Perhaps one of the most recognized names in the world of poker is the late Stu Ungar. Ungar died in 1998 after battling a long string of cocaine addiction and sports gambling that ruined his life and financially broke him. However, before the tragedy occurred, Ungar was a force to be reckoned with at the poker table. Ungar's life story starts in New York City in 1953, where he grew up exposed to gambling. His father was a loan shark and, despite his best efforts, Ungar became engrossed with the gambling world. When his father died, Ungar dropped out of school in order to help his family in desperate need of money with a sick mother and sister. He made his money by playing gin rummy in local places around New York where he was unbeatable, so much so that many people refused to play with him. After incurring many debts at the race track, Ungar moved from New York, first to Florida and then to Las Vegas. However, he found that there were still problems with players wanting to play with him. So much so that many casinos would not allow Ungar to play in tournaments because other players would drop out or not sign up. Because of this, Ungar started giving his opponents handicaps and would even play with those that were known to cheat at the game, however, he still always managed to win these games. Which goes to prove just how great of a poker play that Ungar really was. The nickname, "The Kid" was given to Ungar in his early years of playing because of his ability to beat everyone. He was often noted as saying that no one could beat him, and that seemed to be the reality for most that he came up against