The primary reason why Mr. Ungar changed from gin to poker was that Stu was a bit too skilled at it. So skilled was he, that no one was able stand up to him. Even the commonly called professionals who were supposed to be the greatest at gin rummy were blow away when they played against Stu. One such gin rummy professionals was Harry Stein, nicknamed, "Yonkie". Mr. Stein was handed such a crushing beating at the hands of mr. ungar that he apparently stopped playing it as a pro and never resurfaced at a gin rummy tournament.
Certainly, with a reputation like that it wasn’t too long before everyone became afraid of playing against stu. He couldn’t find any games and in his bleakness he began doing something no one had performed prior. He issued beginning handicaps to likely opposing players in the high hopes that they may play with him if they thought they had an advantage. He at will started from a bad arrangement and one account has it that stu even competed with a constant cheater. Amid the match, he get warnings that the cheater was at it one more time but Stu Ungar assured that he was aware of the dishonestly and he would still win, which he did, of course.
The same trend followed Stu Ungar to Las Vegas. He won so often that the poker rooms started requesting that he not to wager in their rooms anymore. The reason was that other poker room visitors refused to sit at the table if Stu was seated.
Stu Ungar is remembered more for his abilities in texas hold’em poker but he himself always said that he was far more skilled at gin rummy.
He beat Doyle Brunson in the World Series of Poker in Nineteen Eighty to become the youngest world champion. Due to his looks that made him appear far younger than he really was, he got the nickname, "The Kid".