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The basic basis for why Stu switched from gin to poker was that he was a little too good at it. So good in fact, that no one was able stand up to him. Even the apparently professionals who were meant to be the best at gin were demolished when they played against Mr. Ungar. One such gin masters was Harry Stein, nicknamed, "Yonkie". Harry Stein was handed such a debilitating defeat at the hands of Stu Ungar that he evidently stopped competing in it as a pro and never showed up at a gin rummy tournament.

Of course, with a image like that it was not very long before people became weary of competing against Stu Ungar. He could find no games and in his boredom he began doing something no one had attempted before. He presented beginning handicaps to potential opposing players with the wish that they might play against him if they believed they had an advantage. He deliberately started from a disadvantageous arrangement and one story has it that he even competed against a consistent cheater. Mid match, he get advice that the cheater was at it yet again but stu stated that he knew of the fraudulent activity and he would still win, which he did, of course.

The same trend followed Stu Ungar to sin city. He won so frequently that the poker rooms started requesting that he not to gamble in their respective premises anymore. The basis for it was that other casino visitors refused to sit at the table if Stu was playing.

Stu Ungar is remembered better for his accomplishments in texas hold’em poker but he always insisted that he was much more skilled at gin rummy.

He defeated Doyle Brunson in the WSOP in Nineteen Eighty 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".

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