Poker Player: Stu Unger
Posted in Poker on 02/28/2010 06:21 am by Rudy
The basic reason why Stu changed from gin to poker was that he was a little too skilled at it. So skilled was he, that no one was able equal him. Even the apparently experts who were supposed to be the greatest at gin were defeated when they played with Stu Ungar. One such gin professionals was Harry Stein, called, "Yonkie". Harry Stein suffered such a humiliating blow at the hands of Stu Ungar that he evidently quit participating in it as a pro and never showed up at a gin tournament.
Of course, with a notoriety like that it wasn’t long before everyone became shy of betting against stu. He could find no games and in his agony he began doing something no one had performed before. He issued beginning handicaps to likely competitors with the hope that they may compete with him if they believed they held an advantage. He deliberately started from a disadvantageous arrangement and one story has it that he even competed with a constant bad egg. Mid match, he received a few words of wisdom that the absconder was at it yet again but mr. ungar assured that he deduced of the chicanery and he would still come away with a win, which of course, he did.
The same problem followed Stu Ungar to sin city. He won so often that the poker rooms began requesting that he not to gamble in their rooms anymore. The reason for it was that other poker room clients would not be seated at the table if Stu was playing.
Stu Ungar is remembered better for his achievements in texas holdem poker but he always said that he was much more skilled at gin rummy.
He defeated Doyle Brunson in the WSOP in Nineteen Eighty to become the youngest world champion. Due to his features that made him appear far younger than he really was, he was nicknamed, "The Kid".