Stu Ungar Strategy
STU UNGAR- HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE GOD OF RUMMY
Stu Ungar is the only person to win 3 poker world championships. He did it in consecutive years in 1980 and '81 and a third time in 1997. What Ungar went through in the 16 intervening years is what makes his '97 comeback so amazing. Watch the incredible and tragic true story of Stu Ungar here! Biography Special: Stu Ungar. To date, Stuart Errol Ungar is regarded as the most exceptionally gifted poker player of all times. However, as unique as his performances at the table were, as self-destructive the warm-hearted legend acted in the game of life.
Decades before online Rummy picked up pace, a twenty-something man, called ‘the kid’, was already making history out there. A Rummy prodigy, Stuart Ungar (or Stu Ungar) was 5 feet, 5 inches tall with just about 100 pounds weight – so much so that nobody would have contemplated the rise of this kid as one of the most renowned names in the Rummy today. Born to Jewish parents in 1953, Ungar was raised in Manhattan. He learned tips and tricks related to card games from ‘Foxes Corner’, his father’s social club. The legend lived a relatively short but utterly famous life.
“ I swear to you, I don’t see how anybody could ever play gin Rummy better than me.” – Ungar
Per Hendon Mob, Ungar participated in thirty-five live tournaments and won sixteen out of them. Nobody could match Ungar’s degeneracy and genius especially when it came to Rummy. Playing card games as a teenager on the streets portrayed an uncanny ability in Ungar to play cards. Naturally, after playing a few games in his hometown, he then arrived in the ‘Sin City’ – and then the rewarding journey took over.
Stu Ungar Strategy Guide
Here are two stories every budding online Rummy player should know about the Rummy legend- Stu Ungar
1. Harry Stein and Ungar – What determination can do.
Ungar wasn’t viewed as a threat when he initially started playing since everybody took ‘the kid’ lightly. But Ungar didn’t fail to cement his place of being the greatest Rummy player of all times. In his early days, he had to search for opponents who could play as good as he does (or close). Harry Yonkie Stein, who was the then best Rummy player in America came to know about it and chose to meet the overconfident ‘kid’ in New York. Stein’s goal was to teach a lesson to Ungar at first, but on his arrival, he looked at Ungar who had to place a crate on the chair as his height booster to sit and play comfortably.
Stein gave a perplexed look and assumed the match would be over in a jiffy – he was right. Ungar won by 86-0. Stein retired from the game of Rummy after that day.
The point? It’s about having confidence in your skill and being persistent on learning more about the game every day. Winning and losing is a part of the game, but learning is a takeaway.
2. When we say Online Rummy is a memory game, we mean it!
And Stu Ungar is a testimony to it! One of his close friends, Mike Sexton noticed Ungar while he used to play in the early days (we call them practice games). Ungar used to assign a number to every card in his head on the basis of rank and suit to calculate the value of every card in his deck. After adding up the value of each card while flipping them, he subtracted the total number from 51. The result? He could easily identify the last card on deck on the basis of the number assigned to the value.
Ungar believed in mathematical brilliance while playing Rummy and card games, that’s what led him to the glory. If this isn’t a sign of genius, we don’t know what is.
3. Keeping your opponents confused? Learn from the best!
Ungar never used to sort his cards to keep the opponents guessing. Nobody ever knew what numbers or suit he was dealing with. Instead, he used opponents’ cards sorting as an advantage. One of his close friends said “Stu could guess every card in his opponent’s hands. So much so that it was spooky.”
Stu Ungar Strategy
While most of you believe in sorting your cards when the game starts, try to confuse the opponent this time and see what happens?
The ‘Comeback’
Stu Ungar Strategy Definition
After a few health conditions in 1980, when he came back in 1997, commentators called him ‘The Comeback Kid’. Ungar didn’t fail anyone and managed to win a lot of titles right after.
The words on his headstone rightly describe ‘The Kid’ – Great person, but a greater loss.
Stu Ungar Strategy Trainer
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Despite being banned from blackjack at many casinos, Stu Ungar had discovered his talent for card counting, and it wouldn’t be long before he capitalized on it. With no money left, Stu put out an open bet- He would bet anyone willing that he could count down the last two decks of a six deck shoe. Amazingly, nobody took him up on this offer.
It was through this incredible offer that Stu would meet one of the few positive influences on his life, a former casino owner named Bob Stupak. Stupak gave Ungar 10-1 odds, but challenged him to count the last THREE decks of a 6 deck shoe; if he succeeded, Ungar would collect $100,000, and if he failed, he would add a $10,000 debt to Stupak to his growing tally. To the amazement of onlookers, Ungar forecast 156 cards without a single miss.
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When I first read this many years ago , I didn't really understand it , and I still don't.
Here's the part ( I think) I understand :
The 6-deck ( 312 card ) shoe was shuffled according to the casino technique , and then the cards were peeled-off and flipped over one-by-one as Ungar watched. This continued for 3 decks worth ( 156 cards ).
Next , for the remaining 3 decks worth ( 156 cards ) Ungar predicted something about each successive card before it was flipped over.
Here's what I don't understand :
Did Stuey actually predict each card precisely , including rank & suit ? To me, this would seem impossible -- well , not impossible , it could happen , but there would be a good deal of luck involved.
Even if
(1) Ungar had total recall of the cards that came off , so that for say jacks he knew that that only the Jd Js were remaining
(2) Ungar accurately maintained an advanced high-low count , so that he knew the relative probabilities of a high ( KQJT ) vs a medium ( 98765 ) vs a low ( 432A ) card coming out next ,
(3) the 6-deck shoe originally was in factory order , and Ungar had accurately peformed an advanced shuffle-tracking technique so that he knew where clumps of various high/low/medium cards were likely to be present
it still seems impossible based on skill alone for Stuey to have sequentially predicted 156 exact cards.
I suspect that what actually happenned indeed was mind-blowing , and indeed demonstrated that The Kid had total recall , and also the ability to maintain a number of advanced counts simultaneously. However, some crucial details have been left out of the story.
Anyone know what really happenned ?