Stu Ungar
Tuesday, 15. January 2013
The basic reason for why Mr. Ungar changed from gin to poker was that he was a tiny bit too skilled at it. So skilled was he, that no one was able equal him. Even the apparently professionals who were meant to be the greatest at gin rummy were crushed when they competed with Stu. One such gin player was Harry Stein, called, "Yonkie". Harry Stein suffered such a belittling beating at the hands of Stu Ungar that he allegedly stopped competing in it professionally and never showed up at a gin rummy tournament.
Of course, with a distinction like that it was not long before gamblers became weary of competing against mr. ungar. He couldn’t find any games and in his bleakness he began doing something no one had performed before. He provided beginning handicaps to potential adversaries with the hope that they might play against him if they believed they had an edge. He at will started from a negative position and one story has it that he even competed with a constant bad egg. Amid the match, he get a few words of wisdom that the bad egg was at it yet again but Stu Ungar assured that he knew of the cheating and he would still acquire a win, which he did, of course.
The same problem followed Stu Ungar to vegas. He won so much that the casinos started asking him not to bet in their rooms anymore. The reasoning behind it was that other poker room visitors refused to sit at the table if Stu was playing.
Stu Ungar is recalled better for his accomplishments in hold’em poker but he himself always said that he was far more skilled at gin rummy.
He defeated Doyle Brunson in the WSOP in 1980 to become the youngest world camp. Because of his looks that made him seem far younger than he was, he got the nickname, "The Kid".
Posted in Poker by Reed