07.15
Poker Player: Stu Unger
The primary reason why Stu Ungar changed from gin rummy to poker was that Stu was a little too skilled at it. So skilled was he, that no one could equal him. Even the commonly called professionals who were meant to be the most favorable at gin were crushed when they played with Stu. One such gin rummy player was Harry Stein, called, "Yonkie". Harry Stein was handed such a belittling beating at the hands of stu that he apparently stopped playing it as a pro and never showed up at a gin rummy tournament.
Of course, with a distinction like that it was not long before everyone became weary of playing against Stu Ungar. He could find no games and in his desperation he started doing something no one had done before. Stu began offering beginning handicaps to potential competitors in the hope that they might play with him if they believed they had an advantage. He deliberately started from a disadvantageous position and one account has it that he even played with a regular bad egg. Amid the contest, he get advice that the cheater was at it once again but Stu Ungar assured that he deduced of the dishonestly and he would still actually win, which of course, he did.
The same problem followed Stu Ungar to Las Vegas. He won so often that the casinos started requesting that he not to wager in their rooms anymore. The explanation why was that other poker room customers refused to sit at the poker table if Stu was playing.
Stu Ungar is recollected more for his abilities in texas holdem poker but he himself always said that he was far more accomplished at gin rummy.
He beat Doyle Brunson in the WSOP in 1980 to become the youngest world champion. Because of his looks that made him seem far younger than he actually was, he got the nickname, "The Kid".