Stu Unger: Poker Player
The main reason why Stu Ungar changed from gin to poker was that Stu was a tiny bit too skilled at it. So skilled in fact, that no one was able equal him. Even the commonly called professionals who were supposed to be the most favorable at gin rummy were crushed when they faced Mr. Ungar. One of these gin rummy professionals was Harry Stein, called, "Yonkie". Harry was handed such a belittling blow at the hands of mr. ungar that he apparently stopped participating in it as a pro and never resurfaced at a gin rummy tournament.
Of course, with a reputation like that it was not too long before players became afraid of playing against mr. ungar. He couldn’t find any matches and in his boredom he started doing something no one had performed before. Stu offered starting handicaps to potential opponents with the high hopes that they might play against him if they thought they had an edge. He at will played from a bad arrangement and one story has it that stu even played with a constant absconder. During the game, he get advice that the absconder was at it yet again but stu stated that he knew of the chicanery and he would still win, which of course, he did.
The same trend followed Stu Ungar to Las Vegas. He won so often that the poker rooms started asking him not to play in their poker rooms anymore. The basis for it was that other casino clients would not be seated at the table if he were playing.
Stu Ungar is recollected better for his abilities in texas hold’em poker but he always insisted that he was considerably more skilled at gin rummy.
He beat Doyle Brunson in the World Series of Poker in 1980 to become the youngest world camp. Due to his looks that made him seem far younger than he was, he got the nickname, "The Kid".
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