Poker Player: Stu Unger
Posted in Poker on 12/13/2013 02:21 pm by Shelby
The main reason why Stu Ungar changed from gin to poker was that Stu was a bit too good at it. So skilled in fact, that no one could equal him. Even the apparently experts who were meant to be the most favorable at gin were defeated when they faced Stu Ungar. One such gin player was Harry Stein, nicknamed, "Yonkie". Harry was handed such a debilitating blow at the hands of stu that he evidently stopped competing in it as a pro and never showed up at a gin rummy tournament.
Of course, with a notoriety like that it was not long before people became shy of betting against Stu Ungar. He couldn’t find any games and in his boredom he started doing something no one had performed prior. Stu provided starting handicaps to likely competitors in the high hopes that they may compete opposed to him if they believed they had an edge. He at will started from a negative arrangement and one account has it that he even competed with a regular cheater. Mid match, he get a few words of wisdom that the absconder was at it again but stu assured that he was aware of the dishonestly and he would still actually win, which he did, of course.
The same trend followed Stu Ungar into sin city. He won so much that the poker rooms started asking him not to compete on their poker rooms anymore. The explanation why was that other poker room clients would not be seated at the table if Stu was playing.
Stu Ungar is remembered more for his achievements in texas holdem poker but he himself always maintained that he was considerably better at gin rummy.
He defeated Doyle Brunson in the World Series of Poker in 1980 to become the youngest world champion. Because of his looks that made him seem far younger than he was, he got the nickname, "The Kid".