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Stu Ungar
Stu Ungar was once the best poker player in the world, and he tore through tournaments with uncanny skill; that is, until he got into debt and drugs. He was born in September 1953 and he came by his gambling skills honestly- his father was a loanshark and he taught Stu about gambling from a tender age. Despite his mother's attempts to keep him away from the tables, he won his first gin rummy tournament at the age of ten. By the age of 23, he had a reputation as a fierce competitor. After his father passed away, Stu Ungar started playing gin rummy as a means of supporting his mother and sister.
However, his increasing gin bankroll couldn't cover his gambling debts, and he moved to Miami and then to Vegas. There, he ruled the gin tables, eventually taking up poker because no one would play gin rummy against him. In Vegas, he met his soon-to be wife and they had a child together.
Ungar's reputation is the stuff legends are made of- he was said to have beaten a cheater even as the opponent was trying to cheat him. In 1980, at 27, he decided to enter the WSOP. The odds were stacked against him, but Stuey Ungar won the duel against Doyle Brunson. He won again the next year, but his luck was up after that. Ungar's son committed suicide during his senior year of high school, and Ungar started using cocaine in order to increase his focus. Cocaine took hold of Stu Ungar's life; during the 1990 Main Event, he was found unconscious in his hotel room.
Stu Ungar sank ever deeper into addiction and debt, until he hit rock bottom. In 1997, he entered the WSOP with a borrowed buy-in, winning the event and earning the nickname "The Comeback Kid". That was his last victory- he could not attend the WSOP in 1998 for health reasons, and he died of a heart attack.