Stu Unger: Poker Player
The basic basis for why Stu changed from gin to poker was that Stu was a tiny bit too skilled at it. So skilled in fact, that no one was able stand up to him. Even the commonly called professionals who were meant to be the best at gin rummy were devoured when they played with Stu Ungar. One such gin rummy player was Harry Stein, called, "Yonkie". Harry suffered such a belittling defeat at the hands of mr. ungar that he evidently quit playing it professionally and never showed up at a gin tournament.
Of course, with a notoriety like that it was not very long before players became weary of betting against Stu Ungar. He couldn’t find any matches and in his boredom he began doing something no one had done prior. He began offering beginning handicaps to potential opposing players in the hope that they might play opposed to him if they thought they had an advantage. He deliberately started from a bad position and one tale has it that he even competed with a regular cheater. Amid the contest, he received warnings that the bad egg was at it yet again but Stu Ungar guaranteed that he knew of the fraudulent activity and he would still actually win, which he did, of course.
The same trend followed Stu Ungar to sin city. He won so often that the poker rooms started asking him not to compete on their rooms anymore. The reasoning behind it was that other poker room clients would not be seated at the table if he were playing.
Stu Ungar is recalled better for his abilities in holdem poker but he always maintained that he was considerably better at gin rummy.
He beat Doyle Brunson in the WSOP in 1980 and became the youngest world camp. Due to his features that made him appear far younger than he was, he got the nickname, "The Kid".
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