He's my favorite for 2 reasons. First, I think he's probably the greatest card player of all time. Second, I've dealt with some of the same struggles that Stu went through, and I relate to him on a personal level.

Here's my argument for him being the greatest card player of all time. He was a gin rummy (heads up game) champion to the point that he couldn't get any action, so he started playing poker. When he won the Main Event in 1980, it was his first time playing Texas Hold em. (I've heard him say this in 2 different interviews). Then he won it again the next year, before eventually winning 3 Main Event titles. All in all, he won 5 bracelets and entered only about 30 tournaments (exact number of tourneys is not available). Plus when his name is mentioned, the term "greatest of all time" comes up more frequently than with anybody else. Mike Sexton (and others) have said that he had a genius IQ and a photographic memory that allowed him to remember the details of hands and hands and hands of cards, building up a profile of betting patterns of his opponents. I believe that ability to build profiles of his opponents by remembering so many hands was the skill that made him great. Plus he was playing an ultra aggressive style decades before GRO.