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At one point Ungar raised seven hands in a row. No one called. Was he bluffing? Of course he was — some of the time. Everyone knew that. But no one knew when. Every contestant hoped one of his opponents would be eliminated first. It didn’t matter which one. Every time someone was knocked out, the surviving players climbed another rung on the pay ladder. Ungar knew that.

Ungar’s mastery of the table seemed palpable. He was a shark among a school of fish, and he sensed blood in the water. Bao, short on chips the entire day, was the first to fall — eliminated by Judah. By 1:30 p.m. Ungar had more chips than his remaining four opponents combined.

Ungar’s biggest competitor was fellow Las Vegas pro Ron Stanley, sitting in second place. But five minutes later an incredible event took place. Stanley raised Strzemp, putting him all-in. Stanley had a pair of kings; Strzemp a pair of 10s. The flop helped no one, and Stanley was a huge favorite to win that pot. But the turn brought forth a miracle card, one of the two remaining lOs in the deck, giving Strzemp trip 10s. The river card was a blank, and Stanley stared at the table in shock. When Judah announced that he discarded a 10, Stanley knew he suffered what poker players call a bad beat. Only one card remaining in the deck could have won the hand for Strzemp and he caught it. After the flop, with two cards to come, Strzemp’s chances of catching the lone remaining 10 were less than 5 percent. He faced elimination as a 22-to-1 long shot and survived!

By 2:00 p.m. Ungar held 60 percent of all the chips in play, and his aggression showed no signs of relenting. None of his opponents appeared willing to settle for a fifth place finish, since fourth place paid $50,000 more. Fifteen minutes later the stalemate was broken when Judah’s humble pair of 2s proved strong enough to eliminate Bob Walker, who flopped four to a straight and four to a flush. But neither hand materialized, and the war of attrition claimed another victim.

Shaken from the bad beat that Strzemp administered — as well as an earlier incident when Ungar bluffed him out of a $200,000 pot and then flipped his cards face up on the table as if to show the world just what he was capable of doing — Stanley was eliminated when he ran into Strzemp’s full house. Three contestants now remained at the final table, but only for a moment. Dangerously low on chips, Judah was eliminated when he lost a pot to Ungar.

After a short break it was Ungar against Strzemp — heads-up (just two players). During the break, Jack Binion, accompanied by eight very large security guards, carried a box filled with $1 million in hundred-dollar bills to the table, to await the outcome of the final confrontation. Ten minutes later Strzemp made a big bet. Ungar deliberated for what seemed like an excessively long time. He riffled chips through his fingers. He glanced furtively at Strzemp, peering over the tops of his bright blue sunglasses, trying to read him, trying to catch any sort of sign — or tell, as poker players call it — that would provide the clue he was looking for. Suddenly he snapped erect and pushed his chips toward the center of the pot, putting Strzemp all-in. Since there could be no more betting, both players turned their hands face up. Strzemp held A-8; Ungar A-4.

The dealer turned the flop over. It was A-3-5. Each player had a pair of aces, but Strzemp’s side card put him in the lead. The turn was another 3. Now each player had two pair: As and 3s. But Strzemp’s hand was A-A-3-3-8, while Ungar’s side card was redundant.

Everyone knew the odds. If the last communal card was a 5, 6, or 7, Strzemp would win the pot since his side card would be bigger than the unpaired card on the board. He’d also win if the last card was an 8, since it would give him As and 8s to Ungar’s As and 3s. If the river card was a 9 or higher, the pot would be split since both side cards — Ungar’s 4 and Strzemp’s 8 — would be obviated by the higher communal river card. Ungar could win only if the river card was a 4 — giving him As and 4s against Strzemp’s As and 3s — or a 2, which would complete his straight.

The river card was a 2. Strzemp seemed crushed, and Ungar elated. Stu Ungar, now 43 years old and no longer “The Kid” who won it two years running in 1980 and 1981, captured poker’s biggest prize for the third time. In doing so, he dominated a field of world-class professionals and top-notch big-money players from North America, Europe, South America, and Asia in the process.

But Ungar’s day in the sun was short-lived. A few months later a lifetime of bad habits caught up with him. The man acknowledged as the best gin rummy player in history, and quite possibly the best no-limit poker player of all time, was found dead in a Las Vegas hotel room. Too many years of drug use and attendant health problems had taken their toll, and a man with talent as big as the mountains would never make another comeback.

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