Stu Unger: Poker Player
Tuesday, 7. December 2010
The main basis for why Stu Ungar switched from gin rummy to poker was that Stu was a little too good at it. So good was he, that no player could stand up to him. Even the apparently champions who were supposed to be the most favorable at gin rummy were crushed when they faced Stu. One of these gin rummy masters was Harry Stein, called, "Yonkie". Harry was handed such a humiliating blow at the hands of mr. ungar that he allegedly stopped competing in it as a pro and never resurfaced at a gin tournament.
Accordingly, with a notoriety like that it wasn’t long before people became weary of betting against mr. ungar. He could find no games and in his desperation he started doing something no one had done prior. Stu issued starting handicaps to potential competitors with the hope that they might just play opposed to him if they believed they held an advantage. He deliberately started from a disadvantageous position and one story has it that he even played against a consistent bad egg. Mid contest, he received a few words of wisdom that the absconder was at it yet again but Stu Ungar stated that he deduced of the dishonestly and he would still come away with a win, which of course, he did.
The same trend followed Stu Ungar to vegas. He won so often that the poker rooms started requesting that he not to gamble in their poker rooms anymore. The explanation why was that other poker room clientele would not be seated at the table if he were seated.
Stu Ungar is remembered better for his abilities in texas holdem poker but he always maintained that he was a whole lot more skilled at gin rummy.
He defeated Doyle Brunson in the World Series of Poker in Nineteen Eighty to become the youngest world camp. Due to his features that made him seem far younger than he really was, he got the nickname, "The Kid".
Posted in Poker by Winston