known as Mr M ) attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a mathematics student. He became interested in gambling after reading the book ” How to Gamble if you must “. He and a few classmates formed the first MIT Blackjack team. While they had a few wins, they were not incredibly successful.

Teaming up

A restaurant was where JP Massar and Bill Kaplan first met, and JP Massar asked Bill Kaplan to join his team to observe its mistakes. Bill Kaplan joined them after spending a weekend in Las Vegas observing the mistakes the team made.

A formal card counting system and betting system were put in place to become a serious business. On 1 August 1980, the brand new MIT Blackjack team began operating.

For ten years, this team was successful, and investors received excellent returns. But eventually, Bill Kaplan’s management of the team was indefinitely suspended because he was banned from most casinos in Vegas.

A second Blackjack card-counting team, formed by JP Massar and Johnny Chang, was successful for two years, but they too were also forced to shut down as the casinos on the Las Vegas strip and other towns became aware of their tactics and banned them.

What are they doing now?

While JP Massar still plays professional poker online and offline, Bill Kaplan now operates a Real Estate business and runs an emailing solution company.

Introducing the Media Tycoon and Gambler

Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, an Australian media tycoon, born was born on 17 December 1937 in Sydney. He became one of the world’s greatest gamblers, and his legacy was gambling away up to $200 million during his gambling career. He was well-known for his generosity and humbleness because, unlike many high rollers, he did not expect casino bosses to be at his beck and call. Furthermore, his requests were minimal, which were nice rooms for himself and his entourage and an empty table.

Packers Gambling career

Packer not only gambled in casinos but with his marriage. He had several extramarital affairs, including one with Carol Lopes, who reportedly committed suicide after being shunned by him.

Packer was known as a Whale as he gambled for stakes that kick-started the adrenal glands of even the most jaded casino executives. Gambling was Packer’s passion, and he wagered very high stakes. Terry Packer once lost 28.2 million in Blackjack losses to a London Casino, the most significant reported gambling loss in British History. He also had some huge wins like the $33 million he won at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas and often won as much as $7 million a year during his annual holidays in the UK.

His Generosity

Amidst his losses and wins, Terry Packer was known for his generosity and would often give his entourage $100 000 bankrolls before turning free-spending night on the casino employees doling out six-figure gratuities. On another occasion, he paid off a waitress’s mortgage highlighting his generosity amidst his sometimes volcanic temper and perennial contempt for journalists.

Terry Packer passed away on the 26 December 2005 from kidney failure nine days after his 68^th birthday. His memorial was attended by big names like Russell Crowe, Prime Minister John Howard, Richie Benaud, Tom Cruise, and the Australian Cricket Team. Terry Packer lived a short life, but he certainly made it count.

A fierce competitor at the poker tables, Cary Katz, has earned more than $33.1 million in tournament earnings, ranking sixth on the list of all-time money winners. Katz’s two most notable wins were the $2 million PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 Super High Roller and the $2 million Super High Roller Bowl in London.

Katz, known to some as “El Jefe”, has long since outlasted the title of “businessman who plays poker,” based on his achievements. He has earned $17 million in career tournament earnings and frequently makes final tables in high roller events worldwide.

How did he Begin?

College Loan Corp. was founded by Katz in 1999 and quickly became one of the largest student loan companies in the United States. As a result of his business success, he built a massive bankroll for his favourite hobby.

During the 2000s and early 2010s, Katz cashed in several mid-stakes events and piled up scores of five figures.

Katz began playing in mid-to-high stakes tournaments in Las Vegas from 2009-2012, cashing out consistently in five figures and winning his biggest prize to date at the 2011 WSOP. Kaz finished 12th in the $5k NL Hold’em event for $51,713 and followed that up in 2012 with a year of frequent crashes on the Las Vegas tournament scene, including four wins.

He won his first Poker tournament in 2010, winning a $1k No-Limit Hold’em event at the Five Star World Poker Classic for $25,500.

Katz has regularly played in events at the World Series of Poker for the past decade, winning his first Main Event cash in 2009 for $40,288. Around that time, Katz started spending more time playing poker.

Where is he now?

In 2019, Katz was ranked 28th on the all-time tournament money list, having earned $17,372,159 from high stakes tournaments.

Introduction

Walter Clyde “Puggy” Pearson is an American professional poker player who tweaked his poker skills in the Navy, which he joined at age 16. During his Navy career, he learned how to palm dice and calculate pot odds, and by the time he got discharged in the early 1950s, he had scooped up more than $20000 in winnings. Pearson was also a legend on the golf course and could putt and chip just as well as PGA Tour members and won $300 000 on a game of golf. Doyle Bronson said that if he ever had to pick anyone in the world to make a putt with his life on the line, it would be his best friend, Pearson.

Puggy Pearson’s Poker Career

After his career in the Navy, he moved to Nashville, where he spent a decade operating a small three-table pool hall called Pugs. Pearson then moved to Las Vegas in the mid-1960s, where he made the city’s card rooms his office alongside Moss and Roberts.

Pearson had an ultra-aggressive playing style and saw himself as the “boss”. Any poker player that wanted to win had to go through him; that was his attitude. He won four WSOP bracelets but none after 1973 and never missed a WSOP Main Event until his death, age 77, in April 2006.

Pearson was known for his marathon card sessions that would go on for 24 hours at a time, and there would always be a giant stogie clenched between his lips. When he passed away, dozens of newspapers published a photo of the RV with the mantra painted on the side “I’ll play any man from any land, in any game he can name, for any amount I can count, provided I like it”

Walter Pearson was a colourful character and lived life to the fullest, and he is still remembered as one of the toughest players and prop bettors ever to have lived.