11
February
Written by Cordell.
Posted in: Poker
The main reason why Stu switched from gin rummy to poker was that Stu was a bit too good at it. So skilled in fact, that no player possibly could equal him. Even the apparently champions who were supposed to be the greatest at gin rummy were demolished when they faced Stu. One such gin player was Harry Stein, called, "Yonkie". Mr. Stein suffered such a crushing blow at the hands of stu that he evidently quit competing in it professionally and never resurfaced at a gin rummy tournament.
Accordingly, with a honor like that it wasn’t very long before players became afraid of gambling against mr. ungar. He could find no matches and in his bleakness he started doing something no one had attempted prior. He provided starting handicaps to likely adversaries with the high hopes that they may play with him if they believed they had an edge. He deliberately started from a disadvantageous position and one account has it that he even competed against a regular absconder. Mid contest, he get a few words of wisdom that the absconder was at it once more but stu guaranteed that he deduced of the fraudulent activity and he would still come away with a win, which he did, of course.
The same problem followed Stu Ungar into Las Vegas. He won so frequently that the casinos began requesting that he not to compete in their respective premises anymore. The reason for it was that other poker room clientele would not be seated at the table if Stu was seated.
Stu Ungar is remembered better for his accomplishments in holdem poker but he always said that he was much better at gin rummy.
He beat Doyle Brunson in the World Series of Poker in 1980 to become the youngest world camp. Because of his features that made him appear far younger than he was, he was nicknamed, "The Kid".
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