31
December
Written by Manuel.
Posted in: Poker
The basic reason for why Mr. Ungar changed from gin to poker was that Stu was a little too skilled at it. So skilled in fact, that no player was able equal him. Even the so-called experts who were supposed to be the best at gin rummy were defeated when they played with Mr. Ungar. One such gin rummy professionals was Harry Stein, called, "Yonkie". Harry Stein was handed such a belittling blow at the hands of Stu Ungar that he allegedly stopped participating in it professionally and never resurfaced at a gin tournament.
Accordingly, with a reputation like that it was not very long before everyone became shy of gambling against stu. He couldn’t find any games and in his bleakness he began doing something no one had done before. Stu issued starting handicaps to likely opposing players in the wish that they might play with him if they believed they had an advantage. He at will started from a negative position and one story has it that he even played with a regular bad egg. Mid contest, he get warnings that the absconder was at it once again but Stu Ungar guaranteed that he knew of the chicanery and he would still actually win, which of course, he did.
The same problem followed Stu Ungar to vegas. He won so much that the poker rooms began asking him not to play in their rooms anymore. The reason was that other casino visitors refused to sit at the table if Stu was playing.
Stu Ungar is recalled more for his accomplishments in hold’em poker but he himself always maintained that he was much better at gin rummy.
He beat Doyle Brunson in the WSOP in Nineteen Eighty to become the youngest world champion. Because of his looks that made him seem far younger than he really was, he got the nickname, "The Kid".
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