One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey "The Kid" Ungar
“One of ten other biographies I recommend.”
Why it is worth your time
One of a Kind is the 2005 biography of Stu Ungar by Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson. Ungar grew up on Manhattan's Lower East Side, where his father ran a bar and a bookmaking operation, was a gin rummy prodigy by his teens, and moved to Las Vegas when no one would play him for money. He won the World Series of Poker main event 3 times, in 1980, 1981 and 1997, and died in a motel room in 1998 at 45. Dalla had been hired to ghostwrite Ungar's autobiography; the book became a biography after his death. Jason listed it on his January 2019 post of 10 biographies that outsiders should read. He plays poker, as the other hosts do. It suits poker players and readers who like cautionary tales. The caveat is that Kirkus called it a 'jumpy if dispiriting account,' and the story gets more and more awful as it nears Ungar's death in 1998.
