The Man Behind the Shades: The Rise and Fall of Poker's Greatest Player

When Stuey "The Kid" Ungar took his first World Series of Poker title, one journalist asked him what he would do with the money. His answer: "Gamble it". Stuey grew up among the hoodlums and wiseguys of New York's Lower East Side. A pint-sized high-school drop out who never worked a day in his life, never had a bank account or paid a dime in taxes, he lived to gamble and became the world's most feared card player. Before he was 10, he was playing cards and shooting dice with local waiters and busboys - and taking home their wages. By the age of 13, he was backed by the mob and beating the best players in the city. But it was only when he hit Las Vegas that Stuey discovered the game that made his name. In 1980, he became the youngest player to lift the World Series Title. In 1981, he did it again, becoming the youngest player to win the tournament back to back. In 1997, when everyone thought his talent had been destroyed by years of hard living and drug abuse, he won the World Series for an unprecedented third time. The following year he was found dead in the Oasis Motel with USD800 in his pocket. Drawing on 100s of hours of taped conversations with Ungar, as well as exclusive interviews with everyone who knew him, this is the definitive story of his brutal, prodigious talents - of the multi-million dollar fortune won and lost; his legendary sports wagers (he blew USD80,000 the first time he picked up a golf club - without leaving the putting green); the addictions that consumed him; and one of the greatest phoenix-from-the-ashes comebacks of all time.

Nolan Dalla has been a gambler since childhood and is now a professional poker player and writer. He lives in Las Vegas. Peter Alson is a journalist and author of the highly acclaimed memoir Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie. He lives in New York. Peter Alson is the author of the highly acclaimed memoir Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie. A writer and journalist, Alson's work has appeared in a wide range of national magazines and newspapers form The New York Times to Esquire and Playboy. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.