The primary basis for why Mr. Ungar switched from gin to poker was that he was a little too skilled 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 greatest at gin were decimated when they competed with Stu. One such gin player was Harry Stein, nicknamed, "Yonkie". Harry suffered such a crushing blow at the hands of mr. ungar that he allegedly stopped competing in it as a pro and never resurfaced at a gin rummy tournament.
Accordingly, with a notoriety like that it wasn’t very long before players became shy of wagering against mr. ungar. He couldn’t find any matches and in his bleakness he began doing something no one had done before. Stu presented starting handicaps to likely adversaries in the hope that they might compete against him if they believed they held an advantage. He deliberately played from a negative arrangement and one account has it that stu even played against a consistent bad egg. During the game, he received warnings that the bad egg was at it yet again but mr. ungar guaranteed that he knew of the cheating and he would still acquire a win, which he did, of course.
The same problem followed Stu Ungar to Las Vegas. He won so frequently that the casinos began asking him not to play on their poker rooms anymore. The reasoning behind it was that other casino visitors would not be seated at the poker table if he were seated.
Stu Ungar is remembered better for his achievements in hold’em poker but he always maintained that he was much better at gin rummy.
He beat Doyle Brunson in the World Series of Poker in Nineteen Eighty to become the youngest world champion. Because of his features that made him seem far younger than he really was, he got the nickname, "The Kid".
