The primary reason why Stu Ungar changed from gin to poker was that he was a little too good at it. So skilled was he, that no one was able equal him. Even the so-called champions who were supposed to be the greatest at gin rummy were defeated when they faced Stu Ungar. One of these gin rummy masters was Harry Stein, called, "Yonkie". Harry Stein suffered such a humiliating beating at the hands of Stu Ungar that he allegedly quit playing it professionally and never resurfaced at a gin rummy tournament.
Of course, with a notoriety like that it wasn’t very long before everyone became shy of betting against mr. ungar. He could find no games and in his agony he started doing something no one had attempted prior. He began offering starting handicaps to potential opponents in the high hopes that they might compete with him if they thought they had an edge. He at will began from a disadvantageous position and one tale has it that stu even played against a regular cheater. Mid match, he received a few words of wisdom that the bad egg was at it one more time but stu stated that he knew of the cheating and he would still actually win, which he did, of course.
The same trend followed Stu Ungar into sin city. He won so frequently that the casinos started requesting that he not to bet in their rooms anymore. The reason for it was that other casino visitors refused to sit at the table if Stu was playing.
Stu Ungar is remembered better for his abilities in texas hold’em poker but he himself always maintained that he was far more accomplished at gin rummy.
He beat Doyle Brunson in the World Series of Poker in 1980 and became the youngest world camp. Because of his looks that made him seem far younger than he really was, he was nicknamed, "The Kid".