The basic reason for why Mr. Ungar switched from gin rummy to poker was that he was a little too good at it. So good was he, that no player could equal him. Even the commonly called professionals who were meant to be the most favorable at gin rummy were decimated when they faced Stu. One such gin rummy professionals was Harry Stein, nicknamed, "Yonkie". Harry suffered such a crushing defeat at the hands of stu that he allegedly stopped competing in it as a pro and never resurfaced at a gin rummy tournament.
Certainly, with a image like that it wasn’t too long before gamblers became weary of competing against Stu Ungar. He could find no games and in his desperation he began doing something no one had done prior. Stu presented starting handicaps to likely adversaries in the high hopes that they might just compete against him if they thought they had an edge. He at will played from a negative arrangement and one account has it that he even competed against a constant bad egg. Amid the game, he received warnings that the bad egg was at it once more but stu assured that he knew of the fraudulent activity and he would still come away with a win, which of course, he did.
The same problem followed Stu Ungar to Las Vegas. He won so frequently that the casinos started asking him not to gamble on their poker rooms anymore. The reason for it was that other casino clientele would not sit at the poker table if Stu was seated.
Stu Ungar is recollected better for his achievements in hold’em poker but he himself always maintained that he was a whole lot more skilled at gin rummy.
He defeated Doyle Brunson in the World Series of Poker in 1980 and became the youngest world camp. Because of his features that made him seem far younger than he was, he got the nickname, "The Kid".
May 1st, 2010
Spencer
Leave a reply