Poker Player: Stu Unger

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The primary basis for why Mr. Ungar switched from gin to poker was that Stu was a little too good at it. So skilled was he, that no one was able equal him. Even the so-called champions who were supposed to be the best at gin rummy were defeated when they competed against Mr. Ungar. One of these gin professionals was Harry Stein, called, "Yonkie". Mr. Stein suffered such a belittling blow at the hands of mr. ungar that he apparently stopped participating in it professionally and never showed up at a gin rummy tournament.

Certainly, with a honor like that it wasn’t long before everyone became afraid of playing against stu. He couldn’t find any games and in his agony he started doing something no one had done before. Stu issued beginning handicaps to potential opponents with the high hopes that they might just play against him if they believed they held an edge. He deliberately began from a bad position and one story has it that he even competed with a constant cheater. Mid game, he received a few words of wisdom that the bad egg was at it one more time but Stu Ungar assured that he knew of the chicanery and he would still acquire a win, which he did, of course.

The same trend followed Stu Ungar into vegas. He won so often that the poker rooms started asking him not to compete on their respective premises anymore. The reasoning behind it was that other poker room clientele would not be seated at the poker table if he were seated.

Stu Ungar is recalled more for his accomplishments in holdem poker but he always insisted that he was a whole lot more skilled 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 appear far younger than he was, he was nicknamed, "The Kid".