Stuey Ungar v Doyle Brunson

This is a memorable final hand between two greats of the game when the World Series of Poker was still in its infancy in 1980

Ungar v Brunson 1 June 2006

"I love the fact that when he did hit the nuts on the turn, he followed it through by making a large pot sized bet"

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The Kid plays the Man in the 1980 WSOP

In 1980, Doyle Brunson was the main man on the poker scene. He had won the WSOP main events in 1978 and 1979 and he had been dominating the biggest Vegas cash games for years. Stu Ungar was just starting out at poker but at 26 he was already well known in gambling circles having won hundreds of thousands beating the world’s top gin players. Although new to no limit poker, he was already playing in the biggest cash games and winning.

Playing in his first major tournament, Stuey amazed the onlooking masses by cutting through the record 73 strong field to go into the heads-up contest with Brunson with a chip lead of around 400,000 chips to 300,000. But the rail birds still fancied 'The Man' to take out 'The Kid' and Stu was made the 6/5 outsider despite his chip lead. Fiercely competitive, Stuey took this as a slight and declared his intention to back himself to the tune of $50,000. His heads-up opponent was equally competitive and declared he would take the bet himself!

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With pride, a lot of money and poker immortality at stake, the following hand came up:

With the blinds at 3,000-6,000, Doyle Brunson limped in from the small blind holding A-7 and Stuey checked his option holding 4-5.

Odds Before the Flop:
Brunson: 63%
Ungar: 37%

The flop came down A-7-2. First to act, Stuey checked his option and Brunson holding a monster hand led out for a 17,000 bet into the 12,000 pot. With nothing but an inside straight draw, Ungar decided to call Brunson’s bet despite his prohibitive odds at that stage.

Odds After the Flop:
Brunson: 82%
Ungar: 18%

Amazingly for Ungar, the turn brought the miracle 3 he was looking for. From having been a huge underdog on the flop he was now a huge favourite to win the hand

Odds After the Turn Card:
Brunson: 9%
Ungar: 91%

First to act, Stu led out for 40,000. Doyle Brunson, hesitated briefly and then re-raised all-in. Holding the nuts at that stage, Stuey quickly called and with no Ace or seven coming to rescue Brunson on the river, Stu 'The Kid' Ungar was crowned the youngest ever WSOP champion.

The Judge's Verdict

Many players would say that Stuey made a very poor call after the flop as the odds were prohibitive for him to complete his straight. However, I think this is a very basic way of analysing this play. For a top player level like Stuey, I doubt that this was simply a weak call, I think it is more likely that his thought process was as follows:

  • I put my opponent on a strong hand here – a strong ace or maybe even two pair or trips.
  • There is no way that my opponent can put me on 45 if I call his bet here.
  • Given the above two points, there may only be four cards that can help me, but if I do hit a 3, I can end this here and now.
  • In reality I am getting implied pot odds for the call. I am calling 17,000 to win a further 280,000 chips (as well as the WSOP title!), odds of 15/1 when the implied odds of hitting a 3 on the turn are 10/1.

 

Assuming that Stu’s thoughts were along these lines, then I love the fact that when he did hit the nuts on the turn, he followed it through by making a large pot sized bet of 40,000.

Most players would not bet here. They would fear that their opponent would fold and so instead, they would check with the nuts and then re-raise Brunson when he led out at the turn. But a check and then a re-raise may have made Bruson lay down a hand like AQ or AJ and Stuey had not called Bruson’s post-flop raise to take down a medium sized pot. He had called it because he sensed that if he did hit the 3 on the turn, he could break Doyle Brunson there and then. He knew Bruson couldn’t put him on 4-5 and so by leading out at the turn he pushed Brunson into assuming his hand was good and that Stu was probably bluffing or semi-bluffing. He pushed Brunson into a situation where he was likely to commit all his chips with two pair, trips or probably even a strong Ace.

27/02/08

Stuey is crowned king after hitting his gutshot straight draw on the turn