Poker Player: Stu Unger
The main basis for why Stu Ungar switched from gin to poker was that Stu was a little too good at it. So skilled was he, that no one possibly could stand up to him. Even the so-called champions who were supposed to be the best at gin rummy were blow away when they competed with Stu Ungar. One of these gin rummy player was Harry Stein, nicknamed, "Yonkie". Harry Stein suffered such a crushing defeat at the hands of stu that he apparently quit participating in it professionally and never showed up at a gin rummy tournament.
Certainly, with a reputation like that it was not very long before gamblers became shy of playing against Stu Ungar. He could find no games and in his boredom he began doing something no one had done prior. Stu offered starting handicaps to potential competitors in the hope that they might just compete with him if they thought they had an advantage. He deliberately played from a disadvantageous position and one tale has it that he even played with a consistent absconder. Mid game, he received warnings that the bad egg was at it one more time but Stu Ungar assured that he knew of the fraudulent activity and he would still come away with a win, which he did, of course.
The same problem followed Stu Ungar to Las Vegas. He won so much that the poker rooms began asking him not to play on their rooms anymore. The basis for it was that other poker room customers refused to be seated at the poker table if he were seated.
Stu Ungar is recalled more for his accomplishments in texas hold’em poker but he always maintained that he was far better at gin rummy.
He beat Doyle Brunson in the WSOP in 1980 to become the youngest world camp. Due to his looks that made him appear far younger than he really was, he was nicknamed, "The Kid".
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