The main reason for why Stu switched from gin rummy to poker was that he was a little too good at it. So good in fact, that no one possibly could equal him. Even the commonly called experts who were meant to be the greatest at gin rummy were defeated when they played against Mr. Ungar. One of these gin rummy masters was Harry Stein, nicknamed, "Yonkie". Harry was handed such a crushing defeat at the hands of stu that he apparently quit participating in it as a pro and never showed up at a gin rummy tournament.
Accordingly, with a notoriety like that it was not too long before gamblers became afraid of wagering against Stu Ungar. He could not find any matches and in his agony he began doing something no one had attempted before. He issued starting handicaps to likely competitors with the high hopes that they may play against him if they thought they had an edge. He deliberately played from a bad arrangement and one account has it that he even played with a regular cheater. Mid contest, he received a few words of wisdom that the absconder was at it yet again but mr. ungar guaranteed that he deduced of the fraudulent activity and he would still win, which of course, he did.
The same problem followed Stu Ungar into Las Vegas. He won so much that the poker rooms began requesting that he not to play on their casinos anymore. The reason was that other poker room clientele refused to sit at the poker table if he were seated.
Stu Ungar is remembered better for his abilities in texas holdem poker but he himself always said that he was considerably better at gin rummy.
He beat Doyle Brunson in the World Series of Poker in 1980 and became the youngest world champion. Due to his features that made him appear far younger than he was, he got the nickname, "The Kid".
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